Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!

I recall seeing this toy in the Sears and J. C. Penney's Christmas catalogs of my youth. I'd always assumed it was a G. I. Joe toy made by Hasbro.

Knock Off Wars

Trips to grocery stores in my youth always included a visit to the toy aisle, pathetic limited as they were.  There you could always find cheap throwaway toys which sometimes featured non-licensed knockoffs of popular intellectual properties.  And there was no bigger target for knockoffs than Star Wars.

"Alias" Barbarino

I decided the cure for the winter doldrums was to do some gleaning of my past finds that laid dormant and push some content through (lucky you).

First up is actually a recent find from this past weekend.  I admit I bought it strictly for the sticker alone.

Marx Presidents

Coincidentally, I had scheduled a day off today.  Being Presidents' Day, some U.S. companies (mostly Federal offices and banks) are closed today.  But that's no reason to close Garage Sale Finds!  Okay, I'll admit, it's closed for business most of the year.  But you'll takes what you can gets!

Given the holiday, I scraped scanned through my past finds and pulled out this Marx Presidents of the United States figure line.

 

A Toast to the Sunbeam T-20A

I recently told of my estate sale quest for a toaster, so I won't repeat that, but I'll give a little background on why I was obsessed with my mission that day.

For one thing, I've been obsessed with vintage toasters for a long time.  I've owned many different models over the years and it's always fascinated how many variations there can be for the same simple task of toasting bread.

I've previously owned a couple different Sunbeam models that featured automatic lowering and raising and radiant control including the model T20-B and T35.  Over the years, my toasters have come and gone, either due to selling them or them simply wearing out.  It was easier letting go of toasters back then as no one was interested in them and were easily found for $1 at sales.  Times have changed.

When I saw this ad in the December 1951 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, I knew I had to own one again.

Escape to Christmas

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate today.  And even if you don't celebrate, I think you'd still enjoy a visit to The Escape Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale for a Christmas dinner, circa 1950's. All for the paltry sum of $3.50. Bon Appetit!

Home For Christmas

When I was a kid, aside from the magical appearance of the Sears and J. C. Penney Christmas catalogs in our mailbox, nothing signaled the oncoming of Christmas more than the appearance of commercials promoting record album collections of Christmas music from K-Tel, Reader's Digest and Time-Life.

One particular album that fascinated me was the 1977 "Home For Christmas" album.

It wasn't the song content that fascinated me, although I loved Christmas songs, it was the pop-up interior.  The commercial boasted it was a "wonderful, unique decoration for under the tree, or as a holiday centerpiece" while songs by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Ray Conniff and Mahalia Jackson played in the background.  

We never mailed away for things when I was a kid.  Plus my mom already had her staple of Christmas albums from A&P and Firestone she played while we decorated the Christmas tree.  So I never had this album or its pop-up house.  Until this summer when I found it at a garage sale.

I was already familiar with the cover, so I'd kept an eye out for it at sales for years.  I'd come across it before, but the interior was always missing.  Then I found this one in mint condition.