COLLECTION #184: Children's Shoeshine Kits

My rule for a collection has been pretty consistant: 3 or more make a collection. So, a few months ago, I gathered some of my favorite vintage boy's "role play" toys together to add to my blog. Included were two printing presses, two shoeshine kits, and a child's tool chest. So, none of these toys qualified as a category unto themselves, until now! For,  discovered in the nether regions of my garage, a box full of forgotten vintage toys, a third shoe shine kit! And this time, it's not a clone of the original two, which were alike except for the color. These toys are all from the 1950s.

So, I present to you today, my vintage children's shoeshine kits! Ta Da!

One cultural note: I'm sure young people today have absolutely NO CLUE what a shoeshine kit is! It's just one of those cultural items that has pretty much disappeared, along with the manual typewriter, dial telephone, and 8-track tape deck. (sigh) I know my husband has a shoeshine kit of his own, under the sink in the bathroom. I often find him shining his church shoes on Sunday morning, buffing them to a gleaming shine. But our boys? Nah! When their shoes get dirty, they just buy new ones! Enjoy!