Tweet
Hitting the Thrift Store for the past decade or so has lead me to note several trends for my area when it comes to Classic toy. The overal supposition is that the older toys I find are dug out from the elderly's house's by dis-interested partys. Many people have moved out of state for economic reasons leaving thier elders.
Firstly. I've been finding a lot of Johnny West items accessories and horses. This makes it easy to note that Marx was well distributed in the Pittsburgh area. The horses go unnoted by most due to the difficult to see trademark and due to the ammount of modern Barbie Horses. (Back in the day these might have been purchased for Babs use.) Personally I remember purchasing a reduced J.West and Sam Cobra at K-mart with Christmas gift funds.
Secondly is Mego (Yeah!!!) I am up to 4 finds. Three have been in the last year alone. AJ, Fonzie, Supes and a soldier ape. These finds also show that Mego was well distributed in this area. Lucky for me other shoppers must not have recognized them or even knew of the history. Fonzie was found wearing a smaller vest from a Johnny West charactor. (Note first.)
Third would be Classic He-Man. A good amount have been found. I think the reproductions have calmed the "thrift scavenger". (Even I would rather use one to for a custom Mego.) I consider the 80-90's as the "Mass Production/distribution era's" and dont think much of toys of these times as classic.
As far as GI Joe goes. I can relate that the line was popular in the Pittsburgh area but I think its collectabilty is too well know even to the non-collector. In the past I have had one score of old Joe items at a flea market. Three foot lockers full of stuff. Including Johnny West items (See again first issue). The seller really hardballed the sell. Lucky for me. He considered the J.West stuff as a draw-back (He didnt know who it was). In this case, seller was a relative selling off his deceased uncles estate.
Bab's items. Yet again I'd have to admit this is a big seller in the area and overly noted as market collectable. Every female child I knew had a Barbie. But the thrifts reveal little of the classic's.
I have seen a few other rare classics. Gabriel Tonto. Mattle Big Jim. Bionic Woman/ SMDM. But compared to other classic toy lines, these are so few.
Finally. I have found NO classic Star Wars toys!!! EVER!!! I cant report that these too were big sellers and well stock in this area back then. I think due to the almost constant noterity of the franchise since the 70's. Even the non-collector consider these valuable. The more modern Star Wars toys flood the bins though.
There you go. Take into account all the variables and you can see what was well marketed in my area during the 70-80's.
Firstly. I've been finding a lot of Johnny West items accessories and horses. This makes it easy to note that Marx was well distributed in the Pittsburgh area. The horses go unnoted by most due to the difficult to see trademark and due to the ammount of modern Barbie Horses. (Back in the day these might have been purchased for Babs use.) Personally I remember purchasing a reduced J.West and Sam Cobra at K-mart with Christmas gift funds.
Secondly is Mego (Yeah!!!) I am up to 4 finds. Three have been in the last year alone. AJ, Fonzie, Supes and a soldier ape. These finds also show that Mego was well distributed in this area. Lucky for me other shoppers must not have recognized them or even knew of the history. Fonzie was found wearing a smaller vest from a Johnny West charactor. (Note first.)
Third would be Classic He-Man. A good amount have been found. I think the reproductions have calmed the "thrift scavenger". (Even I would rather use one to for a custom Mego.) I consider the 80-90's as the "Mass Production/distribution era's" and dont think much of toys of these times as classic.
As far as GI Joe goes. I can relate that the line was popular in the Pittsburgh area but I think its collectabilty is too well know even to the non-collector. In the past I have had one score of old Joe items at a flea market. Three foot lockers full of stuff. Including Johnny West items (See again first issue). The seller really hardballed the sell. Lucky for me. He considered the J.West stuff as a draw-back (He didnt know who it was). In this case, seller was a relative selling off his deceased uncles estate.
Bab's items. Yet again I'd have to admit this is a big seller in the area and overly noted as market collectable. Every female child I knew had a Barbie. But the thrifts reveal little of the classic's.
I have seen a few other rare classics. Gabriel Tonto. Mattle Big Jim. Bionic Woman/ SMDM. But compared to other classic toy lines, these are so few.
Finally. I have found NO classic Star Wars toys!!! EVER!!! I cant report that these too were big sellers and well stock in this area back then. I think due to the almost constant noterity of the franchise since the 70's. Even the non-collector consider these valuable. The more modern Star Wars toys flood the bins though.
There you go. Take into account all the variables and you can see what was well marketed in my area during the 70-80's.
Comment