Sunday, January 3, 2010
7:13 PM
Another Random Cool Toy
I honestly didn't think I would ever find a picture of this toy because I didn't know what it was called. I STILL don't know what it's called but I ran across it while doing a general google search for vintage toys and I was so happy about that that I almost cried! It is such a simple little toy but I loved it when I got it. This one is a little rusty, etc. When they were brand new, they were very pretty and shiny. The way this toy worked was that you repeatedly pushed the button at the bottom, which caused the wheel to spin faster and faster. The spinning created some sort of friction inside which in turn, created sparks. Because of the transparent red and blue panels, the sparks appeared to be red, white, and blue. I thought it was very pretty to watch. I've always been a big fan of colorful lights of any kind so this toy was right up my alley. I think it retailed for about .69 or so which, back then, was kind of a lot of money for such a simple toy. Given the fact that school lunches only cost .30 back then, .69 was significant for an everyday toy. Everyday toys were the toys your parents could be talked into buying for you on any given day, as opposed to the ones that you were only allowed to get on birthdays or at Christmas because they were more expensive. The general price of everyday toys usually hovered around .25 or less. Believe it or not, the Ben Franklin/Woolworth toy aisles always had quite a few fun items in that price range so we kids didn't complain too much about the spending limit. I do remember actually buying this toy but I don't remember the specifics regarding how I talked my mom into springing for the .69. It might have been a Saturday, in which case, I would have gotten .50 - .75 from my mom and then, another .25 from my PaPa. All of my life, until I reached college age, my PaPa gave me a quarter every single Saturday. I know it doesn't sound like much today but back then, it was a guaranteed toy every weekend. Between the money I always got on Saturdays from my mom, which varied, and the money I got from PaPa, I always had a nice little chunk of spending money on Saturdays. Mom and I always "went to town" (that's what we called it back then) on Saturday afternoon and spent the whole day looking around, having lunch, etc. I have SUCH warm memories of those days. Mom and I had a great time. My momminnie would usually meet us downtown on Saturdays as well so we'd make a whole girl day of it. Those were great times. I'd give just about anything to get to relive some of them again. Most likely, this toy was one of my Saturday toys, but whether it was or not, it reminds me of those innocent, slow-paced afternoons with my Mom and Momminnie so it was worth far more than the .69 I paid to own it.