Two weeks ago we visited Braidwood - a small, heritage-listed, town between Canberra and the coast. It has some interesting shops which sell a wide range of items, from antiques, to oil lamps, to 1950's clothing.
One of the shops happens to be an outlet for reproduction 1950's clock-work, Japanese, tin-plate toys. These days the toys are made in China and are produced for a limited world-market - they aren't the type of thing that you would always find in your local "Toys-R-Us".
I happened to pick up two of these, the first being a robotic figure named "Chief Robot."
When the chief is wound up and placed on a flat surface he moves ahead and then turns to the right, repeating this action until the mechanism winds down. This is accompanied by sparks shooting about behind the little window in his mid-section. No doubt these sparks are produced by a flint-and-wheel arrangement similar to a cigarette lighter.
Underneath is a protruding cam-operated lever which operates on a cyclic basis, pushing against the table surface and lifting the left-hand wheel off the table, thus causing the robot to turn right and then continue its march.
The other character I bought is called the "Happy Wanderer" and this item is made for only two distributors - one in Spain and the other here in Australia.
This is a real delight.
When wound up the duck-like figure pedals his tricycle in a large arc, with his articulated legs flying up and down on the pedals and the three-bladed propeller on his hat whirling around in a blur.
Very colourful when operating.
I was interested to learn - and be shown - that originals of such toys bring vast sums at auctions, a nice copy of the Wanderer realising over AUS$2000 when sold last year in the USA.
At least mine are affordable and, because of that, I can demonstrate them when the grand-children visit without having to do so behind armoured glass!
One of the shops happens to be an outlet for reproduction 1950's clock-work, Japanese, tin-plate toys. These days the toys are made in China and are produced for a limited world-market - they aren't the type of thing that you would always find in your local "Toys-R-Us".
I happened to pick up two of these, the first being a robotic figure named "Chief Robot."
When the chief is wound up and placed on a flat surface he moves ahead and then turns to the right, repeating this action until the mechanism winds down. This is accompanied by sparks shooting about behind the little window in his mid-section. No doubt these sparks are produced by a flint-and-wheel arrangement similar to a cigarette lighter.
Underneath is a protruding cam-operated lever which operates on a cyclic basis, pushing against the table surface and lifting the left-hand wheel off the table, thus causing the robot to turn right and then continue its march.
This is a real delight.
When wound up the duck-like figure pedals his tricycle in a large arc, with his articulated legs flying up and down on the pedals and the three-bladed propeller on his hat whirling around in a blur.
Very colourful when operating.
I was interested to learn - and be shown - that originals of such toys bring vast sums at auctions, a nice copy of the Wanderer realising over AUS$2000 when sold last year in the USA.
At least mine are affordable and, because of that, I can demonstrate them when the grand-children visit without having to do so behind armoured glass!
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