Bear Facts: The Mystery of Arto's Granny Bear

A while ago Arto found a cute boxed plastic Finnish toy bear by Telex at Finland's Juthbacka fair:

This is it, Rukki ja Karhu.

One of a group of toys Arto owns, curiously, it also made reference to England's Palitoy-Vogue on the box side in a small boxed panel.

 Intrigued, Arto and I began to dig and attempt to unravel the mystery of his spinning Telex Granny with English roots in Palitoy.

First we found a small picture of Vogue toys on the far left here, an auctioned Palitoy Progress 1957 Retail Catalogue.

Further clues appeared on the cover of this auctioned Palitoy and Vogue / Cascelloid Export Catalogue 1959, which pictured a similar Granny Bear in her Rocking Chair top left!

And then we found this! A whole Vogue stock list from 1957:

https://share.google/9gZURBCa7jVSG33Uo 

Which lists ....

"Granny Bear Spinner no. P231"!

Yes! That's her! Arto's bear! 

Arto adds: 

"Checking this Vogue list further, the next item on the list, "P232 Rocking Dobbin", was marketed in Finland - and I have it mint boxed!"

Then we saw the section "Mechanical Toys" and P225, P229, P230, P231, P232 and P233!

Bingo!

There they all were! Granny Bear Spinner and her five clockwork friends!

Result!

To conclude, Arto sums up the fruits of our research on his elusive plastic bear: 

"Granny Bear Spinner is one of the five plastic mechanical toys "Made in Finland of original English Palitoy and Vogue parts", as it states on the Finnish box by Telex. The original English toys are included in the Vogue January 1957 export price list ....

.... The Telex ad in Helsingin Sanomat, November 6, 1956 promotes the toys as fresh novelties (Uutta! New!), so they arrived in Finnish shops in late 1956. The ad mentions Cascelloid along with Vogue as providers of the toy parts, which were then assembled in Finland. Pictured Granny Bear Rocking Toy and Granny Bear Spinner only, no mention of Cinder Sid here (nor Rocking Dobbin either, have to check later ads).

The story continues!"

This post compliments Tapani Suominen's Telex research on his Fintoys page:

https://www.fintoys.com/telbear2.html

And by the power of the internet and Arto's fabulous collection, here are photos of some of the six toys listed -

(Arto adds: "the Vogue Granny Bear I bought from Sweden. My Telex Granny Bear is missing her bonnet (pictured below, yellow chair). I also have the bear with the broom (Sweeper) and Rocking Dobbin too, but cannot locate them right now."

Enjoy!

*

Granny Bear Rocking Toy

P225

(Arto also owns a Finnish boxed Granny Bear in Her Rocking Chair or Keinu karhu kutoo)

Granny Bear Sweeper

P229

Baa Baa Black Sheep

P230

(Small catalogue picture)

Loose toy pictured below right with the sewing machine in the group of three 

(Arto's collection)

*

Granny Bear Spinner

P231

(Arto's Finnish Telex version shown above and below left. English original not found)

Rocking Dobbin

P232

Picture Not found

 ( But stored in Arto's collection: in Finnish, Keinuhevonen or Rocking Horse)

Cinder Sid

P233

(Small catalogue picture)

Picture of actual toy not found

( And the only one missing from Arto's collection!)

*

Re. Finland, Arto adds " This set of Telex toys was advertised here (Finland) in newspapers already in November 1956, suitably for the Christmas '56 market. I will check if Cinder Sid was mentioned in the ad."

*

And The Portuguese connection!

Similar toys made by Osul.

Granny Bear Sweeper

And the same bear with wheels! 

Anymore for anymore?

Driving Terranova47 Quackers

Hello Woodsy

Do I have any duck toys?

Yes this duck on a tractor is about 3.25" high, unpowered but with a hitch to tow something.

Yellow and black plastic it has no markings which to me indicates it is an unlicensed Disney's Donald Duck.

I own it because I like it's overall look.

Terranova47

USA

DUCK and DIVE

 A recent purchase at the boot sale, this plastic duck car by Nacoral was quackin' fun to fix up.

The seller had bought a huge cardboard crate of them somewhere - presumably Spain - and hoped for big things at the sale, but I bet I was one of the few brave souls who rummaged enough to find an almost complete toy and box amongst the wrecks.

In the end, after a darn good dive, I found all the parts except the bill, which I'm convinced wasn't in the crate. They were all bill-less! 

The box and separate box lid were crumpled and weak so I ironed them with a steam iron and both look a lot better for it. I think the two boxes, one being just a lid, represent two ways this toy was packaged in Spain.

For convenience I've slipped the colour lid over the much plainer but complete box. 

The instruction leaflet got a quick ironing too.

The toy itself needed a little glue on the windscreen, the hands re-wheeling and a good clean. 

Oh, and that missing bill I replaced with a party whistle. 

Googley eyes were added too.

The toy itself is pull-along, the duck going up and down as it's pulled. Very cute.

See what you think.

Have you any ducks?

Rubber Brand

I saw this hard rubbery plastic cat figure described as LP on Ebay but I'm unsure.

On the back is Made in Hong Kong and numbered 948 I think.

Its missing the LP logo.

Do you have one?

A regular jazz band LP plastic animal, of which there are many, has a clear LP logo as seen here on number A6, the sax rabbit.

Do you have any plastic animals?

LP FARM FRIENDS BAGGED #1006 Lik Be

New to the blog - I think! - this LP bag of Farm Friends I saw on Worthpoint. 

I like the header art. It has a sort of Disneyesque look to it.

I imagine each individual animal and figure is numbered on the base too.

Have you got anything like this readers! 

KOMODO DRAGON AND CONDOR KITS: Revell Endangered Animals by Paul A.

Two kits from the Revell Endangered Animals series of the 1970s. Most of the kits depicted various mammals, but this pair depicted a reptile and a bird.

*

H-701 Komodo Dragon, 

1/10th scale - green plastic, 20 parts;

Moveable head, tail, and legs. A Long-Tailed Macaque Monkey was also included.

later 6461 Bedrohte Tierarten Komodo Waran.

*

H-702 California Condor, 

1/8th scale - black plastic, 18 parts;

later 6462 Bedrohte Tierarten Californ. Condor.

The only bird in the Revell range. Moveable wings and head.

Eight photographs, all from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

ITC MARVEL METALS KITS - UPDATED

ITC Model Craft was the hobby kits arm of the Ideal Toy Corporation, of New York City.

Following on from their Dog Champions paint-by-numbers kits, was a series of Marvel Metal kits. These were intended to provide the look and feel of an expensive bronze statue, but at far less cost.

The advertising for these kits, and the instruction sheets, all carry a copyright date of 1960, and they appear to have been released in either late 1960, or 1961 - the kits were certainly advertised in the February 1961 issue of Boys' Life, a magazine aimed at American Boy Scouts.

They appear to have been aimed at the same craft and hobby market as the paint-by-numbers kits, rather than at modellers. Trade advertising for the kits describes them as easy, exciting kits for boys and girls of all ages. Just like the various paint-by-numbers sets, this was another attempt to get girls interested in modelling. Each set came with everything needed to complete a bronze-like model, so there was no need to buy any modelling supplies.

The kits themselves were very simple, with few parts, and were all moulded in black plastic. There was a tube of ITC cement; a bottle of finishing compound; a brush; and a metallic rod. As with the earlier Dog kits, there was no display base on which to stand the finished models.

Like many kits of the period, it was emphasised in the advertising that the finished models could serve a variety of purposes other than display. They could be used as bookends, trophies, or paperweights, although in each case they would have needed a base to give them some weight. In those days most boys would have had the wood-working skills needed for such a task.

From the advertising, and the description on the side of the box, it appears that the model was first assembled, just like any other kit. Then the finishing compound was brushed on, and the rod (described in the instructions as a wand) was rubbed over the model to give it a metallic finish.

The steps are shown in a period trade advertisement.

1 Simple plastic parts snap and glue together for perfect fit (cement included)

2 Exclusive MARVEL METAL compound applied in minutes

3 Rub entire animal with MARVEL METAL wand for gleaming metallic finish

The kits look to have been short-lived. They were not included in the final ITC catalogue from 1963, and there are not many listings for them on Worthpoint or Ebay.

There were six kits in the series, all depicting various jungle beasts from Africa or Asia. All were Big Game animals. There were two price ranges. The $1.69 kits came in blue boxes, and the $1.98 kits in green boxes. The animals do not appear to have been made to a common scale, but were all around the same size.

$1.69

3851 Lion - 9 inches long

3852 Tiger - 11 inches long

3853 Rhinoceros - 9 inches long

$1.98

3854 Giraffe - 11 inches high

3855 Elephant - 11 inches high

3856 Gorilla - 9 inches high

The side of the boxes show all six kits, along with six of the ten Dog Champion kits in what appears to be a similar bronze finish. I have not come across any listings for Marvel Metal versions of the Dogs, although three were released around 1963 in a chrome-plated finish. I assume the Marvel Metal Dogs were not actually issued ?

Those shown on the side of the box were:

German Shepherd

Collie

Boxer

English Bulldog

Cocker Spaniel

Beagle

Oddly, the models do not seem to have been released without the Marvel Metal finish, as normal kits, with painting instructions for a more life-like look.

As far as I am aware, these kits have never been re-issued.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/312208494937?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338722076&customid=&toolid=10050

Photographs from Worthpoint and Ebay.

Paul Adams

New Zealand