1950's Marx Firetruck Flea Market Find

I'm always buying random shit I don't need, and this is one of those pieces. Some things I just can't say NO to and vintage toys may be one of those things.

I've been going to this Flea Market for about 10yrs. Every visit I find something great. This Flea Market is in Northern Michigan where most of the residences are vacation homes and cabins. As the Baby Boomers get older, they sell these properties and most of their stuff ends up here.

The people working the Flea Market often don't know what it is they are selling. As I was searching from table to table, looking at things ranging from water damaged records to "new" dollar store items, I ran across this piece.

I picked it up and gave it a good lookover. The older scruffy looking gentleman working the booth said "That there's an oldie."

I replied "It was a great looking toy and did he have any info on it?" He told me he didn't see any markings on it but knew it was old. With no price tag on it, I was curios what he thought it was worth. After a few minutes of haggling I was walking away with $20 less dollars than I started with. Here is a better look at it.

This isn't my first rodeo with Flea Markets or identifying old unmarked items. While I was looking it over I noticed no markings on the bottom. But upon closer inspection I saw some writing on the tires. Of course I didn't let the seller know until after the deal was done. Do you see what it says???

That's right! It says Louis Marx & CO and Made in the USA. Marx tin toys are some of the most sought after pieces on the market. Without getting too excited, I told him what it was. Most of the price haggling was due to the ladder being missing from the back. Even in this condition they bring around $50-$75 on eBay. For $20 I wasn't mad.

---

A little interesting history behind the Marx toy company. A History of the Marx Toy Comapany

In 1955, "Time" magazine declared Louis Marx the “Toy King” of the United States. That’s not surprising, considering it’s likely that every child—and parent—in the country had played with at least one of his toys at that point. Today, Louis Marx and Company is perhaps best known for its early wind-uptinplate toys, yo-yos, toy cars, HO and O scale train sets, and plastic playsets depicting everything from European battlefields to prehistoric dinosaur-filled landscapes

In the 1930s, Marx realized that World War II might lead to metal shortages, so the company began developing plastics.

In 1964, Marx produced and distributed Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, a tremendously popular plastic 3-D game. Five years later, Marx introduced its next big hit, a large plastic tricycle called Big Wheel, which was one of the top-selling toys of the '70s and has a place in the National Toy Hall of Fame.

In 1972, Marx, which was too slow to jump on the electronic-toy bandwagon, was purchased by Quaker Oats, and by 1975, its manufacturing facilities were closed.

---

It's been a minute since I've actually wanted to write about something on here, so here you go. Say tuned later today for another one of my random silver bars I picked up on my last LCS run. Oh and for those who don't know, LCS stands for Local Coin Shop.

I hope you enjoyed this post and are having a great weekend!!!

---

Proud member of #Steemsilvergold.