Die Cast Toys

Die cast toys have been around since the early twentieth century. Dinky Toys and TootsieToys were some of the early lines. They get their name from the fact that the toys, mostly made of metal, are die cast and then additional parts of plastic may be added. The quality of die cast toys has been steadily improving over the years and they have become increasingly detailed.

Many of the die cast toys became a method of advertising
for companies.

Notice the attention to detail.

In the World's Largest Toy Museum we have hundreds, if not thousands of die cast toys. Most of them are in the museum of course, but we also have quite a selection in our gift shop.

There are trucks, cars, tractors, planes and boats. There are large ones, medium size ones and tiny ones. Some are merely replicas of a particular car or truck while others are used to advertise a particular company's business.

Is it a toy or is it a collectible  I've always felt like a toy should be played with but then some of the die cast toys get a little pricey and some children are harder on toys than others. Consequently I'll leave the decision up to you. It is fun, however, to have a replica, for instance, of your first car or the tractor you drove on the farm as you were growing up. 

Lockheed Constellation
Pan Am

When I was a little boy, my younger brother was in the Cincinnati Children's Hospital so my aunt and uncle took me off mom and dad's hands to give them a break. They took me to the Cincinnati airport and I saw the plane pictured at the left coming in for a landing. I was forever hooked on planes from that moment on. In fact mom always said I was just "plane" crazy. We have all kinds of die cast planes here from early to current, military to civilian, private to commercial. Needless to say, they are my favorite die cast toys.

Often a die cast toy will also serve as a bank like this 1925 Delivery Truck at the right. Sometimes the coin slot is obvious like this one and sometimes it will be hidden and you will have to remove a part of the toy to reveal its location like on some of our tugboat die cast banks.

You can read more about die cast toys on Wikipedia.

Go to our Facebook page World's Largest Toy Museum to see more pictures of just a few of the thousands of die cast toys that we have. Or, better yet, come see us at The World's Largest Toy Museum and see them first hand. There are hundreds in our gift shop that are available for purchase as well.

Good Old Bird

One of the new/old dolls that has come to live here at the World's Largest Toy Musuem recently is in pretty good shape. When I saw her stretched out like that I thought I'd surely break something if I tried to get in that position not to mention the challenge of getting back up! Most of my exercising (when it gets done at all) consists of walking - not contorting.

However, what caught my eye was the old bird standing behind her. The base says, "Peters Weatherbird Shoes - For Boys - For Girls." I had never heard of Weatherbird Shoes and so I did a little checking. I learned that the Saint Louis Peters Shoes Company used Weatherbird's image for promotion purposes from 1907 to 1932. But who is Weatherbird? As it turns out, Weatherbird is the oldest continually running daily cartoon in America. He first appeared in February of 1901  in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and is still going. He's been drawn by several different creators over the years and his "look" has evolved somewhat as well. But for twenty five years he was also the mascot for children's shoes manufactured by the Saint Louis Peters Shoes Company.

Perhaps our girl in pink has some Peters Weatherbird Shoes she can change into from her ballet slippers.

Some of the information for this blog came from www.weatherbird.wikia.com

New Old Stuff

If you go through the World's Largest Toy Museum right now you will see several of these signs. The reason? We just recently acquired the contents of a toy museum at Natural Bridge, VA. We now have the joyous task of finding room in what many folks already consider a "full" museum for these 45,000 additional items. I never cease to marvel at the creative ways Tom Beck and Raine Clotfelter make space appear where none seemed to be before. Before this building was a museum it used to be a restaurant and guess what - a walk-in freezer makes a quite nice display area. Who knew?

With the addition of these new items, we now have toys that go clear back to the 1700s. We have a lot if international dolls and all kinds of other toys that make visiting the World's Largest Toy Museum an even more incredible experience. Even our gift shop has a number of additions from this acquisition expanding what we have to offer.

As we get various displays set up, I'll be posting photos on our "World's Largest Toy Museum" Facebook page for you to enjoy. Keep in mind, though, those snapshots are no comparison to the wonderful fun of seeing over a million toys as you journey through time here at the museum. Looking forward to seeing you.

The Joy of Toys

Merry Christmas from the World's Largest Toy Museum. The other evening I was attending a show in Branson and at intermission a gentleman came up to me and suggested I would make a good "Santa." I was hoping he was referencing my white hair and beard rather than my size. In any case, I feel a little like Santa every day when I get to demonstrate toys to folks in our gift shop. It is a real joy to see little eyes light up to see a particular magic trick or hear a favorite tune on a penny whistle or harmonica.

Sometimes the joy is reflected from older faces that have just seen their favorite doll or tractor or cap pistol. One lady came out of the doll section practically floating above the floor. She had seen her favorite doll that she had played with back in the 1920's. She was almost emotional about the reunion.

The joy is not so much in the toy as it is in the memory that it evokes. We call it a toy museum but we could have just as easily called it a Joy Museum. Even my Dad, who was a little reluctant to go through because he said, "I never had many toys growing up," recognized a lot of toys. Of course he would preface it with, "Harold had one of those." or "Bobby had that." Still, there was joy in recognizing the toy and remembering the experiences regardless of whose toy it was.

While it is true that we may have a number of memories from our childhood that are not always particularly pleasant, but usually the ones surrounding toys - either ours or someone else's - are memories of joy filled experiences. We here at the World's Largest Toy Museum want to wish for you a joyous Christmas season for as the familiar carol says, "Joy to the world, the Lord has come."

Rubber Duckie

Rubber Duckie, you're the one,You make bathtime lots of fun,Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you;

Do you remember that song? While the rubber duck goes back to the late 1800's it was boosted to almost a cult status when Ernie sang the song on Sesame Street in 1970. The song was even nominated for a Grammy in 1971 for "Best Recording for Children."

Check out this video of a Rubber Duckie music box from the early 70's. This music box is in its second generation and is loved by the grand kids too.

While the music box was intended as an addition to a music box collection, it was too much of a favorite (and still is) to play with and as you can see, the poor "Duckie" has been through a lot and has endured numerous repairs.
At our gift shop in the World's Largest Toy Museum & Attractions , we have various sizes and colors (yes, not all rubber duckies are yellow) and they are always a favorite purchase.

It was even reported in 2001 that Queen Elizabeth II had a rubber duck in her bathroom with an inflatable crown. According to the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records, the largest known collection of rubber ducks stands at 2,583 different rubber ducks and that's a lot of quackers.

A Christmas Carol: From New York to Texas to Branson

The Tale

Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol has been a Christmas favorite ever since it was first published on December 19, 1843. It has been portrayed hundreds and hundreds of times in many different forms - countless times on screen, both live action and animated, on stage, opera and even by the Muppets. It has been so popular that it has never been out of print since it was first published a hundred sixty nine  years ago.





The Place

At the corner of Post Office and Kempner (22nd) streets in Galveston, TX, sits a building that is a part of the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1914 with the original core of the building dating back to 1870. It is known as Eibands and at one time housed, among other businesses, Eibands Department Store. In days gone by, department stores were a much bigger deal that perhaps they are today - especially at Christmas time. Going to the department store in town and seeing the awesome window displays was always a treat.

The Start 

In 1935, Eiband's obtained window displays for their store that were hand-made in New York, which depicted the story of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

At Home in the Ozarks

That display is now housed at The World's Largest Toy Museum and is enjoyed by thousands, young and old alike, every year.

 

Anachronism

Anachronism - noun - something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time.

Is a World's Largest Toy Museum blog post an anachronism? Certainly, in our museum we have many toys that go back many years before blogging, before smart phones, before computers, before . . .  Well, you get the picture. And yet we want to keep in touch with a world that even though they seem to be hooked on technology, could still benefit from slowing down and thinking about a more relaxed and in many ways simpler time.

We will be posting articles on items and collections we have here in the museum and you might just find some that resonate with you. You may even decide you need to come to Branson, MO, and join the thousands that go through our museum every year.

As I was writing this, a young couple walked by (honeymooners) and I asked them to categorize the museum in a word or two: "Amazing", "It tells a story."  Yes, it does tell a story and the interesting thing is that the story is you. You bring your story to the museum and when you see a particular GI Joe, or truck or doll, it triggers that story and you realize that even though you hadn't thought about that story for years, it rushes to the surface and you re-live it all over again.

In addition to our blog, you might enjoy our website: www.worldslargesttoymuseum.com as well as visiting (and "liking") our Facebook page: World's Largest Toy Museum