First, the Toys!

My good Etsy friend Vanessa says that collecting vintage toys lets you relive your childhood, and I believe she's right. Not only that, but there's a kid inside each one of us that never quite left Neverland, so toys have a timeless appeal. Especially, in my opinion, vintage toys!

That's why I'm excited to unveil the first of my happy finds from yesterday's junking jaunt.

Is this a trove or what?!

 

 

The colorful wooden stringing beads and the beautiful blue corduroy doll coat will be staying here to entertain granddaughters, but the other items I will probably be adding to my shops as soon as I can manage to take proper pictures and get them listed.

Now for a closer look at those:

 

This solemn little velvet hand puppet reminds me of the one on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. I think the character's name was Daniel Kitten. (If I'm wrong, my daughter will correct me. She was a great fan of Mr. Rogers. His program was her first experience of television,and she was about five years old, if you can imagine that.) I remember that puppet was cute but the characterization by the puppeteer was particularly sickening. This pretty fellow will, hopefully, not be subjected to the meow-meow-baby talk indignities inflicted upon Daniel Kitten.

 

This is a 1983 Star Wars Ewok character named Wicky. (Interesting coincidence in this house because it's also Wickham's nickname.)
It's in excellent condition and I did some preliminary snooping on eBay's completed listings and see that this toy is one that seems to sell without difficulty. 

Personally I always thought the ewoks were an unfortunate addition to the Star Wars saga. Here were all these galactic battles and bigger-than-life heroes and villains and fabulously-designed spaceships, and in come these talking teddy bears. Yeah, they were kind of cute, just rather out of place. I never could take their roles seriously. I won't miss this guy one jot when he's been sold.

Now THIS is a "Wicky" I can appreciate!

 

I thought I was going to have to get my doll-expert daughter to identify this miniscule miss for me, but I actually managed to track her identity down myself. This is a Uneeda "Tiny Teen" doll from 1967. She's about 5 1/2 inches tall with real eyelashes. She's in fairly good condition apart from her wild, matted hair. It might be fun to make a few tiny outfits for her and then put her up for sale. She's about the size of a Dawn doll, but with a bigger head.

  
Lastly for now, I wanted you to see the detail on this amazing vintage backgammon set. I found it for $1 at a church rummage sale yesterday, and it's in its original box and has all its instructions and other little paper bits. It looks like it's never been used. I'm a big Syroco fan so this fascinates me even though I don't know how to play backgammon. I've no idea of value on this, but it's pretty cool. The manufacturer is the Pacific Game Company. They describe it as a "replica of a rare hand-carved game board that has been molded in a special process that reproduces the finest details of the original". The pieces are very appealing--a glossy, marbled plastic that might be bakelite, though I'm  not sure.

There's lots more to come, and I'll try to share it all over the next few days.