Bid Smart: Antique bell toys possess unmistakable ap-peal

This late 1880s surf boat bell toy by the Gong Bell Mfg. Company achieved $9,500 plus the buyer’s premium in August 2021. Image courtesy of the RSL Auction Company and LiveAuctioneers.
This late 1880s surf boat bell toy by the Gong Bell Mfg. Company achieved $9,500 plus the buyer’s premium in August 2021. Image courtesy of the RSL Auction Company and LiveAuctioneers.
This late 1880s surf boat bell toy by the Gong Bell Mfg. Company achieved $9,500 plus the buyer’s premium in August 2021. Image courtesy of the RSL Auction Company and LiveAuctioneers.

NEW YORK — Toys that make noise are not new. The beeping, squawking, headache-inducing modern renditions are invariably made from plastic, but antique pull toys featuring bells seem (and sound) positively sedate by comparison, and the passage of time has rendered them charming rather than annoying. Examples fashioned from cast iron or tin call to mind the times when such things were handmade, and their craftsmanship and sense of whimsy renders them delightful to collectors.

Continue reading

Vintage Fisher-Price toys demonstrate the power of play

A circa-1931 paper-on-wood No. 105 Bunny Scoot sold for $4,000 plus the buyer’s premium in December 2017. Image courtesy of Dan Morphy Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
A circa-1931 paper-on-wood No. 105 Bunny Scoot sold for $4,000 plus the buyer’s premium in December 2017. Image courtesy of Dan Morphy Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.

NEW YORK — Colorful and educational Fisher-Price toys have been a staple of childhood since 1930, when the toy company was founded. The Great Depression had started a few months earlier but Herman Fisher, Helen Schelle, Irving Evans, and his wife, Margaret Evans Price, believed that children still needed to be children and that play was an important part of a child’s education.

Continue reading