Comic Wind-up Toys, ca. 1930
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APPRAISER:
You brought me three little windup toys.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
How did you come by 'em?
GUEST:
All three belonged to my dad. His grandparents went to a National Grange meeting, and they, uh, came back with these as a part of the gift exchange at Christmastime. Uh, Daddy was born in 1928, and these two he got, uh, from the gift exchange, he said, when he was about ten or 11 years old. So it'd have been about 1938, '39. This one he thinks he got a couple of years earlier.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm, well, they are what we call comic character windups. And that's a very collected category of toys. Of course, you know, now we have movies, and everything is licensed. This was, like, the beginning of licensing from popular, uh, uh, entertainment. You have Charlie McCarthy, who was very big on the radio and also in the funny strips. And, of course, Pinocchio was a movie character from Walt Disney, with a great little, cute little windup action. He would just, uh, waddle along there. And, of course, Minnie Mouse was, uh, Mickey's girlfriend. And, uh, ultimately, a very famous comic character mouse. Let me ask you this. Which ones of these do you think is the most valuable, if you had to pick one?
GUEST:
I don't know, I'd go for Pinocchio, but it'd probably be the plastic one.
APPRAISER:
Well, if you did go for this one, you would have picked the right one.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
See, these are what we call lithographed tin. These are made in America in the '30s. This is a tin toy with tin and celluloid. The, uh, figure of Minnie Mouse and the figure of Pluto are celluloid, which is a very early and very fragile kind of plastic. And, uh, it's very rare to survive because...
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
...you could just crush this with your fingers like that. As far as value is concerned, uh, these are relatively common. You find them.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Generally, you find them, sometimes with the original boxes. These are in average condition. A little bit of wear here and there. And these would be around $150 each.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Which isn't too bad. Not too bad. Now, this one is a little different story, because, as I say, it's celluloid, it's painted celluloid, it is in extraordinary condition. And, of course, Minnie Mouse is a little rarer than Mickey Mouse.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
The, uh, most recent auction value I could find on this was around $2,700.
GUEST:
Wow.
Appraisal Details
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