Tootsie Toys plastic animals

I seem to have been away for a long time, it was never particularly intended to be like that, but it has somehow happened. One of the reasons is the growth of pinterest*. Which Ive been using quite a bit. A shame really as it doesnt seem to have the community aspect that perhaps a blog has, but it is fast and a good way of collating and storing online finds. One things for sure, is its certainly less labour intensive than the blog, but sadly much less personal! 

Anyhow, back today with some more plastic animals, in the shape of Tootsie toys. I know nothing about them, but have been picking them up over the last few years. The dinosaur series seems to be much more sought after than the animals, but these fellas have a charm of their own.

We have been finding some lovely things, so I do promise to come back soon.

* Should you want to follow me on pinterest you can do so here.

Pull along Russian cat

Here's something a little bit visually different from what we usually post, but too nice not to share. This gem of a find came from a recent trip to London, on a horrible wet and drizzly Sunday. We were not optimistic that anything would be on given the weather, but we stumbled upon a car boot near Elstree. Amongst an interesting hoard of house clearance items we unearthed this little treasure. The cat itself is wooden, but has a painted jesso surface. The base is roughly 6 X 4", and in total she stands 8.5" tall.

She sits on a wooden base, with wheels that roll along. On the base is a rather ornate gold label in Russian, but sadly Ive no knowledge of Russian and  can make no headway with what it says. Below is a close up of the label in case anyone can unravel the cats history.

Interestingly the stick (looks like a ice cream stick) on the base appears to move what looks like bellows, that sit under the base.  Whether the cat had some kind of musical movement at some point is  a mystery.

Small plastic Giraffe seeks wheels!

Rather nice, seated Giraffe made from a soft rubbery plastic. My guess is he came with a car. He stands 35mm small, but with no makers mark, I haven't got a clue who the fella is!

Disco Bear

Small plastic novelty bear throwing some great shapes, why?

More fisher Price animals

A while back I posted a Fisher Price Circus monkey, last week some more turned up, and this time the monkey has a tail!

Lines brothers Roll along plastic animals

A small collection of plastic animals on wheels. Not one has a makers mark, but on a visit to the rather wonderful Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood last year I thought I spotted the toys above. Apparently the animals were only prototypes and created by Fred Pearl, for Lines Brothers. Pearl is more famous for producing models for Star Wars.

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Two Britains, plastic animals from 1978, that I picked up last month. You can see a whole load more over at the toybox, where he has some fantastic boxed elephants!

Young Penguin seeks new friends!

Hot on the heels of the two lovely rabbits that turned up a while back, are these three little delightful wooden birds, with dainty wire legs.

I cant tell you a thing about them, except the stork and the red bird dont seem to be too enamoured, with their young penguin friend! It looks as if hes asked a question and they're not prepared to give him an answer. Oh dear! I wonder what the question was?

Häschenschule wooden Rabbits from East Germany

These rather fetching, wooden rabbits turned up at the car boot, a while back, but despite having their bases stamped, I knew nothing about them except they were East German.

However after stumbling across Spielzeugladen, a toy shop in Freiburg, South West Germany, I'm a little bit wiser. It appears the characters, Hans & Gretchen, come from the classic German tale, Die Häschenschule. The Rabbit School was written by Albert Sixtus, and first published in 1924.

Invicta plastic animals

From the company that gave us the game Mastermind, come these fabulous plastic animal moulds. Invicta was established in 1946 with an RAF war gratuity of just £100.
They continue to produce plastic dinosaurs, as well as other plastic point of sale materials.

Todays post features a set of fantastic animals, that came in a various colourways. Below are some vehicles from the same range.

Sad Wooden Donkey

A sad wooden donkey, who is in desperate need of a restring. Hence his weird posture! Hes beautifully made & is around 12" in length. There is no makers mark, but he could be Galt or Brio. His rubbed edges hint as his history and just add to his charm.

Pretty Plastic Pooches

Two more unknown plastic figures. They look like they could come from the Fisher Price range, but Im not sure. They both have articulated heads, tails and legs, and were made in Hong Kong.

Poor old Lassie! Looks like shes been in a rather nasty fight!

An old friend

Brio Pull along Daschund

Two wooden dogs. One with tail, and one without.
Brio are still making the popular, black Daschund. The red one is so similar, that I presume it must have been made by them too.

R Dakins' Dream Pets

Weve picked up a few of these recently at different car boots, although it took a while to realise they were from the same series. Apparently Dream Pets were first released in 1957. They were originally made in Japan, and the story goes the stuffed toys had been used to protect toy trains imported by R Dakin & Co. They caused quite a stir and by the late seventies there were over 2000 characters to collect.

Reissued in 2004, The characters stand about 5" high and are made from a mixture of felt, and a suede like product. The three above, are #19. Roquefort #18. Pancho & Demo Donkey. Below is a label detailing the range. You can see a few more over at Pidgeonblog, and a few more here.

Tente Monkey Business

I was about to post a whole hoard of older lego duplo figures, but amongst the collection I found this little monkey, who caught my eye, and didnt quite belong. It turned out he was made by a company called Tente.

Tente were based in Barcelona, Spain, where they created a whole range of construction toys along similar lines to lego. Its fans are adamant it was more detailed and even more educational than its Danish counterpart.

The most fantastic thing about this chap, is that his collar spins his head round, to reveal three fabulously different expressions; He can be angry, happy and sleepy.......

But for now hes off to bed.

1970s Playskool Lock-up Zoo animals

More lovely animals, this time from Playskool. The set went under the title Tykeworld Lock up zoo. These fabulous pre school chunky wooden toys came with hinged plastic heads. The series also included a play board, train wagon, a Gorilla and several curious plastic family figures, which Ill try and post another time.

Lucky Cat Mascot

According to where you reside black cats are viewed very differently! Theres no doubting this little fella is pretty Lucky! Made in Japan this magnetic pin cushion measures 9cm.

1970s plastic animals from Hong Kong

Lead dogs

Ever since I used to visit Jims Emporium in Liverpool, Ive always been on the look out for lead figures, and these dogs certainly hit the spot!

If memory serves me right they were from Jims stall when he was at Quiggins. Jim would study old Victorian maps looking for old rubbish tips. He'd find the sites, take a spade and dig for old bottles, but of course other things turned up, including broken dolls head, and sometimes lead figures.

The more worn an item, the more I like them. Its as if the scars give the item a sense of history. They certainly have more character that way.

But watch out! It looks as if one of the dogs has broken out of the back of the kennel!