With the Century 21 Moon Bus origin nailed as Tai Hing [T in a Circle] I am still intrigued by the strange logo on the Moon Bus shown below in this TV21 advert.
As I've mentioned before it seems to be a 'T' badge with what appears to be a upturned eyebrow -like flourish at one side as seen in the close-up below. I think it's safe to assume that the flourish was repeated on the other hidden side. Bearing in mind that this a drawing I'm intrigued as to what the artist based the emblem on.
Well, when super US Ebayer Ykessa listed his latest and rare Tai Hing [T in a Circle] Beoing AWACS aeroplane toy last month [pictured below] I saw something that might just be a clue. On the box is a T in a Circle logo I've never seen before, which includes the full company name of Tai Hing arranged at either side of the T as you can see below! It also uses a new slogan not seen before, 'TAI NOVELTY' as well as giving us for the first time the establishment year of the toy company, 1961.
Could the strange T with eyebrows on the TV21 Moon Bus be an upturned version of this Tai Hing logo? I have flipped it in two sizes to illustrate how it might have looked.
Another possibility is that the 'wings' are slightly curled SWORD emblems. I've had a go at sketching what I mean here.
What do you think?
In the meantime here are more pictures of Ykessa's rare Tai Hing Beoing AWACs plane, together with the Ebay listing description.
"Mint in original box battery operated Boeing E-3A AWACS airplane has a 12 1/2" wingspand and is 14" long and works perfectly. I am guessing I was the first to put batteries in it from the looks of it. The jet engines light up as does the light on top and has engine sound and stops and goes. Made in Hong Kong in the 1970's and is all hard plastic. T in a circle Industries . Box measures 3 3/4" x 5 1/2" x 14 1/2" and is in good condition with some tears, tape and shelf wear. Has 2 unused sets of decals. Ykessa."
My initial thought is that the "wings" are kinda just that. You know, like the RAF badge and perhaps the Supercar one.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they are flourishes to draw attention to the central logo. But I have to wonder why they'd upturn the Tai Hing label. Perhaps they did, but I am not convinced yet. Intriguing though ...
looks to me like a purely decorative element, such as pt's abovementioned "wings". Curious that the moon bus name is offset to one side, away from the centre of the nose on this artwork.
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