What's the thing you'd most like to find at a car boot sale, a flea market, a charity shop or a garage sale?
It could be a toy, a record, a film, a poster, an ornament and so on.
Maybe the one missing collectable from your collection or something you have had slip through your hands the last time?
Personally I'd love finding a whole stack of vintage horror paperbacks or maybe a group of old monster movies in Super 8 with fabulous box art or perhaps fossil hunting set I had as a kid but now long gone.
What about you readers?
Back in the mid 50's Woolworths was the place to buy toy soldiers cheaply. While the painted version, be it Lone Star or Cherilea was 6d (2.5p) in Woolwoths it was 3d unpainted. As we all had paints from making Airfix kits, also from Woolworths, it was fun to paint our own.
ReplyDeleteThere was an issue of unpainted Roman soldiers, issued in the US by Marx but Cherilea in the UK and as opponents a set of Celts ready to repel Caesar. They were all in cream plastic approx 60mm and one Celt was running forward holding high a round shield in his left hand and a sword in his right. These sets have been reissued many times but this one pose is never there.
I would love to find this figure again as back then I carved his helmet to match his long hair and painted him as Ron Embleton's Wulf the Briton, the comic strip charactor from Express Weekly Comic.
What are the chances of finding one then Terran?
DeleteSlim
DeleteA working Marx Great Garloo.A reasonably restored one is more likely to occur,but I would love to have the real original issue,box and all!
ReplyDeleteYes! I've never seen a Garloo in the flesh Brian. What a fine figure of a toy to find at a yard sale, stood up at the back of the stall waving at you!
DeleteA box full of vintage Madelman, Mego superheroes or AHI monsters, with little playwear and all those usually missing accessories, would be a blessing... oh, if only, Woodsy :)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to find that lot too Tone! I once found an AHI Frankenstein and a PEZ Creature in a retro shop in Leeds. I was shaking with excitement and bagged them both!
DeleteAlthough I already have one example, traded from a collector friend, and in a pretty decent shape to boot, I am always looking forward to finding the Finnish version of the Pyro X-300 Space Cruiser on my own. That would sort of give me (even if circumstantial) proof that they really were around for general sale. A curious obsession that baffles me as well.
ReplyDeleteThat would make a fine title for a book about toy collecting, A Curious Obsession! That's a great goal to have Arto and I hope that one falls into your lap when you least expect it!
DeleteI once had a (Lone Star I think ?) L1A1 SLR that I cherished until I smashed it up in a childish tantrum, be nice to find another. Failing that , a toyshop (perhaps by the coast) where time has stood still since the 70's and they have a wide range of Gerry Anderson Dinky toys still on sale at £3.49 !
ReplyDeleteFenton
I don't know that Lone Star toy - a pistol? - but I can relate to the seaside shop dream! I once found an old shop in Borth on the Mid-Wales coast a few years back. Trapped in time, a dusty dark fancy goods store filled with stuff from the Seventies and some in bulk. Lots of household items like combs and ChopOmatics and some toys, which I bought. Npo Dinky of Corgi but a few old bagged dolls and a couple of knockoff bagged action men. Combat Man I think. Nothing amazing but I wuz thrilled! I recall the shopkeeper saying 'you've cleared me out of my vintage toys!'. They were dirt cheap too!
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