Hong Kong's Spinning Tops Gumball Machine Plastics Fantastic Era of Love

Rare color variants in spinning tops toys from Hong Kong find them at RetroChalet

I think my favorite vintage plastics are the tiny toy sized miniature creations that stemmed out of Hong Kong.  Most of these novelty gifts were just being phased out when I was growing up in the 70's. Hong Kong was big into making toys for the USA in the 60s and 70s, but by the 80's production shifted to China and seemingly, never turned back.  According to this article by Alisa Chau, she claims that Hong Kong was the largest toy exporter of the 70's. That must be true, because I remember seeing so many of these type toys growing up. 

Much like you see some of the manual gumball machines today, these things were everywhere. My parents could not go into a store, restaurant or mall without me seeing the brightly colored vintage gumball machines.  There were usually rows of them, the higher priced (25 cents) in the back and the cheapie ones in the front for only 5 cents or 10 cents.  The ones in the back usually had those plastic football helmets with peelable stickers on them.  For being a quarter, they were very detailed, stickers well-made and fun for you to put together. 

The toys were colorful and the size of acorns. I thought they were molded well. RetroChalet

I however, liked to spend my money wisely, and I could obtain five 5 cents gumball machine toys for the price of that one helmet.  So, I had a bunch of little novelty items come out.  Sometimes it was a pencil eraser, a mini plastic car, or a small replica of King Kong, (or sometimes I just wanted the Spree candies) however once in awhile I got lucky with a great quality molded plastic toy much like these, a plastic spinning top. 

I thought I did quite well for a quarter back in the day... Find them at RetroChalet on sale now.

Most , if you looked closely enough, had the tiny words "HONG KONG" printed on them.   For the rest of you who were not even a thought when I was growing up, I hope you can see the cuteness that I see in these toys.  They were molded quite well for "el cheapo" toys and some have even lasted all this time. 

I would imagine some will still be floating around much after the kids of my era are long gone. Plastic is fantastic, and less and less of it will be in existence one day.  It's nice to think of the story of the item rather than just collecting it.  What are your favorite toy memories? 

This post sponsored by Vikings in Maine, and Living a Vintage Life Podcast. 

Vintage Plastic Dolls of Nations Kewpie Barbie

Set of Kewpie dolls for sale at retrochalet on Etsy

Children everywhere have been enthralled with the idea of dolls. Most dolls are plastic. The ones above were made in Taiwan and China, circa 60s to 70s.   Before the cushy feel of rubbery plastic, dolls were molded much harder, out of a hard plastic that often would crack or break when they were dropped. Much like the little party favors of yesteryear, the dolls below were hard circa 1950's.

These dolls in the original case, are from stefbodie on Etsy

However, one did not seem to care, as they were bought in the five and dime store probably for less than $1, or used as carnival prizes.  These above would have surely been priced at .29 cents to .49 cents and would have been a nice little doll to keep your tiny one occupied.  Something like this would never be allowed today, due to the fact it would be way too easy to break the arms and legs, which were then held together with rubber bands and/or mere string,

This doll of nations states it's a display only, not a toy, available at VintageCliffs on Etsy

I distinctly remember wherever my grandmother went, she brought me back a doll "Of nations" they were called. Basically these dolls represented "the wives" of different nations, and were all dressed differently. They were meant to never play with she said, but to display proudly that you were such a recipient of some pretty little doll.  Each were molded hard plastic, some with joined arms and legs, others with only jointed arms, and very pretty glasslike (but plastic) sleepy eyes.  They were in gift shops all over, luring grannies like mine to buy them for their adorable grandchildren, or for themselves to collect in a curio.

This rubber cupie doll on Etsy is frm LaVintageBy Miss PJ55

Rubber dolls like the one above were cute,  and often contained squeakies in them. Certainly these were more for the dogs than kids, because over time rubber was not used as much as molded or hard plastic.  Even so, where would we be without plastic dolls?  Plastic dolls are still being made today.

Without plastic, these would be the mere possiblities:

WOOD!

From Etsy shop ThisandThat4U is a wooden carved doll with cloth body!

PORCELAIN!

Vintage Porcelain Doll from Etsy shop Via Dei Navigli

METAL!

German Minerva Doll from City Different on Etsy

So what do you think?   Just not the same as our loveable dolls of yesterday, being wood, metal, or porcelain, now is it?  If you think plastic is not essential in toy making, then how could you look Barbie in the face and tell her that her reign is over?

Vintage Barbie wouldn't look the same in porcelain, would she? Courtesy of Dusty 061996 on Etsy!

What was your favorite plastic doll growing up?  Let me know!

You May also want to  visit my new Retro Chalet wordpress blog to keep up with my latest Retro Finds!

British Toys Out of the Kitchen Plastic

Plastics Out of the Kitchen and Into the Hands of Babes

Although America's melmac dinnerware and kitchen craze was mid forties through the late fifties, and we were making plastic everything, England and Australia were too!

Gorgeous London mottled plastic toy survived all these years, available at Etsy

You can read my previous article about Bessemer Plastics and how Australia was making great kitchen designs. What about England? When one thinks of England we think of china and ceramic tea sets, but what about plastic?

Courtesy of llandr on Etsy

British Cyanamid was indeed using plastics for household wares to toys to picnic ware sets. If you were out at a picnic in your pretty woven basket of goodies, you may find their version of beetleware (named Beatl brand plastic dinnerware) to eat off of. Lovely egg cups and luxury kitchen items all made of high quality melmac, melamine, bakelite, and plastic. Radios, modern designed lamps, and boutique items. It is true in the UK, plastics were everywhere you looked.

This lovely double decker bus was made in England and is available at frenchvintagedream on Etsy

Plastic Toys for Girls and Boys: What Were THEY Playing With?

When you think of your childhood and what you played with, it often brings a smile to your face. Showcased here are some English toys so you can see just what toys were produced in England.

As for the USA, if you ask your dad or grandfather, and they lived in the United States,  most likely during the 30's to the 50's they had toys that were also made in the States. That was the time of Industrial USA.  You would be shocked at the tin toys , cars, trucks, and sand pails with chipping paint they were allowed to play with back then.  Or the electric irons and ovens which really plugged in....now considered a fire hazard that children used to play with. Oh yes, things were much different then.

SouthernBellaVintage on Etsy shows this English toy Abacus by Invicta, made in 1970 only $6.99

Industrialism Vanishes in the USA

My how the times have changed. Enter the 60's and 70's and all the cheap Japanese, Taiwan, or Hong Kong imports. This was the start of a new era, where the US could obtain cheaper toys by not making them ourselves, and our government felt good about that since it helped these other countries by stoking their economies. Not to mention, these items could be purchased for less and sold for more. Unfortunately this idea backfired as  the cost of doing business in the US would soar and our country would go from powerful to poverty.  By the 80's and 90's not much was produced here anymore. Once America had so many doll companies it never had to import a plastic children's doll, but today, flip it over and see if it's not made in China.

Find this vintage plastic baby doll at the shop FrenchVintageDream on Etsy

Plastic Toy Guns Bang Bang

Novelty dimestore toys, I guess you had to PLAY RESPONSIBLY. Love these vintage toys, which are fantastic plastic. Imagine gussying up your teddy bear lone ranger style...make a cowboy, or use for party favors at your cowgirl birthday party. These tiny cute plastic mini cowboy guns are from yesteryear, I found a case of 'em in unused stock. Some people use them in arts and crafts, others collect them.They are tiny and colorful, approx 3.5" wide by only 3" tall. With Plastic balls that are ammo. Definately not safe by today's standards...

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Russ Wallace Berrie Oily Jigglers Collection

Hey, check out these cool little oily rubber guys circa made by Russ & Wallace Berrie.

This picture was sent to me by Erik Sheets, he collects these rubbery guys. With names like Sarge , Hopeless, and Squiry Wormy these oily little suckers can grow on you if you look at them long enough.

Erik says, "These guys were made of an oily rubber from 1965 - 1971. They are about 3 to 4 inches high, not so little! " Erik is missing a bunch for his collection so if you have any for sale or come across any please drop him a line here.    Have you seen them?  Did you have them as a kid? Leave a comment and tell us all about it!

If you have a collection of cool plastics you'd like to share with our readers, contact me!