Category archive: eBay

May 9, 2013

This Creative Playthings Grey Wolf Puppet Will Change The World

Look, here's the deal. I'm posting about this insanely awesome Creative Playthings grey wolf puppet, even though I'm bidding on it. Because ultimately, my winning the puppet is less important to me than making sure that it gets reproduced,...
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April 18, 2013

BYO Booster Seats: OG 1975 Volvo C303 Soft-Top

Remember that amazing Volvo C303 that had been demilitarized and given a deluxe-looking, preschool dropoff line-ready metallic silver paint job? Yeah, this is not that. The C303 was Volvo's 1970s military flagship, the Swedish equivalent to the Unimog and...
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March 7, 2013

It Was An Ancient Randonneur

I've had a draft for a post about this 1940s randonneur in the style and meter of Coleridge's "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" half-written for so long, the unsold item listing has disappeared from French eBay. Which is...
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February 13, 2013

For Sale: Starck Baby Tableware, Never Used

Timpee1, an eBay seller in Wisconsin, has decided now is the time clear out the Philippe Starck + Target baby gear that's been sitting, unused, in the packages, since 2001. Which, if you're in the market for a baby...
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February 1, 2013

This Creative Playthings Puzzle Has Been Buy It Nowed.

In the time it took me and K2 to return our Star Trek video this morning, a faster eBay shark than I snapped up this sweet 1970s wooden tray puzzle Fredun Shapur made for Creative Playthings. Which, technically, yes,...
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January 21, 2013

The Greatest Creative Playthings Kaleidoscope I've Ever Seen!

If the first half of the lifespan of Daddy Types is a documentation of all the kidstuff I've bought, the second half is about unloading it all on the next generation. And yes, this weekend feels like a milestone;...
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January 14, 2013

Sweet Creative Playthings Car, With Manual Choke

The eBay seller's right, you don't see these classic Creative Playthings hardwood cars in this nice of shape very often. And you don't see them with all the passengers, either. But I guess the original buyer of this example...
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December 12, 2012

Cold Storage Philippe Starck X Target Banana Car

Speaking of expensive things made of cheap, yellow plastic: Here is a mint-in-box example of the acid banana-shaped ride-on toy designed by Philippe Starck for Target in 2001, being sold on eBay by someone whose business model seems to be...
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December 10, 2012

Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red PR

Now that they've retired [Where's Jeff? Not at the barber, that's for sure!], and taken their last victory tour/lap of Australia, The Wiggles have put "The Big Red Car" on eBay, with all proceeds going to support SIDS and...
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November 29, 2012

You Should Buy These Vintage Creative Playthings Blocks Before I Do

Seriously, this big 52-pc set of vintage Creative Playthings blocks, solid maple, in good condition, in their original box, for just $43 plus free shipping?? That's like $3.50/lb, cheaper than Froot Loops. Get on it, people! You crazy! Vintage...
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November 2, 2012

For Sale: Creative Playthings Playset, Come And Get It

Even in the face of power outages, transit paralysis, food and gas shortages, and Halloween reschedulings, the brave, resilient band of Creative Playthings collectors are not letting hurricane Sandy slow their trading activity. Why, just now, on the North...
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October 6, 2012

Pre-Snyder Era Kids Redskins Poncho

Unused, c. 1970s-80s, kid-size, vinyl Washington Redskins rain poncho, : $45. Shipping & Handling: $7. Knowing that Dan Snyder does not see even one thin dime of your purchase: priceless. VINTAGE WASHINGTON REDSKINS CHILD'S VINYL PONCHO SIZE S, buy...
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September 21, 2012

Philippe Starck X Target Pop-up Playhouse

Now that's kind of interesting. It's five pieces of the springy, pop-up playhouse toys from Philippe Starck's short-lived, pop-up collection of baby gear for Target in 2002, all new in box. With three tunnels, and two tents, you could...
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September 19, 2012

Whoa Who Wha? Vitali Playforms Community Helpers

Antonio Vitali Community Helpers? I've never even seen Community Helpers. I thought that Vitali's awesome, biomorphic, carved wood Creative Playthings family was entirely self-sufficient. But no, they had help from, respectively: a Miss Clavell-lookin' nun, a guy carrying a...
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September 12, 2012

Like-A-Hammer: 1988 Mercedes AMG Mallet 300TE 6.0 Wagon

Let me just say, from personal experience, that if you have a collectible 1980s Mercedes and you haven't accumulated at least $40,000 worth of receipts for it by now, you are doing it wrong. Because those receipts will come, and...
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September 6, 2012

There Is No I In ABC

But otherwise, these lower case, wooden letters from Creative Playthings are pretty sweet. Also choke hazardy. Vintage CREATIVE PLAYTHINGS Wood Set of Toy Letters+BOX, currently $14 + 11 s/h, auction ends Sept 11 [ebay]...
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September 2, 2012

Bid/Buy/Build: The Creative Playthings Slot-Together Dollhouse Is By Roger Limbrick.

It's funny, all this time it's been an awesome icon of 60s American modernist kids design, and I'd never actually wondered who made the Creative Playthings slot-together, openside doll house. The answer, which Andy knew all along: British designer...
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August 20, 2012

Creative Playthings Truck, POS

One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong Can you tell which thing is not like the others, Before the auction's done? It hasn't reached "eames" levels of meaninglessness yet, but...
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August 19, 2012

We All Probably Missed Fredun Shapur's Creative Playthings Soft Blocks

Whoops, I guess I was on vacation and not checking ebay enough and thus basically missed this awesome set of good-as-new soft blocks covered with designs by Fredun Shapur. Not sure what your excuse is, but $16 seems mighty...
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August 13, 2012

Now We Know: Creative Playthings Lumber Tractor & Trailer

It's been a few years since I've seen one of these 2-by tractors turn up on eBay. And when the first one popped up, it wasn't clear whether it was by Community Playthings, the Mennonite-ish wooden toy and daycare/preschool/educational...
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July 13, 2012

It's My Desk In A Box, Or CBS-Era Creative Playthings' Most Depressing Toy

At what point in the development of the Creative Playthings L'il Boss Desk In A Case do you think it occurred to folks that this would be the toy most likely to destroy the sweet, little dreams of their...
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July 2, 2012

Here Is A Philippe Starck X Target Baby Carrier.

I have no idea if the baby carrier Philippe Starck designed for Target like ten years ago is any good. I mean, if it were really nice, wouldn't they keep on making it? Was all that Starck X Target...
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June 28, 2012

Maserati Indy In The Car Pool Lane

If Daddy Types were a preschool, our drop-off line would be INSANE. Not content with just the Family Ferraris, DT reader Nathan is now turning up other vintage 4-seat exotics that lull you in with oh-so-reasonable-seeming sale prices, and then...
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June 27, 2012

OG Creative Playthings Supertanker

This vintage Creative Playthings tanker has the most unusual hull configuration I've seen since Karl Stromberg's Liparus. At 21 inches, it also has dimensions, parts, and construction techniques that look like they could be replicated easily in your Popular Mechanics-era...
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June 21, 2012

The First Step In Solving A Philippe Starck + Target Diaper Bag Problem

Looks like someone's finally facing up to their Philippe Starck for Target diaper bag hoarding problem. An eBay seller has five of the graphite-and-highlighter bags, which Starck made in 2000, in both backpack and shoulder styles, all apparently new-with-tags....
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June 6, 2012

Total Mercedes Benz Pedal Car Information Awareness

Our entire culture is at risk of disappearing from our grasp, and we don't even know it. Crevasses open up and swallow the hapless as as they trek from the analog darkness toward the glow of the digital networked utopia...
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May 7, 2012

Piles Of Antonio Vitali Toys Traded For Piles Of Money

Well, it's always good to know where you stand. I ended up conducting an experiment over the weekend as I decided whether to post about two separate hoards of classic Antonio Vitali carved wood toys--or whether to bid on...
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April 24, 2012

Damn You, eBay, And Your Creative Playthings Steel Drum With Handpainted Logo

If eBay were a person and not just an affiliate-linked advertiser, I'd come over there and punch it in the nose right. now. for not having a system that sends reminders to bidders that items they are bidding on--and...
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April 22, 2012

Late Antonio Vitali Toys

The extraordinarily subtle biomorphic, sculptural abstractions of Antonio Vitali's Creative Playthings-era carved wooden toys are icons that can bring thousands of dollars at auction. The woodblocks-with-eyes-drilled-out dolls from his Phoning It In Era? Maybe not so much. Vintage Wooden...
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April 20, 2012

Creative Playthings Tractor Is Not All In Your Head

So I see this Creative Playthings tractor listed, and at first I'm like, "Wow, Frank Caplan, way to pare down the toy design to the bare essence, thereby stimulating the child's imagination, rather than just his senses, all the...
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April 13, 2012

Sweet Picture Matching Dominoes From Abbatt Toys

These picture dominoes from Abbatt Toys have a pretty sweet 60s look going on. Which reminds me of how 00s or 10s all this stuff around us is gonna look someday. Vintage Object Puzzle Dominoes pictures Abbatt toy 1960s,...
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April 2, 2012

Shady Baby: Maclaren's Secret Outlet Stores

Alright, here's the short version of this post: Farzad Rastegar's basically got two front operations in random condos in Norwalk, Connecticut to unload recalled Maclaren USA strollers online. Some of those strollers come from Maclaren USA, the subsidiary Rastegar put...
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March 21, 2012

Vintage Stacking Elephants From Abbatt Toys

Abbatt Toys were kind of the cottage-sized, family-run, Creative Playthings of London. Great stuff, that turns up for sale much less frequently than CP. This set of stackable, wooden elephants is kind of sweet, and maybe not a choking...
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March 7, 2012

Molded Ply Mayhem! Creative Playthings Ride-on Tractor

I'll be brief: this 1960s-era ride-on tractor from Creative Playthings is awesome, and you should buy it. If you live in or around Eastern Pennsylvania, because apparently, it is too heavy or unwieldy to ship. And then everyone else...
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March 1, 2012

Creative Playthings Ply Panel Van

The crazy thing about this rarely seen Creative Playthings truck/van is that I just saw one. A nearly identical but cleaner example just sold on ebay for $51 and change, shipped, and then not two days later, some feller...
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February 20, 2012

Lisa Larson Boardbooks And Kids Stuff

So I gather that Lisa Larson is the ceramic Kay Bojesen of Sweden? Or maybe the Marilyn Neuhart. Either way, her decades of crunchy, crafty modernist designs have a Japanese following strong enough to support new spin-off merchandise. Like...
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February 16, 2012

Not Molded Ply Creative Playthings Doll Stroller

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of days now, but truth be told, with an opening bid of $375, I kind of figured it wasn't going anywhere too soon. The eBay seller of this unusual [not...
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February 15, 2012

Antonio Vitali Single Mom Play Set

In her research on Creative Playthings' forward-thinking approach to toy design, Dr. Amy Ogata noted that "[Antonio] Vitali's designs put the visual and intellectual emphasis on the form and the natural grain of the wood, reinforcing the company's ideal...
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January 19, 2012

Toot Toot Chugga Chugga, Antonio Vitali Car

Maybe someone with their Antonio Vitali retrospective catalogues handy can tell us for sure, but I think this sweet, signed toy car is from the US toy collection the Swiss designer launched after he did his work for Creative...
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January 16, 2012

Starck For Target Diaper Backpack

The color is basically like shooting pure, undiluted 2002 right into your veins, but unless the finish and quality are an problem, this new-condition, vintage Philippe Starck diaper backpack actually looks kind of nice. Diaper Back Pack - PHILIPPE...
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January 4, 2012

OG Toy Braun Blender From Creative Playthings

Well here's something you never see. Or at least I've never seen. It's apparently a toy-sized Braun Multimix blender, imported back in the day by Creative Playthings. Which, does this make sense? It clearly dates from the Dieter Rams...
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December 23, 2011

Antonio Vitali Rocking Snail Too Slow For Christmas

Assuming you didn't already blow your Christmas wad on the ersatz nativity set last fall, you should now be ready to pounce on this: an early hand-carved rocking snail from Antonio Vitali's Swiss toys days. The shaped details are...
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December 14, 2011

Have The Crawligator Market Found A Floor?

You'd think that if the Crawligator that showed up on eBay last week had 17 bids and sold for $202, the one on eBay right now might at least have a single $49 bid. But then, the previous Crawligator...
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December 9, 2011

Things I'm Not Trying To Win On eBay: Mint-In-Box Creative Playthings Blocks

I've been thinking I'm going to bid on these beautiful-looking, new-in-box, c.1975 Creative Playthings blocks for the kids' Christmas present. And though we're mostly out of the choke hazard phase, I decided they're a little small for us. [The...
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Oh My Heckflosse! 1968 Mercedes 200D Wagon

Oh, no, this is it, I can feel it! It's the Big One! It was just yesterday, when I was taking our 1985 Mercedes coupe to the shop again for some minor-but-expensive repair, that I was contemplating its fate: should...
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December 7, 2011

Philippe Starck For Target Items Nobody Won On eBay

Speaking of vintage Philippe Starck-designed baby gear, I guess the only way I missed this was by never searching for it on eBay. An auction ended just last night for a nearly complete set of Starck For Target, a...
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December 3, 2011

Whoa, Crawligator In A Box, Baby!

Someone's Christmas just got 100% crawlier. The Crawligator belly scooter is one of the icons of the Creative Playthings era--an era where keeping the kid from inadvertently scooting down the stairs and cracking his melon open was the parents'...
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December 1, 2011

Awesomely Annoying: Creative Playthings Steel Drum On eBay

This is simultaneously the awesomest thing I've seen on eBay all week and the single worst idea for a kid's gift all year. Unless, of course, your kid lives in a padded, soundproof room, or you totally hate your...
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November 18, 2011

Play The Empty, Pointless Game Of Life! Shopping Center By Creative Playthings

The company limped along for a few more uninspired years, trying to keep up in the cheap, plasctic future of color TV & Rock'em Sock'em Robots. But if there was a single product that marked, by the laws of...
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November 10, 2011

Has The Creative Playthings Housing Bubble Popped?

As the grown-up housing market goes, so goes the dollhouse market. And so a Creative Playthings slot-together ply dollhouse with the original box sold on eBay for half of what it was a couple of years ago--just like a...
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