China - Donkey Cart - Yellow SP

There's a lot of people out there who aren't too crazy about things made in China. Sometimes they get a bug up their keester because of political reasons, sometimes because they consider the products 'cheap'. As for the first reason, all I can say is: look in the mirror America for someone to blame on that score - we're the ones who transferred all of our production over there! As for the second reason, that's the same garbage I used to hear when I was a kid back in the '50s and '60s when we referred to toys coming out of Japan or Hong Kong as 'cheap'. That's the whole reason our production shifted to China - because it was cheaper to make things over there!!! My take on things as a toy collector is: there's a lot of good quality and innovative toys that have come out of that country. There's been some real crap too but, with the tremendous amount of production, overall the scales weigh in favor on the 'good' side. 

There's also been times when the creative minds behind the toys think outside of the box and gives us little gems like this cart. Think about it. We have our little Western toys and we expect covered wagons, and stagecoaches and stuff, but how often have we seen things like donkey-pulled carts? We see them sometimes in movies - just lazily rolling by in a background scene - but try to find one for Old West play. Just a plain, simple, little cart, but one that adds a dose of ambience to an Old West scene. To be honest, I've had this toy (and a second just like it) since about 1998 when I bought two header bag sets of 'Cowboys & Indians' from Wal-Mart for a train layout I was working on. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the set, nor did I make a list of the contents, but I do have these two carts as well as a covered wagon leftover from that set. The car measures 6 3/4" (17.14cm) L x 1 7/8" (4.76cm) W x 1 3/4" (4.44cm) H and is good 'nuff for 54mm figures. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Ideal 40mm Wagon - Blue SP

Here's a nice wagon from Ideal. Unfortunately I had to borrow the hitch from another wagon in order to take photos. Far too many Ideal wagons are offered for sale without hitches because it would appear that once they broke they were just thrown away instead of being repaired. I'm not sure these were ever offered as covered wagons. The cover for the Chuck Wagon - which was posted a few days ago - does not fit on this wagon body and I have yet to see a proper cover offered for sale alongside this piece. This one measures 7 1/4" (18.41cm) L x 2 1/2" (6.35cm) W x 2" (5.08cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

MPC Wagon - Brown SP

At first I was going to post this as a 'buckboard' but after some Web prowling found that MPC did make a buckboard and it looked nothing like this. A supply wagon would have had taller sides and the seat would have been mounted higher up. This is of course the same casting used in the Prairie Schooner wagon we featured yesterday, only in a different color and it's missing the top. I don't know if MPC ever offered these wagons without their tops - a little voice inside says they did - but for right now I can't prove it. In any case, Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

MPC Prairie Schooner

Well, after a week of posting photos of our short trip to Sparks, NV it's time to get back into the toy groove. As we enter the fifth year of the blog perhaps we'll look at Western toys a little more. We've already posted a ton of Marx tin-litho buildings that went with their various Western themed playsets but that's about it so maybe it's time to feature other stuff as well and it would be very appropriate for a collector like me who's mostly into the '50s and '60s era. It would be difficult for anyone, say 40 years old or younger, to understand but there was a time when Western's were the king of the airwaves. At one time during the early sixties there was over 40 Western TV shows being aired - this at a time when there were only the three major broadcast networks: ABC, NBC, and CBS. As kids we were inundated with Western shows, western toy commercials, and Western toys and I enjoyed many hours in front of the tube watching reruns of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers (with Bob Nolan and the Sons of The Pioneers). 'New' shows like Wild Bill Hickock, The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Rin Tin Tin, and updated westerns like Sky King were a major part of my childhood. Those were just the Saturday morning/afternoon offerings. The evenings brought Wagon Train, Bonanza, The Big Valley, The Rebel, Half Gun Will Travel, Daniel Boone, and The Wild Wild West just to name a few, and Disney had its own special offerings with Davy Crockett, The Swamp Fox, Johnny Shiloh, Zorro, all of which had  a 'Western' feel to them.

It's safe to say I grew up on Westerns and had a nice variety of Western toys as a kid, or had neighbor friends who had them as well and although I had a bunch of MPC Cowboys & Indians, today's featured toy, the Prairie Schooner,  wasn't a part of my toy chest. It's a nice covered wagon with three posts sticking up to accommodate three of MPC's ringhand figures. My wagon is a one-horse hitch but more hitches can be added and the top can be removed for added variety. Shown with the wagon is MPC's ubiquitous 'driver' figure. He's quite versatile and can be found on either side of the War Between the States conflict, as part of Gen Custer's last stand, heading out west, or even driving a Jeep during WWII! Yup, he gets around! The wagon measures 9 3/4" (24.8cm) L x  3 1/8" (7.9cm) W x 3 3/8" (8.6cm) H (w/driver) / 4 1/8" (10.5cm) H (w/top on).  Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina