SUMMER T IN A CIRCLE -TIME: A NEWLY DISCOVERED 'SPACE VEHICLE' BOX

 

 

Now for T in a Circle Nuts like me and Arto this was a dream come true, wholly new space toy packaging appearing this May. We've seen the white vehicle before, loose, courtesy of Ferryman and the earlier boxed red 'Space Vehicle' courtesy of Mark Bergin toys [see below],  but this new find is clearly a different box and in my view a later version, most probably the 1970's looking at the graphics. It suggests that the loose white versions of the toys seen thus far would all have come in this box type. Previously we have seen a loose white vehicle being sold by the ever-rewarding seller 'Pekoday' from Hong Kong. This, the first boxed white version I have ever seen, was sold for a small fortune by a seller based in Lima, Peru no less [to a reader?] and the Ebay description ran thus:

"This is a Space Vehicle, battery operated , made of plastic by T (TOYS ARE FUN) Nº 357, in HONG KONG. with original box. 1970s. In good conditions, 3 small scratches on dome but unnoticed and works well in all actions. Bump & go ,sound and multicolor revolving lights. The box has some damage on paper. Measures: 9 inches long, 4 inches wide and 4 1/4 inches of heigh."

Of particular interest is the use of the 'TOYS ARE FUN' phrase around the T moniker. This is unusual and has only really been spotted once before, by Arto, as reported previously on the blog. It's also similar to but shouldn't be confused with the 'TOYS KIDS LOVE' phrase that appeared below the Empire Toys logo, the later incarnation of Tarheel of Tarboro.

The model number 357 on the white 'bump & go' is the same as the 'earlier' red with silver fins version. The box is completely different as you can see below in this comparison.

To finish this feature it's worth pointing out that there are now two known colour variations of the white bump & go toy, with red fins a la the Lima find and with blue fins as per the Hong Kong find below. There is also a blue'ish version on the 'bump & go' box but this could be just artistic licence.

And finally for the T completist there appear to be two battery-case colour variants, black [below] and white [bottom], although I can't confirm this as I don't own any of them myself.

T Toys are indeed fun!

Watch this space!