January 15, 2009
What's that, you say you'd love to let your kid rock to sleep in Denmark's favorite cradle, the egg-shaped, minimalist masterpiece that is the Leander Bassinet, but you don't want to hassle of schlepping or shipping the thing all...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:52 PM
|
Comments (0)
January 14, 2009
If you thought the recent eBay appearance of some unusual--and unusually well-preserved--Creative Playthings toys being sold from Hamilton Square, New Jersey--a town within easy commuting distance of CP's vintage headquarters in Princeton--was a fluke, think again. The same eBay seller...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:50 AM
|
Comments (0)
December 31, 2008
Hmm, look what else is in that New Jersey basement. An unopened Creative Playthings Playsack, which, as you could probably guess, is a giant paper bag that a kid is supposed to play in. The eBay description is intriguingly...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
2:57 PM
|
Comments (0)
Look what turned up in a basement in Hamilton Square, New Jersey. It's a sweet kid's chair from just up the road apiece in Princeton, the old stomping grounds of Creative Playthings. Though the design is from CP's Golden...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
2:19 PM
|
Comments (0)
December 23, 2008
Until the real estate market exploded, modular prefabricated modernist houses that were intended to combine the quality finish and economies of off-site construction, but that ended up costing as much as, if not more than, straight-up custom design were...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:44 AM
|
Comments (0)
December 20, 2008
Don't not buy this incredible hand-carved wooden donkey pull toy from Antonio Vitali's early, Swiss National Crafts Store days before he started working with Creative Playthings, because the opening bid is a whopping $399. Don't buy it because the...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:06 AM
|
Comments (4)
December 17, 2008
Hans Wegner made Peter's Chair and Table as a present for Borge Mogenson's new kid in 1944. Mogenson loved it, and he helped put it into production at FDB, the furnituremaker where he was lead designer. . This example...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:06 AM
|
Comments (0)
December 15, 2008
They sure don't make'em like they used to. And even as the safety-loving half of me is relieved, the awesome, molded plywood simplicity-loving half of me is in mourning. Just take a gander at this vintage portable slide from...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:39 PM
|
Comments (0)
December 7, 2008
Will the Marc Jacobs For Bugaboo Bugaboo be one of those collectibles like the original mail-in offer Boba Fett, which only retains its resale value if it stays mint-in-box? Or will the sheer scarcity of the strollers [fifteen sold...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:04 PM
|
Comments (1)
December 5, 2008
I'm going to operate on the assumption that some people, somewhere have actually been buying Sirch's Villa Sibi. One possible explanation for the the nearly 50% price increase for new Villa Sibis [from $600 in 2004 to $855 today]...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:23 PM
|
Comments (1)
Or is it the new lime green? Either way, the French and/or Euros are loving the grey baby furniture. First [on my radar, anyway] was Oeuf's lower-priced Sparrow collection, which came in other colors, but which debuted in Spring 2007...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:58 PM
|
Comments (4)
December 3, 2008
Are you on a sacred quest to find a Kay Bojesen pull toy dog woodworking project that's larger than a tuna can? Because it appears that an outfit called Find The Grail Auctions has posted one on eBay. But...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:24 PM
|
Comments (0)
December 2, 2008
Despite the fact that they don't exist, Pete from Jalopnik just bought a Ford Taurus SHO Wagon on eBay for three thousand measly bucks. At least I can console myself that it was a 1992, and not the awesomer-looking,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:07 PM
|
Comments (3)
December 1, 2008
At the peak of his Home Improvement fame, when he also had a best-selling book and was the voice of Buzz Lightyear, Tim Allen was consumed by one all-important question: ""If a man was to drive a minivan, what...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:49 PM
|
Comments (4)
November 19, 2008
FWIW, I toggle back and forth between the just-the-facts headlines and the annoying, jokey ones. Guess which one this is? A couple of very interesting looking ADO toys designed by Ko Verzuu just popped up on eBay Austria: a...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:03 AM
|
Comments (1)
November 14, 2008
If it becomes as useless as "Eames Era," I'm sure I'll come to hate it, but for now, I count it as progress that an eBay seller tries to rope in business by calling something "Creative Playthings Era." It...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:57 PM
|
Comments (1)
November 2, 2008
There's milk crates, and then there's Milk Crates. The brands branded [is that where that term comes from?] on the sides of some of the crates used to make this old potty chair date to the turn of the...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:11 PM
|
Comments (0)
October 20, 2008
As everyone hopefully knows now, the iconic Creative Playthings design, the red ball-equipped Hobby Horse, was not designed by Philip Johnson, and the Philip Johnson who didn't design it was the creative director of Creative Playthings, not the feisty,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:47 PM
|
Comments (2)
Ceci n'est pas un toy. Ceci n'est pas un dollhouse. Ceci n'est pas a house at all. Because if it were any of that, would it be being auctioned off at Phillips dePury this Saturday? Bien sur que non....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:59 AM
|
Comments (1)
October 19, 2008
So swoopy furniture designer Vladimir Kagan and pre-eminent needlework artist Erica Wilson are married? Who knew? Besides, that is, the folks who bought this Kagan Contour Rocking Chair covered in Wilson's crewel forest scene back in the day? Rago,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:26 PM
|
Comments (3)
October 11, 2008
It kills me to think of the vast trove of historical information that's been dumped by eBay over the last decade. If nothing else, I'd think it'd be valuable to have the price history of certain types and categories...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:18 PM
|
Comments (1)
October 6, 2008
When you don't know the answer to something, it's always a buzzkill when your own site comes up in the Google results. It happened to me last night when I was trying to find the manufacturer of those awesome...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:11 PM
|
Comments (1)
October 1, 2008
These molded plastic Cosco chairs from the early 1970's are kid design classics, [don't they look nice in Swiss-Miss's living room?] though I always look at them funny when I remember they were originally intended to be used as...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:33 PM
|
Comments (1)
Now this next item, it's a really immaculate piece. Exquisite workmanship, pure class. A gentleman--really, he's an artist--right here in Staten Island--really, he's like a father to me, a true inspiration, what he does--he took a plain little wooden...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:07 AM
|
Comments (0)
September 30, 2008
The company that made the original Big Wheel, Louis Marx, sold out to his competitor in the early 1970's. That company, Empire Plastics, went bankrupt in 2001. Some other company reconstituted Empire and now makes the Original Big Wheel...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:34 PM
|
Comments (2)
September 15, 2008
Made in 1941 as part of Knoll's introductory collection, with Risom's trademark woven web seat? And it sold yesterday for just $275?? My only consolation is that it caught Andy off guard, too. Seriously, people, there oughta be a...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:30 PM
|
Comments (1)
September 10, 2008
Wow. A real estate staging company in Las Vegas is liquidating and just put a brand new, never been opened, $4000 Cabine crib and dresser/changing table by David Netto on eBay with no reserve. Opening bid is just $499....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
6:29 PM
|
Comments (0)
September 2, 2008
In 1994, Arizona voters approved Prop. 200, a cigarette tax which would fund anti-tobacco use educational programs. After a couple of years of ramp-up AzTEPP, the Arizona Tobacco Education and Prevention Program hit its fully funded stride in 1998....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:34 AM
|
Comments (1)
August 27, 2008
So we're driving along one day and out of the blue, the kid goes, "Did you know dogs are hunters by nature?" It took us a while to figure out where she picked it up: Zoboomafoo, the animal TV...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
7:52 AM
|
Comments (0)
August 21, 2008
We were at the Big Blue Box last night looking for some kitchen shelves, and I stopped off to buy my in-laws the greatest high chair bargain in the world, an Ikea Antilop, to replace the horrible, plaid, ruffled...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:18 AM
|
Comments (6)
August 17, 2008
I guess it is a small island, so how far could they go? DT's family car man in London Wesley first crossed paths with this 1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow wagon on the street, in front of the V&A....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:49 PM
|
Comments (3)
August 12, 2008
Besides the remarkable, unrestored condition and the sheer awesomeness of growing up with sirens and flashing lights on top of your family ride--you'd be the star of every school dropoff line and carpool, and the kid'd totally be a...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:37 PM
|
Comments (2)
July 29, 2008
A 1988 Mercedes 300TE 6.0, aka, the AMG Hammer Wagon, is on the eBay right now. If you're not up to speed on your AMG history, this is from the tuner's independent heyday, when the AMG Hammer, a W124...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
6:11 PM
|
Comments (2)
July 25, 2008
Turns out vulcanized rubber cats have less than nine lives. In 1949 Bruno Munari made some special promotional black cats called Gatto Meo for Pirelli using the company's flagship product. It's not known how many survive [the image below...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:50 PM
|
Comments (2)
July 21, 2008
What'll it be like for the Facebook Generation [sic] whose whole life is documented online? Well, for one thing, it'll be easier for them to sell their slightly used car seats on eBay because bidders can go read their blog...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:44 AM
|
Comments (0)
July 20, 2008
When you've been sewing for 50 years like Gramma Ruth, you don't "knock off" anything, least of all the so-far unlicensed, unmonetized characters of some media conglomerate-come-lately like Nickelodeon. No, when you make your own homebrew plush versions of...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:39 PM
|
Comments (1)
July 9, 2008
Dear Buyer Of It Now for this rare, unmarked copy of Timothy Leary's 1967 History of the Psychedelic Movement Cartoon and Coloring Book: If you're not planning on publishing a facsimile version, please at least post a set of print-quality...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:47 PM
|
Comments (1)
June 26, 2008
Dayton, Ohio bidders will have the advantage on this awesome, old Community Playthings ride-on tractor. Though it's just under 11 inches high, all that maple lumber and those chunky Firestone tires will cost a bundle to ship. Maybe when...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:10 AM
|
Comments (3)
June 21, 2008
Last weekend we took K2 for her first visit to Florent. Also her last, because Florent's closing in less than two weeks. I'd planned on many years of boring brunches where I'd explain to the kids how daddy and...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
12:20 AM
|
Comments (5)
June 17, 2008
Demand for this awesome, folding Community Playthings climbing gym must have dropped off some time after the Planet of the Apes trend faded away, because it's no longer in production. Fortunately, this one is available for pickup in Rochester,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:14 PM
|
Comments (2)
June 3, 2008
I like this cool set of wooden bottles, tinted in the colors of six common wine cooler flavors. They're made by Holgate, one of the earliest US companies to develop educational toys. Unfortunately, one of the bottle stoppers is...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
7:36 AM
|
Comments (6)
June 2, 2008
Montgomery Whohouse? I've been following the items eBay seller Creative Magpie has been putting up for sale from the inventory of her mother's 1970's toy store. In the last couple of days, several very fine-looking wooden toys have turned...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:21 PM
|
Comments (0)
May 28, 2008
There's been a whole slew of vintage Creative Playthings toys turning up on eBay the last few days, all in beautiful, unused, condition. For collectors or just folks who like their vintage wooden toys unbeat and unchewed-on, it's like...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:15 AM
|
Comments (1)
May 20, 2008
Not sure if this is a sign that the doll real estate market is softening, but two fully furnished classic modernist dollhouses just went up on eBay. The big Creative Playthings house above is like an analog version of...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:38 AM
|
Comments (1)
May 16, 2008
Sheesh, the last thing in the world I need right now is another 1980's project car. So why do I have a saved eBay search for the weirdo-classic Toyota Tercel 4WD wagon? It looks so tame now, but I...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:26 PM
|
Comments (6)
May 13, 2008
Wow. After Enzo did that chin flicking thing when he asked for a 4x4 Ferrari, casino pioneer and car junkie Bill Harrah made one his own damn self. Or rather, he had his people do it. "It" being the...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:56 PM
|
Comments (2)
May 8, 2008
Wow, I've driven through Parowan, Utah a dozen times, and I had no idea that I could get kid-size American Indian caftans handmade of hand-beaded boarskin. Then I wouldn't need to email to get measurements of the "size 2-4";...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:33 PM
|
Comments (0)
Sure, there's a fine-looking Creative Playthings dollhouse on eBay at the moment, complete with a family of squatter dolls, who at least haven't tossed out the matchy [if not all matching] furniture. But who cares when there's a freakin'...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
7:45 PM
|
Comments (2)
May 4, 2008
Seriously. Moore and her husband Bart Freundlich have donated a "gently used" Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair to Johnson's Celebrity Hand-Me-Down Auction. All proceeds go to some dizzying constellation of kid-related charities. [And all goodwill goes straight to Johnson's....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:05 PM
|
Comments (0)
April 30, 2008
I noticed that a neighbor in DC recently bought a VW Phaeton, and since every other house in our DC neighborhood has either a Volvo wagon, a Mercedes wagon, or a Passat wagon in front of it, the walks...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:04 AM
|
Comments (3)
April 19, 2008
Just in case you didn't learn how to say "rocking horse" in French--because frankly, you were only learning French to pick up chicks, not shop for playground implements--now you know: un cheval à bascule. Thus, this jouet à bascule,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:11 AM
|
Comments (3)
April 18, 2008
The seller has titled this 1960's Creative Playthings boat Noah's Ark, even though there are no animals. Obviously, though, it's from the very rare Creative Playthings Lake Havasu Spring Break Playset. If only Antonio Vitali's hand-carved, bikini-wearing co-eds and...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:18 AM
|
Comments (0)
April 10, 2008
Well, now, that's a saved search I don't get notified about very often. There's a 1995 BMW M5 Touring on eBay right now, one of the last dozen or so E34 wagons handbuilt by the Motorsport division, and one...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:24 PM
|
Comments (4)
April 8, 2008
If there's wear on this vintage Finnish tug boat & barge set from Creative Playthings, I can't really see it in the photo. And before I start a bidding war at $22 shipped for a used wooden toy, I'd...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:18 AM
|
Comments (2)
April 2, 2008
We're just at the stage where we wish/hope the new kid will learn how to suck her thumb and self-soothe, but instead of giving her the chance, we usually seem to take the instant pacification route by plugging the...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:41 PM
|
Comments (3)
March 29, 2008
Clear out a few more curio cabinetsful of these new-old-stock Antonio Vitali animals, and I think a certain retired, Connecticut toy store owner will be able to get that condo in Boca. Of course, with the way the Florida...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
12:26 AM
|
Comments (0)
March 20, 2008
If there's anything Americans love more than a loaded handgun, it's a concealed, loaded handgun. And if you get one for free, all the better. From Reuters: BERLIN (Reuters) - A stroller sold in an Internet auction in Germany...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:51 AM
|
Comments (4)
March 19, 2008
I'd flagged this eBay listing for posting, and then I totally missed it in the whirlwind of family that descended on us over the weekend: five rolls of Thunderball wallpaper, circa 1965, were sold on Saturday as part of...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
12:05 PM
|
Comments (1)
March 17, 2008
Haven't seen one of these turn up on eBay before. It's a Creative Playthings Mail Scooter called the Little Zipper, presumably a reference to the 5-digit Zip Code, which was being promoted for general use in the late 1960's...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
12:06 PM
|
Comments (1)
March 14, 2008
Uh-oh, it's put up or shut up time. That 1979 Cadillac station wagon Jalopnik spotted back in December is now online. On sale. on eBay. Back then, I said I'd suddenly felt desperate to buy one, and now one--the...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
6:22 PM
|
Comments (1)
March 13, 2008
If you'd given up on your groovy Halston-themed nursery and were about to return that silver metallic op art wallpaper, STOP. Your rocker just turned up on eBay. MODERN LUCITE ROCKING CHAIR 1970'S, $475 bid or $500 Buy It...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:25 PM
|
Comments (2)
March 11, 2008
I would love nothing more than to get a gloating email from someone next week explaining what an incredible deal they got on this thing, and how could I not recognize this ultra-rare, tubular steel rocking horse that Giorgetto...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:09 PM
|
Comments (2)
March 10, 2008
Haven't had a lot of the random eBay finds on here lately, probably because I haven't had as much time for the random eBay surfing as I used to. But I always like to see these giant maple jets...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:45 AM
|
Comments (3)
February 25, 2008
I don't care if they're New In Box. If you buy these two Bozart Kaleidoscope dollhouses for $3200 or more, we need to talk. Well, let me qualify that: we need to talk if you have some unique and...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:40 AM
|
Comments (0)
February 24, 2008
Alright, for some inexplicable reason, it's Rolls Royce Station Wagon season around here. No sooner do I post a random photo from the streets of London, than DT reader JJ Daddy-o turns up a 1986 Silver Spirit, custom converted...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:20 PM
|
Comments (2)
February 22, 2008
In his burgeoning collection of dad-and-newborn-related Playmobil pieces, Mr. Stinkhead features this tableau: a new dad videotaping a baby in one of those sweet, plexiglass and steel bassinets from the hospital. It's like Playmobil is jacked into my head,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:18 AM
|
Comments (2)
February 16, 2008
Gotta figure out a way to break into the cabal of illustrators who got early word on this incredible print by the late, great Jim Flora. It's an archival reissue of an original multicolor woodblock print of Manhattan from...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:17 PM
|
Comments (1)
January 24, 2008
The casters are a different color, there doesn't appear to be a box, and it's apparently called 'The Comet,' but otherwise, this 23" long biomorphic spaceship scooterboard looks an awful lot like Creative Playthings' Crawligator. Either it's the same...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:44 PM
|
Comments (2)
January 22, 2008
Real estate crisis? What real estate crisis? The market for seven-year-old plastic doll houses has NEVER BEEN HOTTER! If you don't buy today, prices will absolutely be higher tomorrow! And the next day! 100% financing available! Foreign investors are...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:42 AM
|
Comments (3)
January 21, 2008
Watching the live auctions today has wrought havoc on the ol' browser. In the time since I started trying to post about it, this sweet, vintage Creative Playthings fire station jumped from 99 cents to $21.50, which is more...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:49 PM
|
Comments (0)
Unless, of course, Boston folk art dealer Stephen Score had planned on bidding more. The 40-in. crib quilt is from around 1875, and was apparently never used; it was found in the bottom of a dower chest. It was...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
12:18 AM
|
Comments (0)
January 18, 2008
Yeah, I could just email Hillsborough, CA eBay seller Noodledoodle.home to see how they're offering new, high-end toys and kids furniture on eBay for seemingly crazylow, non-MSRP prices. But with the new kid-related caps on my daily typing quota,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:57 AM
|
Comments (5)
January 16, 2008
Seriously, do you need any starker proof that you can't let your eyes off the eBay even for one second? Even if it's Christmas?? Even if your wife just gave birth??? Check this out: eBay seller id.london had a truly...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:28 PM
|
Comments (2)
January 10, 2008
In suburban Haarlem, The Netherlands. Still, EUR845 Euros for a really nice Eek reclaimed wood crib and changing tabletop dresser? That's a pretty good deal. Too bad Mr. intelligent reuse hasn't figured out a knockdown, flatpack model for these...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:32 PM
|
Comments (1)
January 9, 2008
It needs a plexiglass baby bucket and maybe a bit of scrubbing, but there's one of those awesome hospital bassinet's on eBay right now. With an opening bid of $125 and to-the-Greyhound-station shipping of $50, that's definitely retail price,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
3:28 PM
|
Comments (0)
December 28, 2007
After discovering these cool-shaped Stump Books series published by Anthony Treherne two turns of the century ago, I thought, wouldn't it be awesome to buy one? If only it didn't cost $750 and/or wasn't full of wildly offensive racist stereotypes......
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
12:59 PM
|
Comments (5)
December 17, 2007
Note to self: add "hochstuhl" to my list of saved eBay searches. Andy sent along this rather awesome-looking vintage high chair from Germany. It's made of painted bent wood and some kind of thigh boots-and-riding crop-friendly pleather. Sehr Gut....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:50 PM
|
Comments (0)
December 11, 2007
Some of the finer kid-related things on eBay at the moment: Some knucklehead's selling a Bugaboo Frog travel bag in perfect, unused condition? Why the heck did he get it in the first place? Funny ad, though. Totally cracks me...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:41 PM
|
Comments (5)
November 27, 2007
In the 1970's, Luigi Colani took a break from designing the future to create a little elephant-shaped bank for Dresdner Bank to give out to the kids. One has found its way to Lancaster, PA, and from thence to...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:40 AM
|
Comments (3)
November 25, 2007
Just in time for the holidays, eBay seller twobluepups posted a great-looking trio of vintage Creative Playthings wooden toy lots. All the auctions end Dec. 3rd. The two Playtown sets are in good condition and complete with the box,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:29 PM
|
Comments (0)
November 23, 2007
Last month I bought an old wooden Creative Playthings kaleidoscope on eBay. The transaction went fine, but the toy itself is not that great. Now don't get me wrong: I'm with it enough to dig the potential beauty of...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:23 PM
|
Comments (3)
I got all excited last night when I saw a big jigsaw puzzle from the Expo 67 in Montreal, which was the overall raddest Expo ever. [Even if there were no Buckminster Fuller sphere, Habitat, or Dutch pavilion made...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:30 AM
|
Comments (0)
November 13, 2007
I'll probably add a couple of items to this retail scoutabout, since two of them aren't really retail: Befuddled Citydweller Baby Gift Alert Marilyn Singer and Carll Cneut's countdown to naptime book, City Lullaby, got a pretty glowing writeup in...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
2:50 PM
|
Comments (1)
November 8, 2007
Now that's nice, a Giant Magnifier from Creative Playthings, new in the box. I got one of these for the kid before she was really able to play with it; after about 2.5-3yo, she fell in love with sticking...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:14 AM
|
Comments (3)
November 7, 2007
Q: Is the obsession with mini-sized modernism that leads someone to pay $790 for a sweet-yet-anonymous, architect-made, Plexi-on-a-lazy-susan, modernist dollhouse on eBay the same kind that leads someone to create a blog devoted exclusively to modernist dollhouses? A: Yep....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:03 PM
|
Comments (6)
November 5, 2007
One day you've never heard of Frank Reenskaug; the next, his teak rocking chairs from 1958 are everywhere. But even then, you can't find out much more than that a handful of chairs are for sale [or sold.] Good...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:48 AM
|
Comments (1)
November 2, 2007
Alright, I've kept quiet long enough, and Andy and his readers over at Stork Bites Man have had their chance. And though I know I'll regret not buying them myself--I kind of think they'd be kind of insanely awesome...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:25 PM
|
Comments (1)
October 31, 2007
If Ernest Hemingway really did write the short story, "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn." I'm sure he never could have imagined it'd be quoted 10,000 times a day on eBay. Quoted, and occasionally surpassed. This line from the description...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:54 AM
|
Comments (4)
October 28, 2007
There's a reason this eBay auction of a single-room Creative Playthings dollhouse stuffed with original matching Antonio Vitali furniture is already $75: because it's freakin' awesome. Most of it looks to be in excellent condition, even the more played-with...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
3:54 PM
|
Comments (1)
October 26, 2007
From the same eBay seller--who's donating the proceeds back to the church where these old toys came from--comes this sweet, giant Community Playthings car. You could fit the whole Rat Pack in that thing, and still have room in...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:27 AM
|
Comments (0)
My first thought when I saw this vintage Community Playthings maple phone appear on eBay was, "Yow, better watch that phone cord doesn't wrap around the youngster's little neck." But then I realized, it'll take so much to explain...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:21 AM
|
Comments (1)
October 22, 2007
My Modern Life is an eBay seller in Lincoln Nebraska who first crossed my radar when she posted some vintage toys in insanely great condition by Creative Playthings and Kay Bojesen. As if that wasn't awesome enough, My Modern...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
12:02 PM
|
Comments (0)
October 17, 2007
Put that in your Dwell prefab and compost it. As early as the 1930's, Milton-Bradley was producing sweet, slot-together wooden doll houses and other play buildings as part of Bumpalow Town. There was also a store, a church, a...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:26 AM
|
Comments (0)
October 8, 2007
These vintage Creative Playthings skis are perfect--if you're one of those East Coast ski weirdos who thinks 12 inches of manmade ice and gravel counts as a ski surface. Killington? Sugar Mountain?? Gimme a break Buy the skis because...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:11 PM
|
Comments (1)
October 7, 2007
Alright, finally. The 1972 Samsonite Toys catalogue is up and running on flickr, though a couple of pages are out of order. Check out all the plasticky goodness. With The Machine here, Samsonite ends its toy section with a...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:18 PM
|
Comments (2)
October 6, 2007
Some things that caught my eBay eye. For some reason, they all involve $25, which variously does and does not seem right: Creative Playthings Wooden FireChief Toy Car Red Wood, opening bid $10+14 s/h? Good luck, Goodwill! Auction ends Oct...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:07 PM
|
Comments (1)
October 4, 2007
According to the people who follow such things, 2,000 child-sized Chairry chairs from Pee-Wee's Playhouse were made by Herman Toys in 1988. They're about 32 inches high. Like many a child star--not to mention her show's eponymous host--Chairry seems...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:59 PM
|
Comments (2)
October 1, 2007
Let's face it: 35-year-old play kitchens are going to be played with. It's usually enough to find one at all, much less one in pristine shape. A three-piece Creative Playthings kitchen--sink, oven, and fridge--just hit the eBay. The stove...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:44 AM
|
Comments (3)
September 27, 2007
A few things I'm seeing on eBay--and not bidding on, so I don't mind telling you about them. This is how [some of] your eBay news is made, people! CREATIVE PLAYTHINGS 60'S WOOD LEARNING TOYS FARM An early set of...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:21 PM
|
Comments (3)
September 26, 2007
The artist/playwright/whatever Robert Wilson is apparently moving out to the Hamptons for good, or at least he's emptying out his fabled loft, the site of many a 70's-era SoHo surrealist theater premiere and smokeout. From the look of the...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:44 PM
|
Comments (0)
September 18, 2007
British toy designer Patrick Rylands created the Slow Truck in 1972. It was made for Creative Playthings by the German company Schuco. There was also a Slow Bus, which looks more like a bright red Slow Winnebago. Both toys...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:17 PM
|
Comments (0)
September 8, 2007
Holy smoked salmon, I thought I'd seen everything. Now I've seen everything PLUS some joker on eBay selling a $119 Ikea Hermelin crib on eBay for $249, plus $62 flatrate shipping. That's a 260% markup on a crib that...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
3:28 PM
|
Comments (10)
August 25, 2007
Hilariously inevitable. A toy TV news van with a detachable microphone and camera on top, that flips over into a giant toy studio camera, complete with a lens. From Creative Playthings, during the late A Division of CBS years,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
7:59 AM
|
Comments (2)
August 15, 2007
Now one of the basic rules about car seats is that you don't buy them used because you just never know for certain that they haven't been in an accident and had their structural integrity compromised somehow. That said,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
7:56 AM
|
Comments (2)
August 12, 2007
I've been to some remote places in Illinois in my day [Pontoosuc in the house!], but the closest I've got to Peru was that one crazy weekend I drove out from Chicago to the opening gala for the new...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
7:43 AM
|
Comments (2)
August 11, 2007
Ever the eBay shark, Andy found this sweet, modernist plywood-and-plexi dollhouse for sale on eBay and posted it to Stork Bites Man. The description says it was designed and built by an architect; the plexiglass walls can slide out...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:12 AM
|
Comments (5)
August 4, 2007
Wow. "A2" condition, no scratches, no dings and almost no wear on the original runners. "Strong and supple" shockmounts, paper label and beautiful manufactured-on datestamp. Being sold by "the original owner and 'child'"? The only way this vintage Eames...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:47 PM
|
Comments (0)
July 30, 2007
There's a pile of sweet old gear on eBay at the moment, both of the Creative Playthings and Creative Way To Break Your Neck, Young Man! Playthings varieties: CREATIVE PLAYTHINGS ESKIMOS PLAYSET vintage FP little Looks complete, in nice...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:25 PM
|
Comments (2)
July 20, 2007
Wow, he's not just for marshmallow sofas and whimsical nursery clocks anymore. Because it's never too early to learn how to take a memo, Herman Miller produced a child-sized version of George Nelson's secretary desk. This example is in...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:12 AM
|
Comments (1)
July 17, 2007
So DT reader Tim writes about how their 1-yo son loves playing with their older friend's Tupperware Noah's Ark when they go to visit. And I'm like, "Tupperware Toys? Are you kidding me? I had no idea!" And sure...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:34 PM
|
Comments (7)
July 16, 2007
The description says this is a trolley/street car, but anyone this side of Fallujah knows better. It's a maquette from a top secret, Cold War-era envisioning project for the Rand Corporation, in which Creative Playthings, Disney and others were...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:10 AM
|
Comments (1)
July 11, 2007
Not a lot of info on this pram, just that it says, "Presty, Made in France" on the label. Oh, and it's made of airy wicker and heavy chromed tubular steel, it's in mint condition, and it's FREAKIN' AWESOME....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:37 PM
|
Comments (2)
What better way to celebrate Bastille Day than by buying an insane, vintage beach stroller from the French Riviera, courtesy of HM The Strollerqueen? According to the eBay description, that's what this is, "Made in France, Les Ateliers," a...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:12 PM
|
Comments (2)
I don't know why I torment myself like this. I really want to live a life where a 45-year-old French station wagon with hydropneumatic suspension and no rear seat belts is the most natural car in the world to...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:08 AM
|
Comments (2)
July 9, 2007
If you're on the fence about the name Oliver, maybe this will help settle things: there's a vintage Oliver Tractors sign for sale on eBay that's made of 3-D stainless steel letters, each 18" high. Un. Be. Lievable. As...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:10 PM
|
Comments (4)
July 7, 2007
Are you still bummed about losing out on the David Netto crib on eBay last weekend? Because now you have a second chance at scoring a 96% discount on a sweet minimalist crib. There is a solid maple crib--just...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:57 AM
|
Comments (0)
July 6, 2007
A couple of otherwise promising toys on eBay seem to be missing a piece or two: 1975 Creative Playthings AMERICAN INDIAN Little People, ends July 10th, starting bid: $10+$7.55s/h result: sold for $11.50+s/h This is the coolest of the CP...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
12:20 AM
|
Comments (1)
June 29, 2007
I'll say it again. Whoa. There is a David Netto Loft Collection crib and changing table--the high-end modern nursery furniture that started it all--with an organic cotton mattress, even, for sale on eBay right now, with no reserve, barely...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
6:03 PM
|
Comments (2)
train ends july 1, currently 120SEK [$US18], 4 bids Getting a little weary of posts about vintage Creative Playthings toys on eBay? How about something completely different: vintage Brio toys on Swedish eBay! You might think of Brio as...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:26 AM
|
Comments (0)
June 26, 2007
Though it appears to be missing a block, and the original box has some wear, the eBay seller says this set of Creative Playthings Small Hardwood Blocks is in "perfect condition." Like new, you might say, except for this:...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:28 PM
|
Comments (0)
June 24, 2007
Here are a few interesting-looking kid-related finds on eBay at the moment: Charles Eames Childs Arm Shell Herman Miller CHAIR, ends Jun 29, currently $10+18 s/h When we last saw our mysterious child-sized, Eames-looking fiberglass shell chairs, their mod-savvy eBay...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:14 PM
|
Comments (0)
June 14, 2007
This Creative Playthings wooden Noah's Ark looks fantastic--unless you're a small, chewing-prone child or a rabbit. The pieces are all in great shape, but they're smaller than modern safety standards require [as the description says, "...WAY to many 'choking...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:26 PM
|
Comments (2)
June 12, 2007
D'oh I can't watch. Never mind that they've been in my browser window for three days. Someone is selling some incredible, scarce game/book things that Bruno Munari did for Danese back in the early 1970's, on eBay, and they're...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:53 PM
|
Comments (1)
June 11, 2007
Yeah, the purist in me cries a little to see fragments from so many broken up Creative Playthings Playtown sets: there's the boat from a Marina; there's the helicopters from the Air Field. The luggage haulers, too [hey, weren't...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
6:08 PM
|
Comments (0)
June 7, 2007
On Sunday, RM Auctions is selling the car collection of longtime Detroit Pontiac dealer John McMullen. There are over 80 vintage cars, most of which hold little appeal to me; or I guess I just need to learn to...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:12 PM
|
Comments (3)
June 5, 2007
If you've been looking for just the right Flying Wasp for your kid to christen, hie thee ho, on down to this vintage Playtown Marina from Creative Playthings. Sure, it's a marina, not a yacht club, so there's not...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
5:31 PM
|
Comments (0)
May 24, 2007
Christmas: chief in a box Hanukkah: chief in a box Kwanzaa: a chief in a box Birthday party in the Fifties that someone ended up skipping, and so the present went undelivered and was stored in a cool, dry place...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:45 AM
|
Comments (1)
May 22, 2007
Anal retentive parents of 1975 who made your kids keep track of all their toys and store them in the original boxes, we salute you. Three Creative Playthings People 'N Places playsets hit the eBay the other day; in...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:16 AM
|
Comments (1)
May 18, 2007
Another one of them Crawligator baby skateboards from Creative Playthings just turned up on eBay, box and all. If it goes for as much as the last one did, I think we all need to get into the Crawligator racket....
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:22 AM
|
Comments (2)
May 2, 2007
Rediscovering the forgotten kid-related awesomeness of the past is a favorite pasttime here on Daddy Types. But waxing nostalgic about a long-lost toy collection from 1999 makes me uneasy, like we're veering too close to VH1 territory. And yet, there's...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:36 PM
|
Comments (0)
Very interesting. Gloria Caranica may beg to differ, but I'm not really minding the vintage mod on this Creative Playthings "Rocking Beauty" hobby horse. True, it doesn't have the elegance of the original natural wood and bright red ball...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:16 PM
|
Comments (1)
April 30, 2007
So you love everything about a cool, vintage Finnish-designed toy like the classic Creative Playthings Shape Sorting Box except the idea of your kid gnawing on something that's coated with 35 years of slobber and/or basement dust. Well you're...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:33 AM
|
Comments (0)
April 16, 2007
Hard to believe, I know, but apparently, not everything labeled "Vintage L@@K!!" on eBay is actually vintage. Take this "Vintage Modern Era Highchair on Wheels" which "has a great modern danish Eames era look." This description is technically accurate, I...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
7:51 PM
|
Comments (0)
April 8, 2007
Every time I go to Salt Lake, I come back thinking of carved wood handchairs. My stepfather collected a lot of art by Pedro Friedeberg, the guy who made those hand-shaped chairs, see, [Here's one in Mexican mahogany that's coming...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
4:18 PM
|
Comments (2)
So I'm surfing through eBay a bit and hey-o! here's a huge set of Palaset storage cubes for sale. This system was designed in the early 70's by Ristomatti Ratia, whose parents founded Marimekko. Victor Papanek and James Hennessey...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
3:57 PM
|
Comments (10)
April 6, 2007
Even though I was never a diehard fan of Bozart's Kaleidoscope House, it always felt like the one that got away. I knew one of the investors behind Bozart from Philadelphia. A bunch of art world people I knew...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
2:01 PM
|
Comments (13)
March 28, 2007
In their heyday, Creative Playthings had a lot of wonderful toys of their own design, but they also distributed products from around the world. Those classic wood trucks were from some dude in Finland, for example. And this awesome,...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:49 AM
|
Comments (1)
March 15, 2007
It was great in the Sixties, man, all flowers and rainbows. Running naked in the grass, little babies cooing and playing with their feet. And then The Man came along in 1973 and started laying a lot of white...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
11:17 AM
|
Comments (1)
I love that the description of this pristine, vintage, molded ply chair starts out, "you are bidding on a child's chair designed by charles eames in 1946." Because with the bid currently at $1,525 and the reserve price still...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:22 AM
|
Comments (1)
February 27, 2007
Before he started making organically shaped, abstract dolls for Creative Playthings in the late 50's, Antonio Vitali was making hardwood dollhouses for abstract dolls, which were sold in the Swiss National Crafts Store. Too bad the dolls and the...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
1:40 PM
|
Comments (0)
February 25, 2007
Great minds thought alike back then, I guess. Both Naef and Creative Playthings made square puzzles cut into strips. Turn them over, and there's a different animal on each of the four faces of--you know, why is it so...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:42 PM
|
Comments (2)
February 16, 2007
This sweet Creative Playthings doll house has a bit of play wear on the edges--and, uh, it's missing the bottom floor--but the only thing bad I can say about all the furniture is that the doll family appears to...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:35 AM
|
Comments (2)
February 5, 2007
Add the awesomely named Ib Kofod-Larsen to my list of Danish Designers I Should Have But Never Have Heard Of. [I know who Ub Iwerks is, though; do I get half credit?] Alls I know is, design guru Grace...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
9:39 AM
|
Comments (0)
January 29, 2007
This Creative Playthings Peg Sandwich is about 3-in high, meaning those pegs would probably pass through a paper towel tube, no problem. [That's the rule of thumb that stuck with me about choking hazards during the child safety prenatal...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:15 AM
|
Comments (0)
Good morning, sweet, vintage, wooden, toy soldiers from Creative Playthings circa 1969. CREATIVE PLAYTHINGS THE KINGS GUARD WOOD SOLDIERS 1969, ends Feb. 4 [ebay]...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
8:06 AM
|
Comments (0)
January 25, 2007
An eBay seller named mix-mod has listed a collection of colorful, vintage modern toys—four lots of work vehicles, including a fuel tanker, dump truck, cement mixer and a matched pair of [oil-barrel hauling?] tractors. In the spirit of Ladislav...
[read the full post...]
Posted by dt-andy at
3:32 PM
|
Comments (1)
August 4, 2006
"Any photos of sweet Bauhaus children's furniture?" I ask with dopey innocence at the end of the previous post. To which modernist design shark Andy replies, "Crafts of the Weimar Bauhaus, 1919-1924. An Early Experiment in Industrial Design has...
[read the full post...]
Posted by greg at
10:50 PM
|
Comments (2)
