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!

COLLECTION #63: Vintage Boy's Role Play Toys

 Welcome to Toy Tuesday! In the toy biz, we refer to toys that encourage and help children act out grown-up roles as 'role play toys'.  Whether they are old-fashioned roles such as nurse kits for girls, and tool sets for boys, or more modern 'unisex' role play, it's always been fun for kids to play with toys that mimic activities that adults do. Play versions of cash registers, typewriters, telephones, cooking toys and the like, are universal in their appeal. In times past these toys were often made of metal and wood, today's toys are safer and more colorful. (But maybe not quite as realistic!)

Here is my modest collection of boys role play toys, although these certainly could all be played with by girls as well. (I have a lot of girls role play, and I wanted to have a separate category, so this is how they shook out).  I think it's interesting that I have 2 printing presses, and 2 shoe shine kits! The shoe shine kits are identical, except for color (the red one only had one shoe polish in it when I bought it 25 years ago- the yellow one had lots of stuff!). The printing presses are missing most of the type and accessories, but they are cool looking nevertheless.

The little tool kit belonged to my husband Bruce as a child. I love how he took such good care of it, and how realistic and functional each piece is. No little wimpy soft plastic saws for this kid! You could really build a bird house, or a toy car or almost anything you wanted with a Gilbert "Big Boy" Tool Chest!