[Tim is counting the toys on the table] ...oh that too... oh is that for me?
You shouldn't have... really; no.. you haven't either!
Well that really steams me up, I think I want to start sawing this table up or something,
don't you think?
My goodness me, what a nasty surprise!
Here we go... ... a bit further...
I feel so much better for that!
Yes, these are 1985 toys.
Some very nice stuff in here, even though I've called it the second best; but I think
there's some that ought to be 'best'.
That was a nice one.
This is a charming little wind-up toy from that period; this is 1985, so it's 30 years
ago; just a little wind-up tin toy, but with plenty of plastic on the top too, and there's
a hula girl; she dances and the base has a little wheel in it, which makes it move around
as well.
Very cute, very sweet; it goes on a long time.
Probably made I think in Taiwan or somewhere like that, so certainly an Asian toy; but
very nicely done this - it's beautiful.
I do like the little bit of movement too, which is very sweet; but no no it's made in
Japan; and there's the little wheel at the bottom, to make it turn round and round.
I was very thrilled to discover in this case something which reminded me of something I
showed about six months ago I think it was; this little thing here...
I will show the two version together; this is the same toy basically, but it's 25 years
apart; so that's mother and that's baby I suppose.
Look at these two together though, unbelievable.
So this is battery operated, it's got battery compartment in the bottom - there are the
batteries inside - it works well, but it is you know quite large, don't have to have very
high tolerances; it does the most lovely action.
And blow me 25 years later, they make a tiny tiny little wind up, doing exactly the same
thing, with a little micro motor, a little wind up clockwork motor.
So let's do them one by one; so this is the original one which I had all those years ago...
that is a beautiful action, very very nice indeed.
Whoa, where's he going to go next?
I'll do one more turn and then show his friend.
That is such a clever one, and a great delight for kids at that time too.
But anyway, 25 years later some designer comes up with the same thing, and miniaturizes it
to make this little beauty; and it works exactly the same way, but at a faster speed.
So... mother and daughter, or father and son, or a mixture of the two?
She'll do a little bit more... so exactly the same movements; that one is an elephant,
and this is a performing sea lion I think it is; so together they make a wonderful pair!
Very nice indeed.
Now I started getting these things at that time; they are little paint cans, and it looks
like something is pouring out - they call it 'Frozen Moments', that was the original
term for these; I think the Australians invented it.
This is actually a bit of plastic, and you use the actual paint can here - it's got a
space there to put your rubbers and your short pencils and paper clips as well; it is actually
meant for paper clips, and it's got a magnet around the rim here, which I found actually
a bit painful, because when you start taking a few out you've got to get your finger underneath
to pull some of the paper clips out; so not very practical.
I prefer to keep them in that one, but it's got magnets there, so perhaps large paper
clips?
I don't know what the answer is, but it certainly makes a spectacular appearance on the office
table; you can say 'there's my paper clips, I keep them in a paint can'; it is suspended
on its own 'pouring'.
Wow!
The biggest soft toy I ever got in the world came out the same year, in 1985.
I've forgotten what his name was, but look at the size of him!
Absolutely beautiful; and the kids at parties were counting the number of legs, and making
them all work with their hands as kids do, and turning it over.
I wish I could have shown them the one they had at the trade fair, because I think the
people at the factory had gone mad, and made one about 20 foot long, which draped over
the whole of the stand, with about 300 or maybe 3000 legs it might have been; but it's
a charming idea to have something with all those legs, and have it made very soft so
kids can stroke it and pet it and look at all the different coloured socks and play
with it.
It was brilliant!
I wish they made other versions.
I got that feeling they did make a smaller version, which I should have got at the time,
but I didn't.
Well, there we are.
But what a piece.
Does it say who it is made by?
It was a British company, I'm pretty sure.
So a great favourite that one.
The Japanese come up some lovely stuff, and Kurt Naef's company in Switzerland, which
I see at Nuremberg every year, came up some examples of them.
He went to Japan quite often.
This is a wonderful toy which they call 'City Neu' - that means new city - so what was lovely
about this is as you just lift out this one here, it's like office blocks, and then you
pull...
look at that, oh my goodness... a complete new city, a whole street of offices, and what
looks like a carport?
No, I don't think it is... but anyway that's very nicely done; it looks like that underneath;
and on the other side it's also quite cheerful and interesting to look at; but I love the
different sizes of them and the fact they all fit together, a little rail and channels
they've got, and then you just push it together like that... keep pushing keep pushing...
and it packs up so neatly, look at that!
My goodness me.
So that was a very heavy thing to send through the post from Zurich, but I was delighted
to get that from the Kurt Naef stand.
Here's a wonderful idea, it's American of course, it has to be! and it's playing on
the old one dollar bill with George Washington, and it's a radio; this is the aerial because
it's getting FM or something or short wave; if I turn it on, you need to come up quite
close to look at the lips or the tongue; I'll turn it on first and set it going...
[VOICE SPEAKING ON THE RADIO] ...the tongue hardly moves if it's too quiet, so I need
to turn it up a bit more...
[VOICE SPEAKING ON THE RADIO]
So a very nice idea that; I've never seen it done before or since, so... a talking radio
with a little puppet almost, doing his stuff.
George Washington talking to you!
I'll turn it down and click... off.
So a little beauty there; just four little AA batteries, and off it goes!
Here's another toy to show you, I love this one as well.
It's a drill I need to drill a hole in the table about here.... yes, all right... let's
have a go shall we... let's rev up the speed... here we go...
No, it hasn't gone through yet... oh well, the hole has disappeared - it must be magic!
Of course kids can do this... and on their hands, and all the rest of it; but it's a
bit of fun; all that happens is you need to push that in, and it drills - the drill bit
doesn't even turn;
For small children this is great fun, if they're in the workshop with their dad!
These are great fun - they're something that drum majorettes use in American parades, when
they're having these big Independence Days and things; and they're not something I normally
would collect, but they were so colourful and cheerful, and at that stage I was doing
a lot of children's parties, where they wanted to wave their hands around a lot, so I said
wave your hands about with one of these, and they loved the idea of it, and they put it
over their heads and all that stuff like that; and I said now let's have a couple of them,
so we've got two of them; these must be the proper thing, because they're so well made,
really strongly made.
Occasionally one of the pieces comes out, but it's very strongly made, and they've lasted
for... well getting on for 30 years now; right over the eyes... and over the back... they're
very strong, very fine, and I'm very pleased to have those.
They still give kids pleasure to play with, because there's so much play value in them.
And then we've got an extraordinary thing here, which is actually a magician's trick;
and fortunately they provide you with the way of resetting it.
Without that I'd have trouble I think; but this is amazing.
You've got to put this into here to wind it up, I think that fits in there or something;
I've forgotten how it goes, but anyway I'll sort it out in a minute.
And here's the thing itself - it's a reel of plastic; I think it stays in there actually...
oh no, it does come out; and then what you do is you release the bit at the bottom there,
and it's going to cascade down in silver; here we go... are you ready for it?
This is beautiful...
Oh my, oh my... of course a magician would turn that into a pile of coins with a wave
of his hand... better than I can do...
Astonishing how it goes on isn't it?
But you see how important it is to have a reset, because that would take hours and hours
to wind back in again, if one ever could be bothered... there we are.... woooof...
I had better get started; I've got the wheel, I've got to put this in, I'm going to start
turning the wheel and see if I can start winding it back up again, and it's got a little handle
here which I'm going to find out how to open it... that's right, the handle starts here...
so I'll turn the handle, and it should start winding back onto here again; so let's see
if I can do it.
It's quite a bother this... it's just one side actually... here we are... where's an
end?
Well, I don't know... it's somewhere here...
Oh there we are... there's an end...
So what we have to do is wind this round the spool, and then just turn and turn and turn;
that goes into there like that... put it through there, and turn it this way...
pull the handle out... so we start turning... but yeah but I've got to get this a little
bit further in actually... which was is it going to turn?
If I do this... oh that way okay... let's do it... let's start it...
It's a bit messy... stay there... don't come out...stay there that's right... and then
come down there... now you're ready to go... round and round and round.. let's see if I
can actually wrap it up...
I think we're in business...
There we go... something like that... and it's going to be a little bit of the untangling
as we go along; but it takes quite a lot of time to do, but it would take hours and hours
and hours to do this without this little device.
Yes well.
You can leave me with this for a fortnight I think!
It's a lot of fun, and the end result is spectacular!
I've got to find a way of turning it into coins though.
Any ideas?