Toy play sets around the 1970's and earlier were a great marketing strategy for many companies. How could they go wrong during Christmas with advertising these sets? The items were typically packaged in large boxes, had many features, and gave the kids hours of play time. You know what it means when a kids sees a large Christmas present under the Christmas tree? Not only do they start bouncing off the walls, but it is usually the first gift they open.
Sears Beauty Salon
The
exact age is unknown, but it looks to be early 70's. The play set has a rotating
chair, blower dryer action (motor makes noise), and a light action above the mirror.
This is for a doll size 11 and 1/2". Set is missing the shampoo bottle, brush,
and small hand held mirror. Contents are in good condition and the box is in fair
to good condition.
Big Loader Toy
Construction
set by Tomy No. 5001 Copyright 1977. Set is in very good condition and is complete.
This is the construction set that does it all; it loads, fills, scoops, switches,
hauls, dumps, reverses. Batteries not included. Fully functional and complete.
Tested and works fine. Rubber bands changed on the tires that is used for
traction. Plenty of rubber bands left for additional changes. Toy must be played
with on a level surface. Does come with directions. Layout size is 23.25" x 22" inches
M and I Educational Building Bricks
Complete and in excellent condition. A very large set with
hundreds of pieces. Made by M-I, or M&I toys based in NY. This is not to be
confused with the MI toys in China or "Wooden Toy Town". Set has various
pieces that interlock, has interlocking roof, open and close windows and doors.
Does come with instruction book that is slightly yellowed and torn down the
middle, but is still has purpose and is useful. Some of the plans include: Fort,
Bench, Dog house, Archway, Garage repair shop, outdoor fireplace, outdoor
barbeque, cottage, factory, bungalow, and more. Block pieces or shapes are:
Whole Brick, Top Whole Brick, Half Brick, Half Top Brick, Quarter or Gable
Brick. A very large canister with a standing height of 14" inches or 35.6 cm and
7.5" inches or about 19.0 cm in diameter. Pieces are made out of
plastic-some hard and some more pliable. Not faded and not stained. Not
much found for business, but I am sure they went out of business. No copyright
information on packaging or in the instruction booklet, but from the pictures on
the packaging and instruction booklet, estimated date would be the mid 60's.
When looking at the bottom of the can from the inside, the base was made out of
what appears to be a recycled tin plate that has writing. Writing that is
unrelated to the building blocks. MI Toys Room 648, 200 5th Ave. New York.
Manufactured by Molenaar, INC. Box 777 Willmar, Minnesota 56201. Shipping weight
is about 8 pounds.