{"id":2323,"date":"2019-01-14T11:57:55","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T18:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/?p=2323"},"modified":"2019-01-15T07:01:21","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T14:01:21","slug":"these-vintage-toys-from-every-decade-will-give-you-serious-nostalgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/these-vintage-toys-from-every-decade-will-give-you-serious-nostalgia","title":{"rendered":"These Vintage Toys from Every Decade Will Give You Serious Nostalgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Antique and vintage toys have a special meaning for most of us. These items remind us of a simpler time of childish innocence, one that can be recaptured just by the sight, sound or smell of a toy that inspired play when we were young.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Toys are often talismans of key stages in our lives and our period of growing up,\u201d says <\/span>Christopher Bensch, chief curator at the The Strong National Museum of Play<\/a>. \u201c<\/span>Kids develop favorite toys because the toy makes such a perfect fit with their personality and style of play. As adults, tapping into memories of favorite toys can be especially vivid, transporting us into our earlier years and what was\u2014or seemed to be\u2014a simpler, more innocent time in our lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bensch says there are a lot of characteristics that make a great toy. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>A great toy offers plentiful play value\u2014things like the opportunity for social play, the chance to apply your imagination, or the potential for open-ended play without the constraints of rules or a back story.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Toys not only generate important development opportunities for humans, but they also act as mascots for each era. As \u201cthe tools of play,\u201d says Bensch, toys \u201care key artifacts of every age.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

30s Toys<\/span><\/h2>\n

Sock Monkey<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A vintage sock monkey. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The famous sock monkey is a product of the Great Depression. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToys always reflect the era in which they\u2019re created and used,\u201d says Bensch, \u201cso they are essential, cultural artifacts that reveal who we are as a people and as individuals in particular.\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The sock monkey provides insight into this lean economic era: when purchasing toys was a luxury few could imagine, families took to creating their own out of a popular style of work sock called Rockfords.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nelson Knitting Company was the first to create a sock with a seamless heeled sock. Because of their location in Rockford, IL, these sock came to be known as \u201cRockfords.\u201d This style was quickly copied by other sock producers. To stand out from the crowd, Nelson started using a bright red yarn in the heel of the sock. The signature smile of the sock monkey was originally made from the red heel of the Rockford sock.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Modern sock monkeys on a store shelf.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the 1950s, the Nelson Knitting Company was including instructions for how to make the beloved toy monkey out of their authentic socks. While many imitation \u201csock\u201d monkey toys can be found in stores today, the original, handmade vintage toys using the Rockford sock material are a little harder to come by.<\/span><\/p>\n

Radio Flyer Wagon<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A small child with a radio flyer wagon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though not mass produced until 1930, the Radio Flyer Wagon was created by a teenage Italian who arrived in the US in 1914. Antonio Pasin built and sold small, red wagons in Chicago as a secondary income to his manual labor job. This led him to found the Liberty Coaster Company in 1923. Liberty Coaster produced scooters and tricycles in addition to the wagon, but the $3 wagon was by far their best seller. Demand started to outweigh supply and Pasin switched production from wood to metal in order to keep up with orders. Liberty Coaster Company began producing large volumes of the red metal \u201cRadio Flyers\u201d in 1930. (The name results from Pasin\u2019s love for two of this era\u2019s great inventions: the radio and the airplane.) The toy\u2019s popularity remained steady throughout the Great Depression.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bensch says the wagon makes a great toy because it can grow with the child. \u201c<\/span>Small kids can get towed around in a Radio Flyer Wagon but, as they grow older, a wagon can become a platform for all sorts of imaginative play,\u201d he says. \u201cOlder kids can also bring the handle of a Radio Flyer Wagon back toward where they\u2019re kneeling in the wagon and essentially turn it into a scooter.\u201d Wagons can even be important play tools for adults. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGrownups also adopt Radio Flyer Wagons as items that assist in their forms of play\u2014like gardeners who use wagons to haul plants or mulch,\u201d says Bensch.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
A classic radio flyer wagon. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Radio Flyer has undergone a variety of changes, including the addition of taller sides in the 50s and improved tires in the muscle-car era. The Liberty Coaster Company continues to produce the wagons, with plastic sport-utility versions now available for the off-roading kiddo. The Radio Flyer Wagon was inducted into The Strong National Museum of Play\u2019s <\/span>National Toy Hall of Fame<\/span><\/a> in 1999.<\/span><\/p>\n

40s Toys<\/h2>\n

Magic 8 Ball<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A Magic 8 Ball.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Few childhoods passed by without a fortune predicted by the Magic 8 Ball. The toy is a large black billiard ball with a small window. Inside, there is a multi-faceted dice with a variety of responses\u201420, to be exact. Ask your question, shake the ball, get an answer anywhere from \u201cGet Help\u201d to \u201cWithout a Doubt.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Albert Carter, the son of a professional fortune teller, is credited with the creation of the original Magic 8 Ball. Carter created a device called a Syco-Seer in 1944. The Syco Seer was a tube filled with viscous liquid and worded dice. A window on each end allowed fortune seekers to view the answer to their question. Carter hooked up with a businessmen named Abe Bookman, started a company, and produced and marketed the Syco-Seer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
One of the classic Magic 8 Ball responses: “Seek Help.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Patent for the toy was granted in 1948 and Bookman pursued several redesigns of the Syco-S<\/span>eer after Carter\u2019s death. The 8 ball design came about as a promotional partnership between Bookman and Brunswick Billiards, but Bookman maintained the look after the promotion ended. Not long after, he remarketed the item as a children\u2019s toy. Matel now owns the Magic 8 Ball and they sell a cool million of the toys every year.<\/span><\/p>\n

50s Toys<\/h2>\n

Pez<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A Hello Kitty dispenser serving out a pink PEZ candy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was always somethings satisfying about popping up the head of a PEZ dispenser and having the character deposit a tiny, bright candy in your hand.<\/p>\n

Inventor Eduard Haas III first marketed PEZ as adult breath mints in 1927 Austria. The name was generated from the German word for peppermint: pfeffermintz. <\/i>Many years later, Oscar Uxa developed the famous dispenser for the PEZ company as a sanitation measure\u2014by dispensing the candies one at a time, germs were less likely to spread when someone reached for a mint.<\/p>\n

\"\"
PEZ dispensers came in a variety of different characters, making them an excellent reflection of pop culture in most eras.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 1952, PEZ traveled to the US, but the strong peppermint flavor was a little much for Americans. When marketing the original PEZ was unsuccessful, the company traded their mints for the small, fruit-flavored candies that Americans now know and love. By topping the plastic dispenser with cartoon characters, Haas appealed to all fronts of childish imagination. The first dispensers in the US were a Santa Claus, a \u201cspace gun\u201d and a robot.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
From princesses to Santa Claus, there are few children’s characters that can’t be found on a PEZ dispenser.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The American Pez factory was opened in 1973 and continues to operate 24 hours a day. The company keeps up with popular culture, with today\u2019s PEZ dispensers featuring modern movie characters like Gru from <\/span>Despicable Me<\/span><\/i> and Elsa from <\/span>Frozen.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Matchbox Cars<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
Matchbox Cars hanging in a store.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The popularity of the automobile in the fifties was not only an adult pleasure. Children also had the opportunity to own a shiny collection of tiny designer rides.<\/span><\/p>\n

The original Matchbox cars were created by an industrial parts firm called Lesney, owned by Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith. Because industrial parts was a seasonal production gig, the company took to producing small die-cast toys at the end of the year. Jack O\u2019Dell, a Lesney engineer, eventually became a partner at Lesney and, in 1952, O\u2019Dell had the idea to shrink one of their popular toys. He sent his daughter to school with one of the tiny die-cast cars tucked in a matchbox.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"
A Matchbox El Camino. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matchbox launched officially in 1953 with three vehicles: a road roller, a cement roller, and a dump truck. In the 70s, the company moved to producing the cooler, \u201csuperfast\u201d cars to keep up with Hot Wheels line by Mattel. Mattel now owns the Matchbox line and continues to produce the tiny toys for children and adult collectors across the globe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Troll Dolls<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
Cheap imitations of the original troll dolls, with plastic bodies and polyester hair, quickly followed the wooden and wool originals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first tall-haired troll doll was created in Denmark in the late 50s. Thomas Dam, a fisherman, carved the first troll doll out of wood and gave it glass eyes and hair made of wool. Friends of Dam\u2019s daughter requested their own troll dolls, and Dam\u2019s company began producing the dolls and called them \u201cDam Things.\u201d They switched from wood to rubber and by the end of the decade, the company was selling as many as 10,000 Dam Things annually.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
The original troll dolls had hair made of wool.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to the true Dam Things (eventually called Dam Dolls), there were plenty of knock-off imitations made in different parts of the world. The New York Times actually estimated that the Dam family only took home a small portion of the proceeds from the $4.5 million troll market\u2014the rest went to cheap imitation companies. The Dam family regained control of the toy\u2019s image after a change in copyright law in 1994.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Trolls remain a popular collector’s item to this day and the original wooden toys can be very valuable.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

60s Toys<\/h2>\n

Etch A Sketch<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Some people become very adept at using an Etch a Sketch and can create masterpieces like this sketch of the Taj Mahal in India.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAn Etch A Sketch is wonderfully self-contained,\u201d says Bensch. \u201cThere are no parts to lose. It doesn\u2019t require any batteries. Shaking it is essentially a \u201cdo over\u201d switch that allows you to start a drawing again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the Radio Flyer Wagon, the Etch A Sketch provides engaging play opportunities for children and adults alike.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDrawing on an Etch A Sketch is surprisingly challenging for people of every age, says Bensch. \u201cso playing with one requires a user to extend their skills and apply significant hand-eye coordination to a fun objective.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
An inside view of the Etch a Sketch, which uses a stylus and aluminum powder to create solid lines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lite Brite<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A prototype of the Lite Brite toy. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many a child of the 60s spent hours designing colored, light-up pictures on the black peg board of the Lite Brite toy. Chicago toymaker Marvin Glass and Associates of Chicago created the famous Lite Brite, as well as a number of other famous toys like the Mouse Trap board game and Rock\u2019em Sock\u2019em Robots.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Lite Brite box. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

70s Toys<\/h2>\n

Rubik\u2019s Cube<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A solved Rubik’s Cube.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unlike some of the toys on this list, the 1970s Rubik\u2019s Cube has stood the test of time and can still be found in the hands of puzzle-solvers of every age. The original cube was designed by Erno Rubrik, a Hungarian academic, in 1974. The first Rubik\u2019s Cube took its creator, Erno, a full month to solve after it had been scrambled.<\/span><\/p>\n

The early cubes distributed in Hungary were called \u201cMagic Cubes.\u201d The Ideal Toy Company eventually decided to distribute the toy in the US but changed the name to Rubik\u2019s Cube to avoid pagan overtones. An estimated 350 million units have been sold since the cube landed in American markets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
An unsolved Rubik’s Cube.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There have been a number of manifestations of the cube since it\u2019s original appearance, including a smaller, easier cube for children to solve. Speedcubing\u2014the practice of solving the Rubik\u2019s Cube as fast as possible, sometimes called speedsolving\u2014remains a popular toy sport to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Star Wars<\/b><\/a> Action Figures<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
One of the original Luke Skywalker action figures. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The original Star Wars movie was release in 1977 and with that release came a stream of collectible toys. It was a bit of a rush, as toymakers didn\u2019t expect the movie to be so popular, but the Kenner company managed to put together a line of small action figures\u2014Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and R2-D2\u2014that were a huge hit and remain collectible items to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
One of the early Han Solo action figures. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The line of ancillary Star Wars products grew to include more than 90 action figures and 60 other items, representing about $2 billion in additional revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Star Wars action figure line has grown to include a number of characters beyond the basic story line.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

80s Toys<\/h2>\n

Cabbage Patch Kids Dolls<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
A Cabbage Patch “Snacktime” doll. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The original Cabbage Patch Kids were sculpted by hand from fabric by a college student named Xavier Roberts. Roberts sold a few of the dolls in gift shops and included adoption papers, birth certificates, and distinctive names for each doll. <\/span>Good Housekeeping<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Vice<\/span><\/a> both report that a woman named Martha Nelson Thomas first created the dolls and Roberts stole her design after she refused to sell it to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
A baby Cabbage Patch Kid. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If this is true, Thomas was cheated out of quite a salary. Toy company Caleco Industries stumbled across Roberts\u2019 dolls and immediately snapped them up for mass production. They changed the heads to vinyl instead of cloth. Throughout the 80s, the Cabbage Patch Kids empire garnered a reported $2 billion in revenue. Following their introduction in February of 1983, the dolls were so popular that they caused riots in toy stores after Black Friday. Cabbage Patch Kids are still a popular toy and collector\u2019s item and can be found at many an estate sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garbage Pail Kids Cards<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
Garbage Pail Kids cards. Image courtesy of The Strong National Museum of Play.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., created the Garbage Pail Kids (GPK) cards as a parody of another 80s toy craze: Cabbage Patch Kids. Topps had been selling novelty cards with their gum packets for decades and the company tried to get a license to depict the true Cabbage Patch characters on cards in their gum packages. The Cabbage Patch company declined, and many employees of Topps assumed this was because they felt sticks of gum were too \u201clow profile\u201d for their fancy dolls. So, the team decided to parody them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Garbage Pail Kids were often obscene, with gross and sometimes violent overtones.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cards bordered on obscene, with a \u201cMick Dagger\u201d character swording himself through the head, an \u201cAdam Bomb\u201d character with a mushroom cloud coming out of his head, and \u201cPotty Scotty\u201d crawling out of the toilet. The first 88 cards were released in the summer of 1985. Five cards came in a 25-cent package with a stick of gum. <\/span><\/p>\n

While the Cabbage Patch dolls were expensive and therefore had to come with parent approval, but the GPK stickers were as cheap as a stick of gum, making them an almost mischievous toy that kids could play with on their own. They bought more than 800 million of the stickers in the late eighties. The controversial cards were banned in schools and Topps was ripped apart in the media. The craze peaked in 1986 and a new series is still released every few years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furby<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
Some Furbies came with patterns and prints or in miniature.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Furby was a very intentional \u201cbig hit\u201d toy released in 1998. This was made possible by a six-week-long marketing campaign that happened before the fluffy, beaked creatures were even available for purchase. In the year after release, more than 27 million Furbies were sold.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Furbies came in a variety of colors, including white and black.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Furbies were some of the first successful robotic toys: the battery-powered animal speaks it\u2019s own language, but can also \u201clearn\u201d English phrases, wiggle its ears, and blink it\u2019s large, plastic eyes. The toys held a resale value of around $100 in 1998, but by 2007, they had all but disappeared from toy store shelves. A new line of Furbies was released by Hasbro in 2012. <\/span><\/p>\n

Beanie Babies<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Beanie Baby was intentionally the perfect size for a child’s pocket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beanie Babies were not only one of the most definitive toys of this decade, but also of the 20th century as a whole. The strategies used to increase Beanie Baby value\u2014namely, limited production, personification of the toys with poems and names, and keeping them out of large chains stores to increase a sense of exclusivity\u2014were a culmination of the combined toy sales expertise of the past several decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
The variety of animals was one of the reasons children kept collecting Beanie Babies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These incredibly popular 90s toys are essentially valueless today, but some of the more rare ones have value. The \u00a0rise and fall of Beanie Babies is discussed in <\/span>this post on The Goods<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re likely to come across nearly any of these vintage toys at an estate sale. If you\u2019re seeking a specific one, search it on our <\/span>homepage<\/span><\/a> first to see what estate sales are most likely to fill you with childhood nostalgia.<\/span><\/p>\n

What toy reminds you most of your childhood? Have you found any awesome vintage toys at estate sales? Tell us in the comments below!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Antique and vintage toys have a special meaning for most of us. These items remind us of a simpler time of childish innocence, one that can be recaptured just by the sight, sound or smell of a toy that inspired play when we were young. \u201cToys are often talismans of key stages in our lives\u2026Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2323"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3475,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323\/revisions\/3475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estatesales.org\/thegoods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}