S is for Sandown Starter

The last Sandown Park toy show (7th September) was an odd one, in that most of my purchases, were bagged, boxed, or otherwise 'stand-alone' type things, rather than the usual handfuls of this and that, so I think I'm going to work through them as a series of smaller posts, with a few other bits in-between, to that end, one of the more mixed shots I ended-up with, was this one, so we'll get these novelty bits out of the way first, and I'll lump the few other odds (some military and sci-fi figures), in the last post!

 

Clearly a wild west theme here, with two Hong Kong rack toys, and the UK equivalent of a dime-store item, issued by Thomas in the 'States, and in a roundabout way, also a rack-toy equivalent! The interest here being that the trio of canoeists and their vessels, are hard, glassy polystyrene, like the Indian family, as issued in the US, rather than the soft polyethylene associated with UK production - thankfully with all oars and feather intact, but on a Poplar Plastics card.

 

This destroys the last remaining 'rule' in my head about this set, that the hard plastic was US and the soft was UK, and with the Thomas-Pp-T*R rules looking increasingly shaky, it's anyone's guess who manufactured/issued/carried what, when, where and why!

 

And, you can see where the Giant 'Canoe Race' set came from, a direct lift of this set, but with an extra canoe, and probably a much reduced (as much as 50% less?) retail price-point, the frugal would have taken the other home!

 

We've seen both the horse and the rider/s in the past in mixed lots, donations or charity-shop plunder, we may even have seen them together, but the beauty (loose use of the word beauty!) of a small, sixpenny, or half-shilling generic like this, is the confirmation it brings, of what [rider figure] goes with what [horse type]! Note the flash on the rider's left arm!

While the jig-puzzle toy came as part of a novelty lot, with three other jig-toys and a Merit . . . no, I keep making that mistake . . . a Kleeware locomotive whistle, possibly a mould swap with someone like, or copy of - Lido, Pyro or similar, as it's a US type locomotive, albeit with simplistic wheels! The bowling-pin is new to the collection and the fire engine is a new colour-way.

H is for a Handful More!

Back with key-rings, keychains, key fobs, they are different things to different people! I think this lot was a charity shop lot a year or two ago, I can't honestly remember, and I made the mistake - a mistake I regularly make - of trying to shoot them on a red background!

 

Several catering firms had similar dough-men mascots, this one - Turkstra - is Dutch, and appears to have awarded itself 1st and 2nd place in something, at the same time, their biscuits must be bloody good!

And I thought this was fun, as you could remove the chain-ring and have a perfect egg-box for a dolls house! I'm guessing, from the lack of a mark, that it's missing a sticker, and if it had a sticker, may have been offered to several egg-producers, so could be missing any one of a number of stickers?

Common 'Jig Toy' design of the family saloon, made key-ring, my experiance of this kind of key ring is that if you actually wore in on your trouser loop, you quickly found pieces missing, so it's nice to find it in one piece!

 

Not really my thing, but it will join the other novelty key-rings, alongside the other novelties and next to the figural key-rings, paperwork-wise! Quite a survivor too, as it's quite delicate, especially the visor, which has two little ethylene pins, and there is plenty of opportunity for loss, breakage or cracking, not to mention the sticker going missing, so a bit of a find I guess!

 

Relief-flat - a cockerel and grapes, is it a French regional mascot/logo thing? A winery? Or just a generic? Again, outside the main collection, but early plastic ephemeral, novelty/plaything, it has its place.

 

Another automotive subject here, with a small base-metal old-fashioned racing-car, might be based on an Edwardian board-game moulding? Not Monopoly, a lesser thing? But fun anyway!

 

Looking at the pre-'publish' close-ups, I think it's actually plastic, not base metal, and while possibly still from a board-game piece, is more likely to be taken from a charm-bracelet thing? Could even be homemade from a Christmas Cracker prize!

 

Another relief-flat of a cat and kitten, a bit bitter-sweet right now, I still miss Boysey-Boy every day, but these are black, and it's many years since we've had black cats, although once Dad brought six home in the staff-car, in a catering-sized cornflakes box, after rescuing them from the bin-stores at Browning Barracks!

 

Little Topo-Gigio, the Italian kids TV puppet, I wonder if some of the several similar small versions I have may also be ex-key-rings? I'll have to investigate them for loop-removal. This one was so hard to shoot on the red I gave-up and pulled up the winter cover, complete with cat hairs, only to find one of the red shots was actually useable!

F is for Found Objects - Two of . . . a Few

Continuing with this little bit of silliness, and I seem to have shot these in different configurations - as I was sorting and putting away I guess? More bits & bobs as found over the least three years.

A bunch of keys, with a PVC peanut, possibly from the old VW Golf Mum had many years ago? Lego bits and a marble, a cat's collar bell (which will end-up on the Christmas tree, they fill all the teeny gaps at the top!) and a plastic ring - probably from a Christmas Cracker's 'ring-toss' game - which will go to 'spares'.

 

An old Remembrance Day poppy stalk (we'll revisit them one day) and half a pistol grip from a small gun, its antler-horn finish has mostly been scraped away, and I suspect Mum was mid-way through reshaping it to replace a damaged or missing one on another weapon when that too was lost or broken? Mum was very handy at that sort of home-craft stuff.

 

A relatively modern looking box of crayons (99p in Woolworth's, they're about a fiver now! And have their own collector community), a plastic bullet (anyone know the toy it came from?), a playing-card joker, bouncy ball, Airfix Paratrooper and a wooden elephant of some style!

 

Two balls, and while I've only just added a collective image of balls to the Jig-Toy Page, these two have yet to be added to that page, although a reverse-colours football is there! The larger one has the same mechanism (i.e. 'simple') as the modern rubber one in that other picture!

Most seen above, but the gold-paper cracker-crown is an addition. I believe the elephant was made by my brother in woodwork classes at school, and may be a pattern some of you will recognise from your own past efforts? And I've mentioned before his private army of red/blue uniformed figures! It contained all his favourite figures from about four different sets, it was officer-heavy!

The card is somewhere between the very small ones you find in Christmas crackers, and normal or full size ones, and I have a small collection of mostly jokers and ace-of-spades somewhere, so this will join them, and I'll blog them at some point!

 

I believe the ball is a Wham-O original, it has that strange creaking noise I've observed with them before, and while I 'know' what the two neutral plastic pegs are from, I can't - right now - remember, and it may have nothing to do with toys, but I shot them together, so I think it must have? Maybe they just looked useful?

Liqueur miniature crates! Very useful for Action Man (beer) or larger doll's houses (milk, or something 'girly'!), I've put the cover in the spares zone as I though it might make a good roof for a sci-fi building or space-station at some point! one is old and has been hanging around for years (red), the other was from TKMaxx a year or two ago -blue one.

U is for Updates - Jig Toy Page

I've been adding stuff to the Jig Toy page for a few days now, and I think I added some stuff a while ago and didn't announce it, but there's still a few bits to add, by which time it will be about three times the size it was, but any order it had has been diluted by a more chaotic scrapbook approach.

Among the items still to be added are some larger puzzles from Character Molding of the US, which seems to be where my Fairylite 'Exploding Battleship' came from, no surprise as I pointed out at the time, they were all things to all toy men, including importers! I guess this was the 'Exploding Tank'?

The first word on these puzzles is still Rob's page, and he has added a tremendous amount since I last looked at it here;

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

H is for How They Come In - April I - Chris - Intro.

So, back to the folder of folders! This was a lovely lot from Chris (none haven't been!), with some very interesting items, and as I'm struggling to populate these opening paragraphs with words on all the similar posts; let's just get stuck in.

On the left are things which caught my eye in the minutes after opening, on the right what I am carefully picking through to add to the left-hand display, you can see another racing car in yellow, another turtle, a nice small-scale hay-cart . . . parachuting paratroopers!

Sorting into thematic piles gave (clockwise from top left); Military, civilian, historical/ceremonial, medieval, cartoon/TV & movie, Wild West, Space & Sci-Fi and finally; animals - the gold lady in 7 should really have been in 5, as she is a superhero character!

The fruits of my sorting (and Chris's labours), from the vehicular genre; the two racing cars were probably cake decorations, but they can also be found as rack-toy fodder, usually with a simple slam-plate, sprung-launcher, the sports-coupe is fun and the wagon has a series of six articles in preparation for the Giant Blog, this one having been given what looks like a Lledo horse and is most likely from a Christmas cracker?

The jig-toy lorry needs no introduction and the two rubber boats (Kinder? Behind and kit piece forward) are grist to the mill, while the Kellogg's submarine is missing it's conning-tower details, but they ARE the four stumps of the earlier moulding, and the plastic colour is very unusual?

And the liner is superb! I thought it might be a missing piece from the probably Zang set we looked at a while ago, but Chris pointed-out it's plaster, not harder composition, so an old chalkwear cake decoration, but not one I'd seen before - lovely! The three funnels suggests an attempt at RMS Queen Mary?

Some of the civilians included two larger racing drivers, a really nice pair of safari explorers (presumably from a modern play set?) and a better copy of the Corgi copy safari guide than my broken yellow one, seen here before. I think the two large ones had a markers mark but I've forgotten it so I won't make an arse of myself by guessing the wrong one!

The lower shot shows to reissued Marx linesmen (which I wish I'd had when I photographed the telephone-truck! Although it was a much bigger scale), along with an ambulance man who looks similar to a weird military stretcher crew I have - as parachute toys! Final item is an interesting and probably home-made figurine of a woman carved from a close-grained softwood - maybe for a nativity scene?

Some of the more interesting sports figures and a Dinky-copy firefighter who clearly had a push-on hose. The blue lady was manufactured with ring-hands and may be a Hong Kong (or minor make) take-off of the Marx / Cherliea types? But she's polystyrene which is not 'palyable'.

The two running figures may be from those board-games I've mentioned before, where a larger figure/target throws things down a 'mountain' to knock the players over before they complete a task or circuit of the board and start climbing up the sides to get the 'target' figure?

Don't know anything about the skateboarders, (next day - but Chris does; “Tony Hawk” McDonalds happy meal toys 2005/6 each came with a ramp or half pipe to do stunts with) but there are a lot of toys like them around the place at the moment, and they will encourage me to satrt a skateboarder section as I have a few now, mostly cake decorations but others like these. The road-worker is a particularly nice one and I think the 'diver' with a spring is actually a footballer from an interactive board (or 'tray') game?

Drivers and seated; as I've said before, like paratroopers, these are always in mixed or junk lots, or rummage trays at shows, divorced from the vast number of die-cast and plastic vehicles and novelties made over the last seven-or-so decades and the ID'ing of them will be a major job - one day! There are two versions of fork-lift driver here for starters (painted - top left) and I hope to ID the large motorcyclist at some point.

Thanks as always to Chris Smith for sending this stuff to the Blog to be shared with y'all, and it's animals next.

News, Views Etc . . . Jig Toy Page

I've had a photo-session on the 'master collection, and will be adding stuff to the 'Jig Toy' puzzle page over the next few weeks or months as time allows.

To that end, and allowing for some duplication with stuff already Blogged, I've shoved the ships and vessels on there today.

News, Views Etc . . . Additional Imagery / Copy

Nothing here today, but I've added a group shot of cars to the Jig Toy Page (above) and two bear flats to the Airfix flats post on the Airfix Blog post dealing with them.

News, Views etc....Jigtoys

Had a nice eMail from Nick Symes (who's the chap behind the increasingly comprehensive and excellent British cereal premium site 'Cereal Offers' we've linked to once or twice), he's starting to get the Kellogg's pages loaded, and provided three links to his Jig Toys posts which I've added to the jig-toy page (above).

It answers several questions but leaves me needing to edit the page (again!), which I'll try do do promptly...in the meantime...the horses aren't missing their ears...the gap 'is' their ears! The tractor, likewise never had a sticky-up exhaust, so the Merit one isn't broken. The difference between all the wagons is partly-explained by different mouldings over time and there were three sets, not the two in 'Cluck' with some very different toys in the third which helps explain things. Anyway; links are above.

F is for Follow-up...to R is for Return...to Jig Toys!

While putting away the new bits I blogged earlier, I though "Didn't I get a little bagged one the other day? What did I do with that?"...well..., I'd put it in with the HK carded stuff, not with the other Jig Toys! And, I'd failed to blog the damaged yellow one a while ago with the others, so...there's enough for another post!

I think we did look at this way back when, but that one is quite pink - if memory serves - and in storage, I've since obtained a redder one and the dun-yellow beast behind it (missing a rear axle), only to pick up a bagged one the other day in a lot of mixed sets.

I once saw a monotone carded one at the big toy fair in the NEC, Birmingham, but the dealer wanted silly money for it so I passed. These are hideously over-hyped, over-valued and over-priced, there are literally millions of them out there, and if you wait, they turn-up in mixed lots for no money at all, or you can $26+post for a BIN on feeBay?

Reverse of the pocket-money carded one with instructions. They also come in gum-ball machines, fairground grab-machines, Christmas crackers and any other source of small, inexpensive, plastic tat!

Just as in the UK the 'originals' are credited to Bell/Merit (J then J&L Randall), so in the States Lionel seem to get the credit for the better quality samples. I think that while these are all HK, the yellow one may be based on a Lionel original, while the red ones are lesser quality copies of copies.

The ladder is the wrong way round on the dusty yellow one giving it even greater visual difference from the red one, but it is taller with a bigger cab, better details and has cleaner lines.

R is for Return...to Jig Toys

Although they are easier to search for on evilBay as Puzzle Keychains (or Key Chains, sellers have learnt to use both in the title-bar alongside one another), we in the UK also know them as Jig Toys from the Kellogg's issues and that's how I have listed/tagged them over the years.

These have turned-up since I last blogged them (I'll probably gather all the posts together in one page as I did with the HK 'khaki infantry' the other day, so it's all in one place), the ball in one of several geometric shape puzzles you can find out there while the other two are not really puzzles, being more 'clip-together' stacks of parts with a single key-part.

The ferry boat comes in two sizes, I think we've looked at the smaller version before, this is the larger one, same number of parts and same method of construction.

The actual trigger for this post...how fun is this? It's small, looks nothing like a monster, or a dinosaur, and has no puzzle. The capsule is clearly aimed at the Christmas Stocking market, as it's disguised as a tangerine! They also come in Christmas crackers at the budget end of the market.

I took it off the runner and made it up, sacrilege - I know - but having discussed 'Canon' elsewhere today and pointed out that I'm not an atheist because there's no words for people who don't believe in Pixies, Faeries, Zombies or the Flying Spaghetti Monster I feel a bit of sacrilege is a good thing; helping keep religious fantasists in their place...and it's a mass-produced, ephemeral piece of plastic shite, of which I'm sure another will turn-up!

I think all the above are Hong Kong in origin, but the train might be a British original? The 'monster' and the locomotive are soft ethylene, while the other two are hard styrene.

J is for Jig-toy

When I last looked at these back in 2008 I said we'd come back to them, and here we are - doing so! But these aren't the ones I was thinking of at the time, which are now in storage, these are some I photographed at Sandown park last Saturday (pine backgrounds), or that have come into the collection in the last year or two (black backgrounds), so we will come back to them again!

If you click on the above link, this post will reappear at the top as it's the same search tag.

 When we looked at them last time (days after I started the Blog!) I stated that Bell/Merit went from phenolic plastics to ethylene leaving Hong Kong to styrene (although pointing out that Peter Pan also used polystyrene), it's now clear that some intermediate J&L Randall stuff was styrene as well, such as with this helicopter - lower shots.

The upper image is two of the Kellogg's freebies, being copies of a Merit helicopter and a donkey/pony/foal/zebra? This is missing its ears, as was the one we looked at way back when, as are all my examples and most of those (of these) I've ever seen, it slots/clips into the little chink at the bridge of the nose and is easily lost. I would imagine 99% of the ears that ever left a factory have been found by vacuum cleaners and were sent to landfill/incineration decades ago!

These are all in the style of Kellogg's issues, but two of them probably aren't Kellogg's; the Fire Engine which is a Hong Kong copy and the two-tone car. The other three are Kellogg's. The car was one of the puzzles copied by an - as yet - unknown (by me) Hungarian maker during the days of the Cold War in polystyrene, along with a tilted army-truck.

Two of my favourites, the little tank has a stump for a gun-barrel, and a very simple action which is not so much puzzle as a click-together! But I keep buying them when I see them in order to make single colour ones from all the pieces- I've now got enough for an all-red one!

The rocket I'm really pleased with, it was not a lot, despite all space-themed toys commanding an unnecessary - in my opinion - premium just for being 'space' toys, and although styrene, I think it's quite early. Like the tank its mechanism is not so puzzle-like, and it's a bit loose and floppy, but for 50's pulp, it hits the spot.

We've looked at most of these before, but you can't have too many! I wonder if the duck/penguin thing is a cartoon character of the time (1950-60's), I'm pretty sure I've seen other toys/playthings in a similar style/shape? In the version found in America and those from Hong Kong he has an obvious duck's beak and is wearing a top-hat, but an early version with a thermo-printed face on what is otherwise a bowling-pin with feet was called Smook...does that mean anything to anyone?

The car is a new design on the blog, while the Scottie-dog is similar to both the elephant we looked at last time and a cat still waiting in the wings, but has a different part-order to the elephant. The cowboy is another favourite and this is an earlier version, as are all this group - bar the dog.

On the left are comparisons between ethylene, one-colour (Kellogg's) and styrene versions, which may or may not be Merit originals. The tractor is also Merit; a David Brown and the metallic mauve section is very unusual. The exhaust stack is broken and a slot on the seat hints at a driver figure I've never seen...maybe it was considered and then dropped?

The wagon, this is probably a Kellogg's one, there are so many differences with these it's hard to know what's what, I have several and the side detailing is different on all of them, so even if the Kellogg's supplier had several different cavities in the mould, it can't explain all of them.

Listing

Transport
Covered Wagon - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Covered Wagon - polystyrene - Merit
Covered Wagon - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1959 and 1970
Steam locomotive - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Aeroplane (twin-engine) - polystyrene - Merit
Aeroplane (twin-engine) - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1959
Aeroplane ('lolly-stick wings) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Aeroplane (simplified version of above) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Aeroplane (egg-shaped) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Jet Fighter - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Nic-Nak Novelties (Freeport, NY)
Jet Fighter - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Space Rocket - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Space Rocket - polystyrene - Merit
Flat-bed Lorry (Guy/ERF flat-fronted cab) - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1959
Tipper-Lorry (Volvo long-bonnet cab) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Tilted Lorry (Mercedes/Tatra rounded cab) - polystyrene - Hungarian and Hong Kong (Puzzle Top)
Ocean Liner - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1959 (might be the same as the next listing)
Ocean Cruiser - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1970
Destroyer - polystyrene - Merit and Albers Carnation (Men of Annapolis)
Battleship - polystyrene - Fairylite (larger puzzle)
River Ferry (two stacks) - polystyrene - Best (Hong Kong) and Lionel (US)
Ocean Liner (simplified version of above with one stack) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
River Cruiser - polystyrene - Hong Kong (like Monopoly boat)
Helicopter - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Helicopter - polystyrene - Merit
Helicopter - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1959
Jeep - polystyrene - Merit
Jeep - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1959 and 1970
Tractor - polystyrene - Merit
Tractor - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1970
Saloon Car - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1970
Sports Car - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Sports Car - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Racing Car with Driver - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Racing Car with Driver - polystyrene - (Hong Kong?)
Racing Car (large cart with driver) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Racing Cart (looks like shoe!) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Old Fashioned Car - polystyrene - Lionel (and Fairylite? Larger puzzle)
Jeep - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1970
Artillery Gun (25lbr?)  - polystyrene - Merit 
Artillery Gun (25lbr?) - polystyrene - Hong Kong (Action Puzzle)
Artillery Gun (6" Howitzer?) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Fire Engine - polystyrene - Merit
Fire Engine - polyethylene - Hong Kong
Fire Engine - polystyrene - Hong Kong (usually single colour; pink or red)
Motorcycle Cop - polystyrene - Peter Pan Playthings

Animal and Figural
Cat (in profile) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Cat (in profile) - polystyrene - Merit and Hong Kong
Elephant (chunk) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - (Bell/Merit?)
Elephant (chunk) - polystyrene - Merit and Hong Kong
Elephant (running) - polystyrene - Merit and Hong Kong
Scotty-dog (chunk)  - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Scotty-dog (chunk) - polystyrene - Merit and Hong Kong
Scotty-dog (chunk) - polystyrene -Roddy (Southport, UK)
Scotty-dog (chunk - scaled-down version of above) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Bulldog (in profile) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Bulldog (in profile) - polystyrene - Merit and Hong Kong 
Long-nosed Puppy (chunk) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Dolphin - polystyrene (?) - (Fairylite? large puzzle)
Owl - polystyrene - Hungarian
Smook (printed face) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - (US make?)
Duck/Penguin (small beak) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Duck (large beak) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Horse/Donkey/Pony/Zebra (..of Troy?) - polyethylene - Kellogg's 1970
Cowboy on Bucking Bronco - polystyrene - US make and Hong Kong
Indian on Bucking Bronco - polystyrene - US make and Hong Kong
Indian on Standing Horse - polystyrene - Hong Kong (Chemtoy)
Cowgirl on Trotting Horse - polystyrene - US make and Hong Kong
Cowboy/Mexican on chunky horse - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - (Bell/Merit?)
Cowboy/Mexican on chunky horse (with pigs head/face) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin (US make?)
Cowboy/Mexican on chunky horse - Hong Kong
Baseball Hitter / Baseball Player - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Wrestler  - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit (and US make?)
Wrestler - polystyrene - Merit and Hong Kong (and US make?)
Wrestler (scaled-down version of above) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Robot - polystyrene - Hong Kong

Firearms
Ray Gun (side-arm with telescopic sights) - polystyrene - Merit
Ray Gun (egg/rocket-shaped side-arm) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Ray Gun (really fat side-arm) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Ray Gun (clear sleeve over barrel, side-am) - polystyrene - Hong Kong (in capsule egg)
Ray gun (rifle) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Tommy Gun (Thompson SMG) - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Revolver / 6-gun- cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Revolver / 6-gun - polystyrene - Hong Kong

Geometric and Objects
Cube - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Ball (large) - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit
Ball (small, on lucky-horseshoe key-chain) - polystyrene - Peter Pan Playthings
Football (as above but sections arranged in football 'patches') - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Heart Shape - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Rugby Ball - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Egg - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Bowling Pin - polystyrene - Hong Kong
Pressing Iron / Steam iron - cellulose acetate/phenolic resin - Bell/Merit

Puzzle Puzzles (not really Jig-toys as they are sealed-units)
Rubik's Cube (3x3x3 cubes) - polystyrene - Hong Kong and Hungary
Rubik's Triple (3 in-line cubes) -polystyrene - Hong Kong and Hungary
Rubik's Drum - polystyrene - Hong Kong and Hungary
Rubik's Mini-Babylon (sliding balls) - polystyrene - Hong Kong and Hungary ('Magic Tower')
Ball (spherical version of Rubik's cube) - polystyrene - Hong Kong

Only one or two of these (following collage) are mine, the rest are hoovered-off the Internet for the archive, while they were all copyright-free or lacking any obvious copyright, I present them for research purposes, small, and cut-up to help you with the above list, not to be of commercial use to anyone.

We will return to these one day, as they are a favoured side-collection of mine and I will photograph most of the rest in close-up then!

F is for Fairylite

I picked this up at Sandown Park a few weeks ago, it's a lot bigger than the Bell/Merit jig-toys supplied to Kellogg's, and the seller stated it was Fairylite, but there's nothing to indicate whether it is or not actually, so the attribution is to be considered provisional until I see a boxed or carded one somewhere?

'Battle Damage' Battleship!

It also differs from the other British-made ones by being polystyrene, while the earlier ones started life in Cellulose acetate and then moved to a softer ethylene with US puzzles and HK copies of all in styrene.

Fairylite were importers from HK (and Japan) but also combined, sourced toys closer to home and seem to have made some themselves, so 'you pays your money' with them sometimes in trying to attribute origin!

The interesting thing about this is unlike the others mentioned, which usually have a guessable system of construction with a central 'key' that actually does all the work, this has a serious element of puzzle to it, which seems to be based on the common mechanism of the wooden cubes, balls, barrels and pyramids of my childhood. Indeed you can still get them and they make excellent presents for kids at that difficult age, where kid is not yet teenager!

P is for still more Puzzles!

Continuing a theme...or tearing the arse out of it, depending on your point of view! The most sought after by collectors are those with a space connection, or the various weapons....

These would all appear to be by the same manufacturer, an unknown Hong Kong producer, the Robot and 'plane are both set-up as key-rings, the ray-gun is one of two designs I know of, while the Tommy-gun is damaged and glued (there should be a bit of the orange sticking out of the bottom and twistable), I do have a revolver but I will cover that when I look at the British manufacturers another time.

The Lorry on the left is a soft plastic Kellogg's one, the other is a hard plastic HK copy. Another design of Lorry has the long bonnet (hood) of a Volvo type truck. There are also several versions of car around.

These are by Peter Pan Playthings and Bell, the Elephant by Bell is in the same Phenolic plastic as the multi-coloured wagon in the previous post, hinting at the origin of the otherwise unmarked wagon (and unmarked instruction sheet). The Peter Pan toys are in Polystyrene - hard plastic, the motorcycle cop is about 35mm, the traditional ball puzzle is also a key-ring with plastic fob, not something designed to last much beyond Christmas day!

I will cover both these manufacturers and Merit in greater depth another day, but feel you've probably had you fill of puzzles for now!!!

P is for more Puzzles

The commonest puzzles seem to be those supplied to Kellogg's in the mid/late '60's, they being licenced from originals and easily available to pirates for endless copies.

These are the Wagon, the instruction sheet may be the Kellogg's one, but it came with the top - multi-coloured - wagon which is not Kellogg's so I doubt it. This is an early English one in some sort of phenolic plastic which is starting to distort. The rest are all soft polythene and at least one will be Kellogg's, however if you click on the image you will see they are all slightly different so trying to work out which one is which....?

Jeeps; These are probably all Kellogg's, they actually had two tranches a year or so apart, but they changed a couple of the items, there were six in each set giving 8 to look out for, always in soft plastic. It is my supposition that they were produced for them by either Cherilea or more probably Hilco, this is based purely on the plastic type and colours used. Whether either the supplier or Kellogg's had a licence/permission to copy them is open to question.

Merit Destroyer escorts three Kellogg's Liners, the Kellogg's give-aways were mostly equipped with a ring for a key-fob, again all these colours were used by Hillco!

P is also for Puzzle

These used to be common features of the old joke shops, Christmas stockings would contain them and Christmas crackers still have late-generation Hong Kong piracy's, while they now turn up on eBay - usually as Key-rings.

This is one of the old Kellogg's ones, they issued two sets a couple of years apart with a few differences, I will cover the Western Wagon and Jeep later.

The racing car is quite an old one, the tank is a recent Christmas cracker toy, the car comes in at about 1:50 the tank is so simple it's barely a puzzle at all!

These are a great favourite of mine, the one on the left is the older, probably British and late 60's/early 70's, the other two are later Hong Kong piracy's, note the hat size of the middle one. There are dealers regularly on eBay selling the modern version of this Guy and his Indian counterpart.

This is a less common cowboy variant who will not stand up, like the previous design he is about 30mm if he has a true scale?