TVTA Christmas selection box 2022 – the marvelous universe of toys!

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Cover detail. Arbois toy catalogue. France. C1978.

Greetings vintage mates! It’s that time of year again when your humble TVTA editor and his intrepid office cat, Wooof, search high and yo-ho-ho low for some seasonal scans to warm the cockles of your Christmas heart!

So, sit back, slip on your Ewok slippers, grab a mince pie, and allow us to mull your wine and get figgy with your pudding, as TVTA presents you with some delightful toys and games from yesteryear courtesy of the French Arbois catalogue (no date printed on this catalogue, alas, but I’m staking the Christmas raffle on it being 1978! Wooof says it’s 1980… but I think he’s had one too many sherries and is meowing up the wrong Christmas tree. Furballs ahoy!). This Arbois catalogue features toys and games from the CEJI imports company.

Enjoy the scans. Have a very merry Christmas and a fruitful and creative New Year!

Ford

Below images: Action Joe figures. Action Joe (or Group Action Joe) is the French version of the UK’s Palitoy Action Man and the US’s Hasbro G.I. Joe. Alongside Lego and die cast cars, Action Man was the toy I had ‘the most of’. The below adverts bring back happy memories as I had almost all of the uniforms featured.

Action Joe parachute. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Action Joe. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Action Joe. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978. Note: the diorama shows G.I. Joe walkie talkies.

Action Joe. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Action Joe. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below image: Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down! I only had a couple of Weebles figures when I was a child, but thoroughly enjoyed playing with one of my friends who had most of the playsets featured below – including a Weebles airplane!

Airfix Weebles. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below image: Time for tea… with Alba kitchenware sets.

Alba toy kitchen set. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below image: Casdon and Lilliput toys.

Casdon toys and Lilliput toys. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below image: Britains Fort Apache; Armies of the World; Farm and Zoo. As a child, I had many Britains soldiers sets, Cowboys and Indians, Civil war and 7th Cavalry, plus a few of the farm and zoo animals. Britains were among my favourite toys back then.

Britains Fort Apache. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Britains armies of the world. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Britains farm and zoo toys. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below gallery: traditional wooden toys, art & craft toys, technical toys, sports toys, Your Baby.

Below image: Jigsaw puzzles by Arrow Games.

Arrow Games jigsaw puzzles. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below image: Lundby doll houses.

Lundby. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below gallery: Ertl Farm toys; Fuchs Toys; Giaccaglia Ingla musical toys; toy vehicles.

Below image: Daisy Cowboy toy guns.

Daisy toy guns. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below image: Ministeck Prestofix mosaics.

Ministeck Prestofix mosaics. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Below image: Exin castles and knights.

Exin castles. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.

Final images: Front and rear covers of the catalogue.

As always, thanks for looking 😊

35 thoughts on “TVTA Christmas selection box 2022 – the marvelous universe of toys!”

  3. Ahh, lots of Boy Toys. 🤔🤩
    I like the tea set. 🤗
    So many Christmases. So many toys!

    I remember getting a Tressy Doll. Loved it! She was a big hit with my Barbies.

    HAPPY HOLIDAYS, Ford!
    Resa xo🎄 💋 🍷 xo

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Resa! I love the tea set, too. Where I grew up we lived in a grove with many kids as neighbours, so we were lucky that everyone got to share a multitude of toys, both boys and girls. Tea sets were popular as we could pretend we were having our very own street party 😁😊

      I know of the Tressy doll as it was licensed in the UK by the Palitoy company, but I don’t have any ads for Tressy yet.

      Enjoy the seasonal hols x🤩x

      Like

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  4. Something for everyone! Love Lundby of course but so many other great items „on display“ My wishlist keeps growing… Happy, happy Christmas to you, and thank you for your wonderful posts throughout the year 🎄🥂❤️

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. Oi…where you at, Ford?!
    I’ve got Sybils pulling my strings and snatching my cigar, Lous circling like a reef shark the BarTender…and you decided to go on vacation, mate?!

    Alright then…

    …By Order of the friggin you know who…

    …Merry Christmas, Ford.🎄

    (And fricketyfick bring your ass to the Cafè to help me out…on depleting our inventory 😆🍸🍻)

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply ↓

    • Yo, Nick mate, did we just have a Christmas? I was working throughout, up to my neck in new Covid cases etc etc.

      Merry Christmas anyway, by order yes yes yes!! Luckily I have a few days off for the New Year.

      Talking of which… in January the Atomic Mage is relaunching and there will be plenty of new Café Sixes to come, plus some art posts and all kinds of Atomic goodness 😎😊😉🤩 Can’t wait!

      Big hugs mate 😎

      Liked by 1 person

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    • Cheers Bruce! I actually liked how the 90s Action Man steered away from the military themes of old and went more into adventure/sports/space exploration themes. My eldest son had the 90s moon buggy and astronaut set – very cool. I used to have the red F1 car and pilot uniform. I saw a load of old 90s AM figures recently at a flea market and kinda regret not buying them now. Maybe another time.
      Yayy! Glad the Precinct is back up and running 😎

      Liked by 1 person

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  10. Happy Holidays TVTA and Wooof! Fabulous festive feast of memories of playtimes past!
    I owned one of those Casdon Cash Registers and it used a paper roll to “print” the customer’s receipts…but mine had REAL receipts from my local supermarket as one of the cashiers found out I had the register and would give me some of the spare rolls for the store’s own tills o use in mine!
    I also had the Weebles farmhouse but my parents stopped me playing with them because my younger brother preferred to use the Weebles as impromptu hand-grenades (OUCH!)
    Anyhoo-ho-hooo….here’s some Christmas wishes for your (belated) celebrations.
    p.s. Did you know my Christmas pudding does an impression of your wonderful office cat? Yes I spread Brandy Butter on top of the pudding then light a match to ignite it and…..WOOOF! It goes up in flame 🤣😹

    Liked by 2 people

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  11. What a great round-up of still classic toys. That playtime tea set is darling. And I love the “out-dated” decor in the dollhouse.

    Is there a photo of your kitty on your site?

    I recognize the typewriter, cash register, stove, warsher/dryer, but what is the item in the lower right hand corner?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Many thanks Puzzles! The item on the lower right you mention is a complete mystery!! I’ve asked several French friends if they know what it is, plus researched the toy company etc, but drawn a blank 🤔 My guess is it’s some kind of dishwasher, as you can see plastic racks inside the ‘dome’… but who knows?

      As for pics of my office kitty, Wooof… he’s very camera shy, but I belive he allowed his portrait to be taken once or twice: (office staff photo 2017)

      Liked by 1 person

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  13. Those pictures take me back … especially the soldiers and also the zoo animals. (Just watched ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ last week – if only we knew as kids … !)

    But that’s the thing with these simple toys – it was our imagination then that instilled the fondness and even romantic view we have of them now.

    I really enjoy viewing these photos .

    MERRY CHRISTMAS!
    🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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  14. How cool is that Action Joe parachute? And the military helicopter too. Great stuff, and always happy to hear the words “selection box” at this time of year! 😊

    We are ever thankful for the work of our humble TVTA editor and intrepid office cat. Enjoy! 🙂 💚❤

    Liked by 1 person

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  17. It’s like flicking through the pages of a newly printed catalogue… I can smell the print (glue?) now!
    Love the pictures… I always tried to create scenes like that with my toys. 🙂
    Merry Christmas!

    Liked by 3 people

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