These are the irregular ramblings of what is going on at Antique Toy World, have a read, look at the toys, send us a message to let us know what we can do for you.
- More Commonwealth Bank Australia Money Boxes
Following up on my recent post on the old Commonwealth Bank Building money box I found I had to dig further into the history relating to more Commonwealth Bank Australia Money Boxes.
In this case it was good to find the Commonwealth Bank providing a history of their School Savings scheme on their website in Celebrating 90 years of School Bank (commbank.com.au). Ironically, the document is headed “Celebrating 90 Years of School Banking”. They celebrated the service by shutting it down in it’s 90th year, 2021. I did save a copy of the PDF just in case it gets taken down at the CBA site.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Money Box Savings Coin Bank Plastic Dollarmites 1990’s From that document I confirmed that the tin Bank Building was re-issued in 1980. Page 7 shows an image of the shiny bank building with the annotation “1980 Moneybox Building”. This was probably available for a few years prior to being superceded by the Dollarmites program in 1988.
While the information in the document does not specifically address when specific money boxes were used, we can infer from the time line (pages 3-4) that the “Dollarmites from Outer Space” launched in 1988, while the revamped Dollarmites program was kicked-off in 1998 this time with human kids as the characters rather than imaginary spacelings.
So the orange plastic Dollarmites money box is probably from the period 1988 to 1997.
- Commonwealth Bank Australia CBA Money Boxes
I was comparing a few Commonwealth Bank Australia CBA Money Boxes and confirmed that there are the 1960 originals and some reproductions made in the late 1970’s or perhaps 1980’s or both?
In any case, the purpose of this post is to highlight the differences that I identified between the two money boxes I had here.
There are 3 major differences:
- The colouring is the most obvious with the later issue being lighter or brighter in the colour selection
- The height of the earlier issue is 3 3/8 inches or ~86mm while the later issue is around 3 5/8inches or ~93mm
- The other major point is the ability to open the base of the later issue to retrieve coins. The original ones were opened at the bank, or at home, with an old school can opener.
The less obvious feature but quite easy to check once you know what to look for, is the dimpling effect on the 1960’s issues. You can rub your finger across the main faces of the tin and feel the indentations. These indentations were pressed in the tin as it was rolled for the lithograph paint. The idea is that they align to the window and door frames to give a 3-D effect to the building facade.
The other thing to look for is the writing on the top of the money box. The early issue has it but the later issue is just bright gold metal. What is the white stripe on the top of the earlier issue? It is a plastic tape strip and I am sure it was for writing the name of the owner rather than scratching it into the tin. I have a vague memory of having one as a kid with my name in that strip.
Both the original 1960’s issue is available for sale from Antique Toy World, as well as the later issue model, that were used for this post examples.
- Camberwell Store Updates
A quick visual tour of our cabinets at the Camberwell Antique Centre, Cookson Street Camberwell, Victoria. While restocking some of the cabinets today we collected photos of the cabinets and the huge range of old and recent toys. Cars, Boats, Planes, Dolls, Teddies, Trains in O and OO/HO, 1:32 Figures from Airfix, Timpo and Britains, and lots more.
New items featured this month include:
- a Gerry Gee Junior ventriloquists doll, working with original clothes and the “Tarax Club” badge.
- a small range of Lego Dimensions figures as new in box
- a selection of recent Hornby rolling stock, mint boxed, circa 2010
- a selection of older Hornby O Guage rolling stock, boxed and loose circa 1950
Have a browse through the Camberwell August 2022 Toy Stock gallery and contact us or call into Camberwell, meet the friendly staff, and check out the toys in person.
Antique Toy World Camberwell Old Toys August 2022 - Suspending Toy Repair Services
A belated update to our toy repair services.
Antique Toy World offers repair services through our RecoverToy business.
The volume of orders have overwhelmed our toy repair specialists. We are struggling to complete the existing orders and are suspending toy repair services until further notice.
Stock listings will continue to be updated on this website and at our market stores. Check our site details for Camberwell, Scoresby, and Yarra Glen locations.
Due to additional pressure with some family issues we have had to suspend all new toy repair tasks. We will update the website at a later date, although at this time we do not expect that to be any earlier than June 2022 and probably longer. Please monitor our website for updates.
We do not have any experience with anyone else offering a commercial repair service and cannot recommend another toy repairer for you. There are lots of high quality non-professionals who do their own models for the love of the toys. We are not aware of any that offer a commercial repair service. We suggest you use a locality search for a service close to you or enquire at local hobby shops.
Thankyou for your interest in Antique Toy World and RecoverToy. We will complete your existing toy repair order as time permits and we thank you for your patience.
- Store Location Changes
A quick update with some store location changes for Antique Toy World.
The impact of COVID has meant that we have closed our store at the Mill Markets Ballarat.
Keeping our locations closer to home we have opened a new stall at 2.0 Vintage Market at Caribbean Gardens in Scoresby.
You can check our addresses on our Antique Toy World Locations page.
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