Planes (Toy), Trains (Sort of), and Automobiles (Toy)
One of the things I find pretty often is toy cars (mostly Hot Wheels) and other vehicles. It seems that a lot of kids over the decades have played outside with their toy cars and just left them where they fell when supper was called. Small toys like these were difficult to find the next day, and sank into the mud or were buried under leaves that decayed to form new soil over time.
PLANES
Every once in awhile instead of a toy car, I find a toy airplane, like these. Often, they are jets, but sometimes they’re propeller-driven models. Once in a great while, I find a helicopter. I can’t positively identify any of these by specific make or model, so if you have any information, please feel free to contact me and I’ll share it here.
TRAINS
I haven’t found any toy trains yet, so in keeping with the theme, I’ll throw in these train-related artifacts that I found while metal detecting.
First are several railroad spikes, very likely from the tramway at an old iron furnace. These were very likely discarded when the tramway was torn up.
This next item is a whistle that was used by a worker on the Pennsylvania Railroad and is stamped with the initials PRR for obvious reasons. The ball inside that made it “whistle” appears to be decayed lead or possibly iron, and is sadly no longer functional.
AUTOMOBILES
Some of the oldest automobiles in my foundling collection are Tootsie Toy brand roadsters and similar. The Tootsie Toy brand dates to the 1920’s, but the company’s origins date back to the 1890’s. Tootsie Toy brand toys were popular from the 1930’s through the 1990’s and consisted of trains, cars, trucks, military vehicles, aircraft, pistols, and a variety of other toys. Tootsie Toys also made original Monopoly game pieces and metal prizes for Cracker Jack. The name originated from one of the founder’s granddaughters, whose name was Toots.
Tootsie Toys also made this Sinclair oil truck. Sinclair Oil Corporation started in 1916, and was one of the more popular brands for decades. According to Wikipedia, the corporate logo featured the silhouette of a large green sauropod dinosaur, based on the once common idea that oil deposits beneath the earth came from the dead bodies of dinosaurs. I can remember my parent’s getting gas at a Sinclair station in the 1960’s. If you got a fill up, you got a toy dinosaur bank in the image of their logo. For some reason I kept mine. (Disclaimer: not found metal detecting!)
Dinky Toys were made in Liverpool, England between 1934 and 1979, and were all scale model (though not always the same scale) toys including cars, trucks, aircraft, military, and ships. Based on the embossing on the bottom of this Triumph, this particular toy appears to predate August of 1935.
Other toy automobiles that I’ve found include Matchbox and Hot Wheels, but most of those aren’t quite as old.
BONUS
I found this Amish Horse and Buggy Die Cast Pencil Sharpener in York County. I didn’t realize it was a pencil sharpener until I got it home and cleaned it up. I went online to see if I could find any information about them, and it seems they are still available today. It’s 33/8” long and about 1½” tall, and is a heavy copper-colored die cast zinc alloy.
How many of those Matchbox cars did you find in your own backyard? 😂 Also I remember that dinosaur bank! For some reason it never occurred to me that it was yours from when you were a kid!