Rodin’s Garden, Rodin’s Window, and Rodin’s… erm… Lego?

Posted on March 25, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Auguste Rodin. Le Penseur. The Thinker. Paris. 2022.

Last August, during a stay in Paris, I spent the day at the Rodin Museum. The museum was opened in 1919 as a dedicated space to display the works of French sculptor Auguste Rodin – famous for his works such as Le Penseur (The Thinker), Le Baiser (The Kiss) and La Porte de l’Enfer (The Gates of Hell). The museum consists of the Hotel Biron which Rodin used as his workshop from 1908, along with extensive gardens where many of his sculptures are placed in a natural environment.

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FAO Schwarz – the unique toy store, 1981/1982 catalogue

Posted on March 21, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Cover. FAO Schwarz 1981 / 1982 catalogue. US.

FAO Schwarz was established in 1862 in New York and is one of the oldest toy stores in the world, in a spirit similar to that of the UK’s Hamleys.

FAO Schwarz (FAO = Frederick August Otto) offers children and parents a choice of quality and long-lasting toys, games, hobbies, books and crafts. The company continues to operate to date.

Thanks to a very kind donation by our friend Anna (thank you Anna), TVTA is pleased to acquire a number of vintage FAO Schwarz catalogues spanning the 1960s to early 1980s.

Today we present selected scans from the 1981/82 fall/winter catalogue.

Enjoy the toy goodness!

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Pocketeers… mechanical handheld retro gaming

Posted on March 12, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Pocketeers Pitfall game. UK. 1979.

Pocketeers mechanical games were produced by the Palitoy company in the UK from 1975. Based on the original Japanese Tomy Pocket Games, each Pocketeer was a themed puzzle or challenge contained within a sturdy plastic casing. The games functioned by operating a variety of levers, springs, cogs, ball bearings and trapdoors.

These pocket-size fun games were rather like mechanical precursors to electronic handheld games like the Nintendo Game and Watch, and later the Gameboy. At our school, Pocketeers were popular because of the “Three Ts” – portabiliTy, collectabiliTy and swappabiliTy 😁

Pocketeers Big Match. UK. 1979.

Pocketeers Casino and Letterbox. UK. 1979.

Pocketeers Rat-a-Tat. UK. 1979.

Pocketeers France. In France the games were known collectively as Mini-jeux and were distributed by the Meccano company.

French Mini-Jeux Pocketeers. France. 1979.

French Mini-Jeux Pocketeers. France. 1979.

Pocketeers Germany. This 1982 German advert shows the Tomy license. The advert also shows Tomy’s ‘Funny Bowling’ game.

Pocketeers. Germany. 1982.

As always, thanks for looking 😊

Let’s Dance! My latest Sunday flea market 7 & 12 inch vinyl record haul

Posted on March 5, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Greetings vintage mates! I finally found some 12 inch vinyl albums worth buying at my local Sunday flea market. Regular readers will know I often come back from the Sunday market laden with 7 inch singles, but rarely do I come across good albums in good condition and for a good price. Today I found three albums – all in excellent condition, along with three singles and an EP.

Total cost: (with various rates according to today’s XE.com currency converter)

24,00 Euros (what I paid) / 25,55 USD / 21,22 GBP / 34.77 CAD / 3 470,46 JPY

Right, I’m off to dance a little Bowie, enjoy the pics!

First up, AC/DC Highway to Hell, 1979, German pressing. Super pleased to find this in the wild!

AC/DC Highway to Hell. 1979. Atlantic. German Pressing.

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The 1980 Trampline catalogue – how much toy goodness can you take?

Posted on March 2, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Cover. Trampline Catalogue. 1980. France.

The 1980 French Trampline catalogue features some well-known toys that were sold around the world during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. With products on offer such as French-licensed versions of Etch A Sketch, Action Man, Star Wars, Strawberry Shortcake, the Magic Treehouse toy, Evel Knievel, Lego, Lundby and Merlin, and including brands like Mattel, Revell, Ideal, Smoby, Joustra, Playskool and Miro-Meccano… the 1980 Trampline catalogue would have been a must-have publication for parents seeking to delight their children with a special gift!

Enjoy the scans! If you are interested in ordering a digital image of anything you see, contact us in the comments or at: thevintagetoyadvertiser@zoho.com

Lego and Playskool. Trampline Catalogue. 1980. France.

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Don Post – the godfather of cinema masks!

Posted on February 25, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Don Post Studios produced rubber character masks from popular films such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, E.T., Dark Crystal, Gremlins and Hellraiser, along with horror classics such as Dracula and the Werewolf.

Famously, William Shatner’s Captain Kirk’s rubber mask from Star Trek was altered for the horror film Halloween to become the infamous signature mask of Michael Myers.

TVTA is pleased to present a selection of Don Post masks featuring some of your favourite heroes and villains from the world of film.

Enjoy!

E.T., and Dark Crystal masks by Don Post. Starlog. 1982.

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Parker Brothers Video Games of the early 1980s

Posted on February 21, 2023 by The Vintage Toy Advertiser

Q*Bert by Parker Brothers. US. House of Mystery. 1983.

What the actual flying @!#?@!!! Parker Brothers made some eye-catching adverts for its range of video games available on the Atari and Sears platforms in the early 1980s. Adverts were often adapted from the game box artworks and given a house style that made them instantly recognisable to buyers.

TVTA is pleased to present a selection of print adverts as seen in comic books back in the day. Enjoy.