LORD OF THE KEY RINGS

 

I had a big key ring collection as a kid.

This is a selection, showing examples I've found on the net.

This little bible was a favourite.

Do any of these ring a bell?

This bottle turns into a pen. I adored it.

I so remember this little cap gun.

HANDPAINTED BY ARTISANS

 

I recognised this mouse on this display I saw online! Although its not mentioned on the card it's clearly Topo Gigio next to the tiger [is that a TV tiger too?]

Last Christmas, I used exactly one of these key ring Topos to finish my Century 21 Toys Topo Gigio Ice Cream Van. It became Mrs' Gigio who serves the ice cream at the back.

Did you have any key rings readers?

Do you remember Topo Gigio? Was there a famous mouse when you were a kid?

ROB'S PUZZLE PAGE

Looking for something else yesterday I came across this fabulous website, Rob's Puzzle Page, dedicated to keychain plastic puzzles. Its an amazing menagerie of shapes, rockets, robots and characters. There's even Captain Scarlet's SPC and MSV in there! What can you see?

http://www.robspuzzlepage.com/keychain.htm#keycpeop

BEER IS THE KEY

 

This key ring I saw on Ebay is the same as the Watneys Red Barrel one I had as a kid. Like Terranova47's Red Barrel lorry, this key ring was part of my childhood and a memorable member of my huge key ring collection back in the day.

Did you have any key rings?

BRABO? GO FIGURE!

 These are strange that I saw online.

Odd plastic figures by Brabo and new to me.

They look like key fobs, about 3 inches long and clearly from the Sixties. Sort of Nutty Mad style trinkets.

I would have loved them as a kid.

Do you know these toys readers?

FOBBED OFF

 

Seeing this pen key ring from the Sixties or Seventies on the Bay really brought back memories.

I adored key rings probably as much as toys. I think I got a few at my Dad's cash and carry place but always tried to add to my collection wherever I was.

I had loads: a floppy metal fish, an eiffel tower, a toilet, a metal book with concertina pages, a spanner, a wrench, a rubber footballer, a globe and many many more. I so wish I still had them and often rummage at car boots to see of there are any I had.

Did you like key rings or fobs?

Munsters Key Rings

Hi all

Bella, from Bella's Toy Chest, shows off her latest haul. Mostly 1980s onwards, but towards the end of the clip there are a couple of key rings from The Munsters - Lily and Eddie. I have never seen these before. Very nice. After a bit of checking (I could not really find much on these), there were also figures of Herman and Grandpa. I seriously doubt these are 1960s vintage, but can not be sure. From the few photos I could find on Ebay showing the underside of the base, they have © date Kayro-Vue Pro. and Made in China. The date is very hard to read, it could be 1964 or 1984, and would a 1960s vintage US toy really have been made in China ? In the comments section, one reader does say he thinks they are late 1980s. They also look rather too new to be from the 1960s. Any keyring experts out there ?

(5) First Toy Show Haul of 2021 - YouTube

Paul Adams from New Zealand

KEY-CHAIN COMPASS

God how I remember these key-ring compasses. Do you?

As with most practical skills, I never mastered its use. Are you good with one?

They were part of the key-ring craze in the late Sixties and early Seventies, when everything ended up on the end of a ring: toilets, fish, books and spanners to name a few!

MYSTERY THUNDERBIRDS KEY RINGS

Fellow blogger Hugh Walter of Small Scale World recently acquired a set of Thunderbirds key-ring figures.

Hugh reckons they seem to be the same as those handled by Xandria-Holland of New York in the US . . . 

http://secretfunspot.blogspot.com/2014/07/vintage-ad-sheets_28.html

(about 3/4's of the way down the page)

Another possibility is a Spanish origin maybe. I checked my Dennis Nicholson Gerry Anderson Memorabilia Guide and they look like these Dutch ones from 1968 too, but there's no makers' name. 

Anyway, here they are courtesy of Hugh. Does anyone know their history?

collecting key rings in the 1960's

I wish I had a photo of my old key ring collection I had as a kid in the Sixties and early Seventies.

It was quite big and wide-ranging. I didn't have any keys. I just liked them.

Friends and family brought them back for me from trips away and I bought them myself although I've no idea where we bought trinkets like that in those days. I suppose they were called Fancy Goods rather than being actual toys.

I had all sorts and the ones I can call to mind were:

1. small plastic toilet
2. metal flexible fish
3. plastic bottle that turned into a pen
4. bible
5. photo concertina book
6. Eiffel tower
7. blue globe
8. watneys beer barrel [pictured]
9. esso blue man
10. rubber tyre compass
11. skull
12. skeleton
13. something I looked into like a TV or viewer with small pictures inside
14. dice shaker
15. cocktail shaker
16. penlight
17. Thunderbirds figures
18. die-cast cap gun like a revolver, Luger or Derringer
19. shell oil shell
20. tape measure
21. gorilla

There were also some risque ones made of moving metal figures, which often had crowds round in the school playground!

I loved my old key ring* collection.  Did you have one?

* sometimes called key charms. Not key fobs, they were for adults' car keys!

vintage key ring: what an eiffel!

Just seen something on the net that jogged a memory.

The Eiffel Tower key ring from the 1960's!

I recall distinctly having this metal key ring in my collection as a kid.

I don't know who went to Paris but I'm glad they did!

Did you have this one readers?

tiny toy books

When I was a kid way back when I had a tiny book. It was miniature. I think it was a bible.

I seem to recall it was a key ring, hundreds of paper pages and had metal covers. It may have had a clasp too.

Its mixed up in my memories with a tiny fold-out concertina 'book' of holiday photographs I got one summer at the seaside. That may have been a key ring too.

Does any of this ring a bell with you readers?

KING KONG IN MY POCKET

Its Sunday morning, the sun is shining at long last and the coffee is piping hot. Yes, it feels like Winter may be well and truly coming to an end after all. Even the frogs are at it in our new Moonbase pond, which I consider to be the official nod of approval.

When I was a kid I liked nothing better than to check out my stuff in the sunshine. My pockets were always crammed with nic-nacs like cap gun rolls, board game parts, anglo bubbly gum, rubber jigglers and key rings.

I had tons of key rings. They were everywhere that Kids went back then: shops, zoos, garages, everywhere. One of my favourites was a plastic King Kong key ring. I say King Kong, but of course he could have simply been a big gorilla. I suppose anyone could make a gorilla toy and suggest it was King Kong. Was the name in the public domain I wonder?

My key ring looked a bit like this American one on Etsy but not quite. Mine had its feet standing on a base, as if a small plastic figure had been made into a key ring. Also the key ring itself had a proper opening clasp.

The figure looked more like the Kong in this picture again from Etsy. The small one to the left. Mine may have had his arms down, but the mists of Skull Island have fogged my brain over the years. I can't remember!

Like LP astronauts these little Kongs seemed to be everywhere too. Once off his Island he certainly multiplied in number. He appears in a rack toy by Fleetwood Toys like this one on Ebay.

and again even closer over at Plaid Stallions. He may also have punched his way into the mega rare Tarzan set by Lone Star by I'd have to check that*. I bet you can still buy this figure in modern toys nowadays. Or?

Did/ do you have any King Kong figures readers?

*POSTSCRIPT:

The only picture I've ever seen of the super rare Tarzan carded set by Lone Star is on the cover of the excellent Plastic Warrior magazine from the UK as featured on their own webpage of back issues [ issue 118, 2007 ]. Having just read my own copy, its a crouching chimp that appeared in the set rather than a gorilla although its hard to see in the picture.

PS. Plastic Warrior have included some great articles on LP astronauts and aliens over the years. Let me know if you want the back issue numbers so you can try to locate them.