"Read: Tset-Gan" – A Finnish Pyro Discovery
One of the most cloned plastic space gun designs must be the Pyro Space Control Gun from the 1950's. A simple clicker gun of minute dimensions, its basic design was copied – sometimes with minor alterations – in many countries and under various names: Atom Junior (Australia), Atomico (Argentina, Spain), Radar Gun (USA), Space Control (USA), Space Jet (Australia). It was also sold in Canada by Reliable under its original Pyro name Space Control. (All names refer to the exact name embossed on the toy, which in some cases differs from the name on the box.)
Caption: Source: Alphadrome Database
So it was no wonder that when last summer, picking up a small metallic grey space gun from one of the vendor's boxes at Billnäs Antique Fair (the main attraction of every summer), my first thought was: Pyro.
Above: Telex Jet Gun
It had the same grey colour with metallic sheen that was so characteristic (along with metallic gold) of many plastic space toys by the U.S. manufacturer Pyro, among them most notably The Space Fleet of the Future, consisting of four classic space ship designs.
Although delighted with the unexpected find, I did not wonder too much about it as, if not for sale here, foreign toys did travel all the way to Finland, as souvenirs or Christmas presents from relatives emigrated to the U.S. or elsewhere. Besides, the name on the toy – JET GUN – also suggested a foreign origin.
It was only when trying – in vain – to find its exact name match on the comprehensive Alphadrome Database that a new possibility dawned on me: Could this be a hitherto unknown Finnish version of the Pyro original?
Searching the digital archive of newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, I eventually came across this advert in the October 27, 1953 issue
Feel yourself a real spaceman and take the TELE-X-ray space gun into your one hand or both, and use it for sending out quick sonic signals. You will be convinced that somewhere out there a spaceman with his wondrous receiver picks up your communication. Worth a try. JET GUN is a nice space gun.
A real space gun, made of moulded metallic mass, comes either in platinum grey or in gold. A durable toy with an original mark JET GUN (read: tset-gan).
Bingo! Telex was a prolific Finnish manufacturer of plastic toys that made clones of various foreign toys (by companies such as Renwal, Palitoy, Vogue etc.) and had a substantial liaison with a Danish manufacturer H. Wittrock.
Jet Gun, however, was not going to be the only Pyro lookalike manufactured by Telex. In 1955, they produced a Finnish variant of the X-300 Space Cruiser, again in metallic grey. Could there be even more? Isn't there a saying: All good things come in threes …
Above: Jet Gun pictured here with another find of the same day, a Finnish variant of the Tudor Rose Atomic Ray Pistol in green.
Arto
Helsinki Base
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Thanks to Alphadrome Database (for Space Control Gun gallery, see https://tinyurl.com/y3g5mxov).
Not only was that a superb find, but also a superb piece of investigative research to unravel a mystery. The Jet Gun has survived in fantastic condition, especially considering its age. A beautiful piece for your collection, Arto. Great to know a vintage treasure like this has found its way to dedicated collector and custodian who will enjoy and preserve it. Thanks for sharing it here :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Tony, glad you liked it. Always a pleasure to bring forth something new to our branch of interest.
ReplyDeleteThere is a story to these two space guns pictured above that I learned only after purchase from the vendor: they were both salvaged - along with other 1950's toys - from a house about to be demolished. Having been abandoned for years, it had been ransacked a few times in hopes of finding something valuable. However, the toys were left behind and thus salvaged by the said vendor who was commissioned to clear the house before demolition.
The irony of it all - the said house was located in my childhood home town! So the toys may have been there in the neighbourhood ever since the beginning! It is a small world, indeed ...
I love stories like this, Arto. It adds significance to the fact you're now carer and custodian of these fab vintage space guns. I wonder what the story was behind the abandoned house and toys? Whatever it was, I think you were destined to find them!
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