OLD TYME CARS

My Brother in Law recently emailed me a picture of a 1908 automobile. So, I thought I would share some of my old styled cars with you.

Here are two windup cars made in Japan by a company called Trade Mark. I've had these for over 40 years and they still work!


Here are two Model A Fords. The large one is also made by Trade Mark while its little brother is by Matchbox as part of their Models of Yesteryear collection.



Finally,here are three more Matchbox Cars: The turquoise one is a 1911 Maxwell Roadster, the white one is a 1909 Opel Coupe and the gold car is a 1913 Cadillac.

HAPPY EASTER!

Matchbox has come up will several ways of packaging their cars at different holiday seasons.

For Easter, they put cars in eggs.


When the eggs were "cracked" open", the hidden car was revealed..


This was a very clever marketing tool. It allowed them to package cars that were maybe not selling very well. They would also add in one or two new cars to entice collectors to buy them.

Happy Easter to everyone.

Baseball Card Variations Part 2

Here are some more variations from my collection.

From 1965, here is #79, the first series checklist card. #61 is listed as either "Cannizzaro" or "C. Cannizzaro".

From 1966, here is another checklist, #101, the second series checklist that has #115 as either Warren Spahn or Bill Henry.Also from 1966, here is card #103 of Dick Groat. The bottom card has the extra line at the bottom that Dick was traded to the Phillies on October 27, 1965.

Here are two from 1967. This is card #191, the third series checklist. Card #214 is listed as either Dick Kelly or Tom Kelly. You can also notice that the picture of Willie Mays has grown a neck on the second picture.Finally, from 1967 the rare proof card version of Roger Maris, #45, listed as a Yankee in the unissued version and the issued version that shows him as a Cardinal.

Only about 100 of the Yankee version found their way into the hobby. A closer look at the two cards reveals that Yankee Stadium, as seen on the left side on the first card seems to have disappeared on the second card!

Baseball Card Variations

I have always been fascinated with variations on baseball cards. It has carried over to my Matchbox car also but right now, we will concentrate on baseball cards.

Faithful readers will remember a few posts ago, I wrote about the 1951 Topps Baseball Card Set and there were two variations of two cards in the set. I'd like to show some more variations.

I also like proof baseball cards that are variations of the regular issue card. One main difference is that a proof card was never intended for sale while a variation card was sold in at least a small quantity. Proof cards will be a future topic here.

In 1959, there are 5 cards that come with or without a traded line. Here are the two variations of the card of #321, Bob Giallombardo. It may be a little hard to see but the bottom card has the line "Optioned to Montreal in March 1959" between the box at the top and the writeup.

In 1962, Topps reprinted the whole second series of cards because the first printing contained unnatural coloring. Some cards also had different poses. Here is the color variations in card #187, Gene Conley. The first card has a bright green background while the second is the natural background. Here are the pose variations of #176, Eddie Yost.

Here is the 7th series checklist from 1964, #517. The first card has incorrect numbering on the back, it starts at #565, goes to #587, then has #542 through #564. The second card has the correct numbering, #542 to #587.

Next post I'll continue with more variations from the 1960's baseball cards.

Matchbox Carrying Cases

Lesney Corporation had been making Matchbox cars since the early 1950's but did not make any carrying cases until 1966. Here are some cases from my collection.

Here is a 48 car case. It's made of vinyl and cardboard and has 4 plastic trays to hold the cars. This was issued in 1966 and the cover depicts the #41 Ford GT.

This case was issued in 1967. It is vinyl with cardboard trays that hold 18 vehicles. The cover has the #8 Mustang.

From 1966, here is a 40 car case. This one has two trays that hold 20 cars each. Again, made from vinyl and cardboard, one side features the #6 Quarry Truck and the other side has the #53 Mercedes.


As the years went by, Matchbox got a little more creative with their cases.

Here is a 36 car case that resembles a truck from 1976. This was a gift from my wife.



Finally, I think this one is from the late 1970's or early 1980's. It holds 48 cars in 4 plastic trays. It is shaped like a race car. These come in various colors. My wife spotted this one a t a local antique store.

Baseball Card Inserts

Over the years, many different types of inserts have been included in packs of baseball cards to keep them interesting. Here are some from my collection.

In 1962, a set of 200 stamps were inserted. Here is the Mickey Mantle stamp.

In 1964 a set of 164 coins were inserted and in 1971, a 153 coin set. Here is a coin from 1964 and one from 1971.

In 1968, a 33 card baseball game set was issued.

In 1969, a set of 48 small decals were issued.

Also in 1969, a 35 card set of deckle edge cards were inserted.

In 1970, A set of comic like story booklets were issued.



In 1970 and 1971, a scratch off game of 24 was inserted.



But my all time favorite insert, which was around for many years and still is in some sets is.....THE GUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oddball Matchbox Collectibles

Even though I primarily collect Matchbox Cars, I have a few non car items in my collection.

Here is a set of 4 erasers in the shapes of cars.

Here is a toy for a small child to play with in the bathtub.

Here is a bar of soap. To encourage children to use the soap, A small toy car was hidden in the middle that the child got to play with when the soap was all used up.

Along the same lines, here is a tube of body wash which also had a toy car in it.

Finally, here is a set of 3 bars of soap shaped like cars. They were packaged in a box that resembled a car transporter. This version was issued in France.