Vintage zoos, zoo cages and enclosures

DaveScriv wrote:

......so if everyone is happy, I'll start doing farmyards, farm & village buildings next. I also have some wild west ranches. Do they come within the scope of this forum? They were obviously intended to be played with cowboys & Indians, which is more of a toy soldier thing, but hey, ranches had horses and cows. Lots of cows.

Very, very happy !!!!   

I would love to see the rances too ...there are horses and cattle on rances, right

This is a impressive collection and I enjoy reading all of your comments. My interest in vintage animals started just because some members started to share them on forum. I think even a young member, that only collect modern brands, will enjoy to see these pieces of history that tell a lot about the toy animal world and also show how zoos have changed along all these years.
I really enjoy a lot watching all these treasures and of course we would love to see all your vintage toy collections.
I hope Willy, that is making a little break from his collecting hobby can see it as well as other collectors of vintage figures like Lennart, Chris, etc.

Really fantastic collection Dave! Awesome!
Thankfully our member and good friend Susanne told me that there was some special stuff on this forum  to see for me!
When you like the German enclosures and zoo's Dave, you should look at Figuren Journal.de, you can eat your heart out there, but bring money with you...

Good to see that pretty face here again, Willy     

WILLYBACOMAN wrote:

Really fantastic collection Dave! Awesome!
thankfully our member and good friend Susanne told me that there was some special stuff on this forum  to see for me!
When you like the German enclosures and zoo's Dave, you should look at Figuren Journal.de, you can eat your heart out there, but bring money with you...

I'm more than aware of how beautiful, and how expensive the old German zoo enclosures by Elastolin and Lineol are.
Sadly, I doubt I'll ever be able to find any within my price range.   

Thank you Susanne, that was a nice thing to say, but i am pretty sure you ment my face on the picture i use here haha.
Yes Dave, those really old enclosures are priceless sometimes, going up to even 25.000 euro a piece, which is out of range for most of us indeed!
But even though, you have an awesome collection together, and i am happy with what i have for now.
Collecting is fun, as long as it does not affect your other personal life the wrong way, isn't it?   

Very impressive and educative collection Dave    A far unusual and far uneasy to build collection.

I'm so happy when an oldies collector reached our haven. I began my collection with old brands animals and I wish our "Vintage brands" section will grow in the future    

SUSANNE wrote:

Good to see that pretty face here again, Willy     

I agree Susanne, only one Crested macaque is not enough in the STS jungle    Welcome back Uncle Willy, STS needs you   

Impressive collection, Congrats!

Kikimalou wrote:

SUSANNE wrote:

Good to see that pretty face here again, Willy     

I agree Susanne, only one Crested macaque is not enough in the STS jungle    Welcome back Uncle Willy, STS needs you   

       

schleich61 wrote:

Incredible collection of zoo structures...seeing these photos, I am absolutely GOBSMACKED... 

Thanks (and to everyone else) for your positive comments.

As you're in the US, and 'of a certain age', do you have any ideas about why US toy figure manufacturers didn't make many zoo sets? And the few US made zoo sets which were made were, frankly, rather poor compared to the extensive toy zoo figures, cages and enclosures made in the UK, Germany, France and other European countries.

After all, there are some world class zoos in the US, and no doubt they all had souvenir shops, so why so few US made zoo toys?
I'm told many US zoo souvenir shops sold imported UK figures by Britains and Taylor & Barrett (their little boxed sets of chimps tea party, elephant ride, llama cart ride, camel ride, etc.) but I'm still wondering why US toy manufacturers seem to have let these foreign interlopers have the zoo shop market to themselves and didn't try to get a slice of the action. After all, from the 1920s through to about 1970 zoos were packed with $$$$$$ spending crowds all summer.

Thank you all for the warm comments guys!
When i don't see you again before the hollydays, i want to wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy new year!
Animal models still rule, haha!

...

schleich61 wrote:

DaveScriv wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

Incredible collection of zoo structures...seeing these photos, I am absolutely GOBSMACKED... 

Thanks (and to everyone else) for your positive comments.

As you're in the US, and 'of a certain age', do you have any ideas about why US toy figure manufacturers didn't make many zoo sets? And the few US made zoo sets which were made were, frankly, rather poor compared to the extensive toy zoo figures, cages and enclosures made in the UK, Germany, France and other European countries.

After all, there are some world class zoos in the US, and no doubt they all had souvenir shops, so why so few US made zoo toys?
I'm told many US zoo souvenir shops sold imported UK figures by Britains and Taylor & Barrett (their little boxed sets of chimps tea party, elephant ride, llama cart ride, camel ride, etc.) but I'm still wondering why US toy manufacturers seem to have let these foreign interlopers have the zoo shop market to themselves and didn't try to get a slice of the action. After all, from the 1920s through to about 1970 zoos were packed with $$$$$$ spending crowds all summer.  

Hello Dave.  Yes, I am an old fogie, so to speak.  I collected Britains, Ltd. wild life and accessories as a child in the late 1960's and early 1970's, mainly because it was the only brand sold in toy stores in my area (upstate New York).  I looked far and wide for other brands, but only found mostly cheapo "Made in Hong Kong" etc. kind of figurines, and even the Britains of that era were far superior in terms of design and manufacture.  Frankly, I knew no other kids growing up who collected any kind of animal figurines whatsoever.  Maybe that is due to lack of supply, or maybe lack of demand (see chicken and egg).  

Most American kids back then played with Tinker Toys, Erector Sets, Lego, Lincoln Logs, Hot Wheels cars and toy railroad stuff.  Oh, and G.I. Joe action figures and accessories.  Is it possible that Britain in those days provided more "pastoral" settings for children to grow up in?  Or that British kids felt more of a real affinity with the natural world and flora/fauna?  

Very interesting question and answer   .

Hi Dave,

I'm fascinated of your amazing enclosures'collection : I ve always been attracted and can remember them in Portobello's flea market in the eighties...they were already so expensive but thanks to them and Lineol\Elastolin\Britains Ltd animals I began collecting and never stopped since.

Hope to see more items again. Thanks for posting.   

pm64 wrote:

Hi Dave,

I'm fascinated of your amazing enclosures'collection : I ve always been attracted and can remember them in Portobello's flea market in the eighties...they were already so expensive but thanks to them and Lineol\Elastolin\Britains Ltd animals I began collecting and never stopped since.

Hope to see more items again. Thanks for posting.   

Thanks for your kind words.
I was rather hoping that someone else here would have a few vintage zoo cages, to help me get a better idea of what else was made back then, but as everyone is saying much the same as you, it seems not.

I'll start posting my vintage farm buildings collection soon, so probably 200+ items more to come, which will be in several threads to keep it manageable.
For other people to use for future reference, I'm not sure whether they should be here in 'collections' or in the vintage UK section (& I'm sure the moderators could move this thread and the wild west ranches thread there too if considered better).

What do the admins & moderators think?

I think the collection section is for shoowing collections, especially on shelves but not exclusively   

I think your kind of topics is very informative and open to other members pics and knowledge, even if , unfortunately for you, you are the specialist.

For me your topics are at the right place.    maybe we could change the name in "Zoos, zoo cage and enclosures".

Thank you for these excellent topics   

WILLYBACOMAN wrote:

Thank you all for the warm comments guys!
When i don't see you again before the hollydays, i want to wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy new year!
Animal models still rule, haha!

Great to see you Willy.   Hope you stick around.    

Great collection, its nice to see all the different enclosures. 

Kikimalou wrote:

I think the collection section is for shoowing collections, especially on shelves but not exclusively   

I think your kind of topics is very informative and open to other members pics and knowledge, even if , unfortunately for you, you are the specialist.

For me your topics are at the right place.    maybe we could change the name in "Zoos, zoo cage and enclosures".

Thank you for these excellent topics   

OK then, so go ahead and change the name in both this and the wild west threads to drop the 'my collection' parts, so it is clearly open for other members to add their similar items. Perhaps add the word 'vintage' to both.

It is done for the zoos topic Dave.

Do you know we have a Non animal toys section ? maybe you could show all your Wild west treasures in this section. Would you agree ?   

Kikimalou wrote:

It is done for the zoos topic Dave.

Do you know we have a Non animal toys section ? maybe you could show all your Wild west treasures in this section. Would you agree ?   

Wherever you think best, but ranches do have cattle & horses, and for reference purposes perhaps best that all these vintage buildings be in together in the same place. This is why I suggested the vintage UK made section.

So the UK vintage section is fine   

Kikimalou wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

DaveScriv wrote:

schleich61 wrote:

Incredible collection of zoo structures...seeing these photos, I am absolutely GOBSMACKED... 

Thanks (and to everyone else) for your positive comments.

As you're in the US, and 'of a certain age', do you have any ideas about why US toy figure manufacturers didn't make many zoo sets? And the few US made zoo sets which were made were, frankly, rather poor compared to the extensive toy zoo figures, cages and enclosures made in the UK, Germany, France and other European countries.

After all, there are some world class zoos in the US, and no doubt they all had souvenir shops, so why so few US made zoo toys?
I'm told many US zoo souvenir shops sold imported UK figures by Britains and Taylor & Barrett (their little boxed sets of chimps tea party, elephant ride, llama cart ride, camel ride, etc.) but I'm still wondering why US toy manufacturers seem to have let these foreign interlopers have the zoo shop market to themselves and didn't try to get a slice of the action. After all, from the 1920s through to about 1970 zoos were packed with $$$$$$ spending crowds all summer.  

Hello Dave.  Yes, I am an old fogie, so to speak.  I collected Britains, Ltd. wild life and accessories as a child in the late 1960's and early 1970's, mainly because it was the only brand sold in toy stores in my area (upstate New York).  I looked far and wide for other brands, but only found mostly cheapo "Made in Hong Kong" etc. kind of figurines, and even the Britains of that era were far superior in terms of design and manufacture.  Frankly, I knew no other kids growing up who collected any kind of animal figurines whatsoever.  Maybe that is due to lack of supply, or maybe lack of demand (see chicken and egg).  

Most American kids back then played with Tinker Toys, Erector Sets, Lego, Lincoln Logs, Hot Wheels cars and toy railroad stuff.  Oh, and G.I. Joe action figures and accessories.  Is it possible that Britain in those days provided more "pastoral" settings for children to grow up in?  Or that British kids felt more of a real affinity with the natural world and flora/fauna?  

Very interesting question and answer   .

Well let us not forget Marx. An American company specialising in Play Sets - figures with diorama accessories included. They did produce zoo sets and Disneyland sets. Figures were self coloured plastic, of original design and made in the USA. Then they brought out smaller scale safari type Play Sets which featured painted animals and imported from Hong Kong. These animals were largely knock-offs from Britains figures. In the 1950’s and 1960’s I reckon that Marx were the largest toy figure manufacturers.

‘Pastoral’ settings - good question but I didn’t think so because most of Britain lived in what we now term “Inner City”. In my days we just called it living in the city!   

Affinity with nature - perhaps due to the Ladybird Books nature series and natural history programmes on the television. Both of which certainly gave me an interest in the natural world.

I don't know for Germany, but France was more rural in the 1960's and 1970's than UK. It was a political choice and I guess it is still true today. Nevertheless it didn't explain why there is more animal toy makers in small France than in the USA.
Even on the first Marx sets, half of the animals were Clairet copies. Miller made also Elastolin copies.
Maybe the answer is there was a wider range of toys in the US than in Europa so the "animal toys" market was less profitable ?
IMHO it will stay a mystery   

What a wonderful collection-so many fantastic models!!!     

Thank you Saarlooswolfhound!