One of the most exciting Project Sword finds of last year was the surfacing of a Tarheel Spectrum Patrol Car.
It was 'found' in the Hamilton Toy Museum in Callander, Scotland inside the Gerry Anderson cabinet.
The Museum's proprietor kindly sent me close-ups of the toy and its box in January and on the one below appeared an original shop price tag. The toy cost all of 99 cents!
On closer inspection the shop name on the tag is TIEDTKE'S.
Having looked them up it appears that Tiedtke's was a department store in downtown Toledo in the state of Ohio, USA.
This postcard I saw on auction gives an idea of how the store looked in the 1950's [on the left].
Captain Scarlet arrived on US TV's in 1968. The Century 21 SPC had been available since 1967 so I can only assume that the Tarheel SPC was available from this date too.
The price tag says '6-69' on it. This could mean June 1969, which would mean that this particular toy was on Tiedtke's shelves one year after Captain Scarlet was on American television.
Is it the only american branded captain scarlet toy?
What I can be sure of is that at some point this Tiedtke's SPC travelled the 3521 miles from the Toledo store in to the museum in Callander. Where and when it stopped along the way we'll never know!
Did you buy any toys at Tiedtke's readers?
Interesting take on the ways the toys travel across the Globe, Woodsy. The item number (5923) caught my eye again. The other numbers between the Probe Forces (all three under 5920) and the Moon Ranger (5925) still remain unknown, which leaves plenty of room for a Tarheel SPV... If only...
ReplyDeleteHmm, that is intriguing arto. It would make sense that tarheel boxed up the C21 spv as well and maybe even the angel interceptor. Somewhere between Ohio and Callander there's an unopened crate....
DeleteA compelling story. Admire the fact that you tracked down a postcard snapshot showing what the store would have looked like back in the 50s. Certainly a cool piece of detective work, Woodsy :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony. There's lots of stuff on Tiedtke's online. It was a hugely popular department store by the looks of it. Sadly it burnt down.
Delete