In the 1940's. the PlasCo name was synonymous with great toy kits for kids. Little girls could obtain a plastic tea set or dinnerware set just like Mommy's china ones! They can still sometimes be found in the original boxes which were colorful lithographic designs of the 40s and 50s. Often lithographed with bright vibrant colors, these sets were just lovely for collection and display. Some had matching forks, knives, and even napkins! Not all pieces were properly marked but once you familiarize yourself with a few mint in box sets, then you can surely recognize it.
Surely a must have for the little girls of the 1940's, who would spend hours playing tea with dolls and bears. They even made a lot of dollhouse furniture, I am unsure if each piece was marked properly, so some may be hard to tell, but it is out there, and you can search for it.
For boys there were western sets, farm animals, toy soldiers and more. Most of the information that I have found about this company comes from the Toy Soldier HQ, which you can peruse here: TOY SOLDIER HQ INC <P> REL PLASTICS TOY SOLDIERS AND FIGURES FOR SALE (angelfire.com) who has a great history on PlasCo and many little boy toys for your perusal, a quite comprehensive list. This will be helpful next time you are out thrifting or estate sale junking, you will know what to look for.
The Name, So Confusing!
In fact, the name PlasCo wasn't really the name of the company per se. It was the Plastic Art Corporation, a subsidiary of REL plastics molding that was created just for the manufacturing of a toy division. So the name PlasCo was somehow obtained from the Plastic Art Corporation (how, I do not know because they left the Art word out completely, just sayin'.)
The company thrived in the hey dey making towns for twenty solid years from the 40's to the 60's but later things slowed down and according to Toy Soldier HQ, they were defunct in the 1980's.
A tea set in the original box is still appealing to plastics collectors who collect tea sets, plastic dishes, melamine dinnerware, or doll and bear themed collections. Mint condition can go from $30-$80 depending on piece count, style and rarity. Many of the soldier and military collectibles are still popular among male collectors today, and are cute and detailed for small plastic toys.
How cool it must have been to have toy set like this to play with your dolls and bears in a time before technology of today existed. Life was so simple then.
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