Plasco Plastic Art Corporation Toys, Play Plastic Tea Set, Welcome to 1940

The front of a box, or an advertising signs, with colorful graphics for sale at RetroChalet. 

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. 

Inside of the tea set box, from Geraldine's Toys, this set for sale on Ebay. 

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. 

A Plasco Dollhouse furniture backstamp courtesy of GamGlamVintage on Etsy.

Buy this at GamGlamVintage on Etsy!

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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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. 

Kenner Can-Am SSP Plastic Car General Mills Fun Group Promotional 1970s Citgo Gas Station Lego Lovers

Image of my Kenner Citgo MIni SSP Can AM Orange  car in my Etsy shop.

Hello little toy plastic fantastic car, what are you? How did I not know you in my youth? 

Recently I was offing my extra stock of  Hot Wheels and Matchbox vintage cars in my Etsy shop, and came across this strange orange car I had gotten some time ago.  Although I refuse to admit being actually old, or archaic, it is true that I am a 1970s child. Even so, one who loved plastics growing up, whom does not remember this at all, and perhaps with good reason.  

I was s. Born in 1973, these cars were made as gas station premiums by Kenner for Citgo gas stations circa 1970-1971ish.  Still, if my older guy buddies that I hung with (I was their shadow), had one of these coveted somewhere in their collection, I am sure at age six or so I would have remembered such a glorious piece of plastic! But they didn't have one, and with good reason.  They were all older than me, and most likely outgrew it, broke or lost the zipper part, or gave it away.  Surely if they had sold it for ten cents at the neighborhood flea I would have remembered it.  By the way, I should thank the kids across the street for that cool 45RPM collection including Blondie's Heart of Glass for $1.00.   

Does that look like a Lego to you? 

Good Design, wait, whut, is that a LEGO? 

What's even stranger is how the car is designed.  It surely at first glance reminds me of having a "LEGO" build onto it, when it's actually some part of the exhaust or something, I wonder if it's designer played with Legos when he was designing the super spiffy plastic engine? I don't know.  Just sayin'. 

From my RetroChalet Etsy shop.

The car is a Can-Am, Mini SSP which is short for Super Sonic Power.! According to the instructions if you whip the little rip cord through, it will turn out 20,000 rpms. I'm not a math whiz by far, in fact I definitely suck at all things math, but I think that may be an overstatement.  Maybe in 1970's advertising terms, the 20,000 rpms is the equivalent of pretend warp speed. 

As for the Can-Am model,  Kenner also produced a green model of the same style, which they had in a Tournament of Thrills kid's playset in the 1970's.  The orange seemed to be a gas station premium, thus the boring cardboard display box I can just imagine these lining up a little plastic cabinet in the gas station and kids screaming at their parents to buy them one. I am NOT sure if this was a mail in car or on site premium.  I do know it originally came with: 

• Rip Cord
• Decal Sheet
• Advertising Memorabilia
• Car

 This is just another fine example of Plastic Fantastic.  Also a great indicator of cool toys we used to get.  

Please visit the following Etsy shop who sponsors my Living a Vintage Life retro podcast, and their cute creations can be found in many colors to fit  the gift needs of even the most hard to shop for :) 

SDIKHERMD Peace Cap on Etsy, available in many colors.  

To hear my vintage podcast, you can tune in below when I talk about collecting Maine country primitives ! 

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

For the Love of Legos

Adrian!!!! It's Rocky Ornament on alowisheskitsch at Etsy! Sweet Little Lego Man!

The Lego Plastic Block Enigma

I was a 70's kid. I lived in Lego land. I could spend hours playing with those little plastic blocks. I would rather build in Lego land than play with Barbies. What was wrong with me?  I wonder if somehow, they have inadvertently formed me into a plastic junkie.    Truth is, most of us had toys that were plastic, whether it was plastic dolls, plastic cowboys and indians, or plastic trucks and cars.  Maybe even bath plastic boats, or rubber ducks? I just think when you entered Lego land it was more of an addicting little play world.  Build, destroy, build, destroy, build, fall apart, built, bust up, build, rebuild, build bigger....must...build.....ack!

This great and rare vintage Lego set available on Etsy at tarlotoys !

According to Wikipedia, Legos were started by the Danish as wood toys. What?  I can't imagine them not being plastic, can you?  Of course when they figured out how much cheaper it was to produce them in plastic, they switched. Some early examples are museum worthy, and not to mention a pretty penny!

Sport this Lego purse, many styles available at Agabag on Etsy!

Adults Love Legos, If They Say No, They Are Lying

I worked with an ADULT guy at Diamond Comics. I remember him telling me about his Lego creations and how he was going to work at Lego land  Parks some day. Well, he won a contest and low and behold packed up his family to live his dream. Soon I'd get emails of his creations and he was making their displays (of which are huge.)   Imagine my surprise when I realized this guy is getting paid to play with toys ALL DAY LONG.


Now, for those of you who visited such places as Lego land, just admit it. You claim the trip was for your kids, but you really wanted to go and ride that Lego roller coaster yourself. You just won't convince me otherwise.

For the Lego lover, a vintage lego brick ring. how lovely!  At Gr0glmann.Etsy.com

Lego is Freakin' Huge

Just how big is Lego?  It's huge. In fact I think it's a cult. There are forums just for Legos, Lego Wikias, Websites dedicated to making Legos, adults who collect Legos, kids who want to grow up and be the next big Lego Display artist in Lego Land......sigh.  Oh, get this, do you think it's odd that in my spell check program, Lego is listed and auto corrects, but Etsy is not. Goodness!  Speaking of which, on Etsy, as I've displayed above tons of crafters are using Legos in their art. Used and new, Lego is a serious business.  Who would have thought those cute little plastic blocks would turn out to be loved by so many? 

Legos are being used for crafts, like these keen Lego Ornaments, buy them at agabag.etsy.com

Tell me, what are you best Lego memories?

About the Author:
Thanks for visiting Melmac Central aka my RetroChalet blog. I love all things vintage, plastic and retro.  I would appreciate you liking my Facebook page for the Melmac blog here, or even check out my RetroChalet shop on Etsy. Drop me a line below if you have a favorite lego memory <3.

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Welcome to Plastic Land : The Gay Horse

Welcome to Plastic Land, 
a fake world I created made of the best molded plastics ever. Here everyone gets along. You see, there are no fights over politics. No fights with the rulers of Plastic Land. They are all unpaid volunteers. The townspeople are happy to pay their taxes in plastic coin. The economy is good and there's plenty of plastic money that is housed in an authentic "Plasticville" bank.  When they run out, much like the real world, they just mold up some more.

One of the rulers in Plastic Land, Gigi the Clown. Buy him from DoNotDestroy on Etsy.

They've become Eco Friendly in Plastic Land. Waste products are re-molded into something else plastic so the land is really pretty here. The plastic robots who work in the factories (as the jobs are plentiful) have found a way to recycle pollutants from the air into plastic plant food. Plastic fish swim in plastic ponds and a plastic sun shines down upon the world of Plastic Land. Better yet, Plastic Land has not had to enforce or enact any real laws because everyone's so happy that crime is nill. Gigi the Clown is growing large because he hasn't had much crime to fight lately. In a top secret interview, Gigi hinted, "Sure,we do once in awhile have fake plastic fights or disagreements, but if anyone gets really harmed in Plastic Land, they go the Emergency Plastic Hospital and get all fixed up.  If they don't like the way they turned out, we just re-mold them into something else. No biggie."

Cowboy and Indians can be bought from DoNotDestroy on Etsy.

In Plastic Land you are free to be who you want. Never are there comments about your weight or what type of music you listen to.  You can wear whatever you want when you want. Stay out as late as you want. Date whomever you want. There's no judging based on your plastic weight, chemical composition, color, make or model number, nationality or creed.

Won't you stay awhile with me in Plastic Land?

In fact, I think you were here once, when you were FIVE years old. Do you remember playing with your plastic toys unknowingly worried about the affairs of the real world?  Back then you didn't have to worry about work, or debt, or politics. You played with these little toys without a care in the world and in Plastic Land, it was all good. Oh how did any of us ever leave this place? 

Welcome to reality: Innocence Lost.
Long Live the Plastics Fantastic.

Plastic Celebration: Congrats to Melmac Central, the Retro Chalet Blog Where Plastic is Fantastic

Chunky Mattel Three, SitDownSetDown

"Looks like we made it"

  to a page rank three.

 

Three Plastic Strainers, available at The1950sHouseWife

Three plastic sheep, by RetroFool.

Three plastic buttons by VintageVendor, in the shape of soldiers!

 Three Vintage Bracelets by TrueColorsforYou.