In many ways these two Moonships pictured describe a very personal journey. In the early 1990's I first began to collect Project SWORD in my Thirties, after having loved the toys as a kid in 1967. My main source for collecting the toys was another collector called Chris Avis, who was based hundreds of miles away in London. We communicated via many phone calls and letters, which I greatly enjoyed. Chris was a wonderful finder of toys and found all the SWORD toys I currently have, over a period of around six years between 1994 and 2000. My only limitation at the time, it would turn out, would be knowledge.
In the mid to late 1990's I also began corresponding with a another great toy collector called Will Osborne and specifically about Project SWORD and SpaceX. Will first brought my attention to a little known [at least to me] toy called the Moonship by Century 21. Intriguingly an old article Will sent me actually linked the Moonship to Project SWORD. I was hooked and asked Chris if he could locate one.
Neither of us had ever seen a Moonship so when Chris found a tinplate one [above left] we were blissfully ignorant that it wasn't the real McCoy. It just didn't occur to me that there could be another plastic version, despite the obvious differences between the tin one and the one illustrated in the article. In the days before the internet, quickly getting hold of any information about obscure Century 21 toys was incredibly difficult and relied on books, magazines and in my case, letters to Will and Chris!
Sadly I lost touch with Chris but for a over a decade I was happy with the tinplate Chinese Moonship he'd found me. But then in the late internet-eyed Noughties I saw it, a loose plastic Century 21 version [above right] gracing the new sensation that was Ebay! I was gobsmacked, fell in love and bid. Amazingly I won and after wending its way from distant America, my new plastic Moonship brought the story and my understanding full circle, a voyage which took nearly 15 years to make and one which, without Chris and Will's inspirational help, I would never have made.
Have you got a similar toy story readers?
How long have you got Woodsy? Ive got hundreds of tales if ones that got away!
ReplyDeleteThe Moonship is an odd one, bit like an airliner with its wings clipped. I like the plastic one, but tin is a definite no-no for me!
How timely a statement Bill, just as I was about to add that the Chinese Moonship is a wonderful toy in its own right, most likely also preceding the C21 one. Not that I would mind finding the plastic version as well -
ReplyDeleteHurrah for Moonships, tinplate or plastic! Only Fireflash comes close in the sleekness stakes!
ReplyDelete