Redartz: Hello folks; surprise! We interrupt our usual "Follow the Leader" with a look at some titanic trading cards and the toys they depict. A good friend of mine chanced upon these cards recently and brought them to my attention. After ogling all the fabulous vintage toys featured on them, it was apparent that I'd need to share them with you.
The set is called "Classic Toys Trading Cards", and they were printed in 1993. Beyond that I have no information about them; perhaps someone among you will know more. The cards' backs contain a brief description of the item, along with a then-current value for the toy. This makes me think that they were affiliated with a price guide magazine of some sort. The toys depicted represent a nice assortment from the 50's to the 70's. I had a few of them (View Masters, Matchbox cars, Spirograph, and that Beany and Cecil Jack-in-the-box) and would have liked quite a few more. 
Have any of you encountered these cards before? Do they bring back any memories of forgotten toys? Which did you have, and which would you have wanted? And what toys do you think should have been included in this set which, apparently, were not? Let's talk toys this week...
11 comments:
I never saw any sign of those cards but, when it came to the toys themselves, I did have the Dinky Eagle, the James Bond Aston Martin, the View-Master, Action (GI Joe) Man and a Spirograph set. Spirograph was the worst toy invented. It was literally impossible to replicate the designs that were depicted in the instruction booklet.
That's pretty cool; I've never seen those cards before, but now I kinda want them!
As for the toys, I had quite a few Matchbox and Corgi cars (I still have a few, but they're pretty beat up) and I still have a good number of Star Wars toys (though my C-3PO disappeared long ago and my Darth Vader isn't nearly as pristine as the one in the photo). I also had a Spirograph, but I had trouble figuring out exactly what to do with it and by the time I worked it out, I'd lost or broken most of the pieces. I had a Viewmaster too, with various discs, including some from the first Superman movie that were pretty cool.
I used to buy some of those rub-on decals, but the ones I bought were called Presto Magic; the Batman and Spider-Man ones were my favourites.
I don't see many board games depicted here (Mousetrap is the only one that jumps out at me), but maybe those don't count as toys? Same with something like D&D or other RPGs, maybe they don't fit the category. Unless I missed it, I don't see a Lite-Brite anywhere; that's a toy pretty much everyone had at one time.
Very Interesting! A nice posting Red!
I would suggest that these toys are indeed "collectibles" beyond being toys given the characters involved.
Also I'm 58 and, oddly, many of these things are before / after my time "peak childhood" playing years of say 8 - 10 years old. E.g., I was too young to appreciate the Beatles or Monkees. Similarly, I was too old to dig Star Wars in a manic sort of way.
All that said, the toys we used the most were Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, and cars (the exciting Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightnings, the relatively dull Match Boxes, and the rare Corgis and the assorted trackage.)
And my lunch box was a "Land of the Giants" and perhaps a Banana Splits, lol. I actually no longer remember though I had at least 3.
Steve- The biggest challenge we had with the Spirograph was keeping the little parts. It seemed every time we brought the set out a few more discs had disappeared. And I envy you that Bond Aston Martin. Would've loved that.
Mike W- yes, the card set was a bit thin on board games. They had Green Ghost, but yes; an early Dungeons and Dragons set might have been a good inclusion. Oh, and you're right about Lite Brite. Odd they missed that one. Also, the Thingmakers (Creepy Crawlers, and the like).
Charlie- good point about the "collectible" nature of most of these items. You and I (and a certain fellow with the initials HB) are of a similar age, and probably had many of the same toys. You mentioned Hot Wheels, surprising that they didn't make the set. As you imply, they kind of overthrew Matchbox cars as the Vehicle of Choice.
Your "Land of the Giants" lunchbox must have been very cool. Most of mine were Peanuts, but one year I did have a Hot Wheels lunchbox.,,
CH47 echoed my age-related thoughts precisely (probably 'cause I'm also 58. . . for just a few more weeks anyhoo---). But a number of these do still carry a terrific weight of memory:
ALL of the Aurora Universal Monster model kits (I'm noticing they don't show the company name here. . . !)
The Thing In a Box bank (ha!)
Easy-Bake oven (lord how lame!)
A ZILLION Viewmaster reels over the course of several years--- and just found an ancient one in our prop storage!
And wow-- that original pre-Life-Like Hair (and Beard) all-plastic GI Joe? Man, I still have ALL of them down in the Comic Book Room. Standing vigil for years on end. . .
Mousetrap-- we NEVER played the game itself. . .just set up the device. There was a second similar game by the same company that we had as well. Clown in a bathtub thingy, I think?
I had that exact Matchbox carrying case. Also still somewhere in our basement, iirc.
Spirograph did okay with us--- although we never once followed any directions. Just made things up.
And I distinctly remember the (totally effective) commercial for Sixfinger. . . although we never got it. What. A. Dumb. Toy.
Missing? Gosh, so many-- but first to mind comes Battling Tops, which I would probably still enjoy today, with the right participants. . . ha!
HB
Oh- and regarding the die-cast car competition: Started with Matchbox when I was REALLY little. Moved to the mainstream HotWheels when those track sets first hit big ("SuperCharger Spring Set!!!"). But Johnny Lightning finally settled in as my favorite, with its generally wilder, more imaginative designs. JL was never constricted by the rules of rational engineering. . .
HB
Folks! I e-bay'd "1969 Sears Christmas Catalog."
Someone is selling each page from the toy section for $15 each. Some have the whole (beat up) catalog for $100.
Toys I noticed that we had, not mentioned:
- The inflatable punch figures, around 4' high? I know we hada Bozo but there is Batman, Popeye, Yogi Bear...
- Those electric football games with the vibrating fields.
- Robot / Sci Fi stuff - the Lost in Space Robot (battery powered)
- The small, electric racing car sets
Y'all might dig the search on ebay!
ANd HB - there is a poster out there of all the Johnny Lightning Cars. I got it on ebay for a few pesos. 40 cars are on display. JL was definitely a bit "chunkier" that Hot Wheel cars. I had a bunch of them: Wasp, Double Trouble, Custom Turbine, AJ Foyt, Parnelli Jones... Good times man!
I had Planet Of The Apes action figures (no Star Trek?), Matchbox cars, Spirograph, the Mousetrap game, the Space: 1999 Eagle model and a Slinky (mine got all tangled up).
I'm fascinated by the John F. Kennedy Model Kit - what a weird toy! The Donald Trump Model Kit is surely in production as we speak.
HB, if you're nearly 59 you must have been born as JFK was getting elected!
Colin J--
Yep, that-I-was. It only occurred to me a few years ago that Eisenhower was in fact still in office when I was born (early December, '60). Really careening wildly into old fogeyhood, I'm afraid.
(I mean, I DO try to throw the occasional "Same, Fam" and "Such a Mood" and "I stan a chocolate almond milk DIVA" into conversation every so often, just to give the appearance of being current. . . )
HB
Post a Comment