Cast Iron Aviation Toys Expected to Soar

Long before Wilbur & Orville Wright's historic flight in 1903, the general public was enthralled with air travel and human flight. Our fascination with flight likely even predated Leonardo da Vinci's drawings, designs and experiments that centered on the same, and remains to this day as we continue to explore the "final frontier." Commercial aviation marked its 100th anniversary on January 1 of this year, and even though our species has been flying the friendly skies for just over a century, who still doesn't pause in amazement when one of these huge monstrosities flies overhead, or gets butterflies when preparing for takeoff? Who of us is not impressed by these spectacular feats of engineering?

As air travel started to hit its stride in the 1930s, and stories of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh filled the papers, companies like Hubley, Kilgore, Arcade (and Vindex to a lesser degree) and others capitalized on the world's fascination by creating cast iron toys modeled after America's new love. The various companies' attention to detail including realistic brightly colored fuselages,

spinning nickel plated propellers, and large rubber tires appealed to children of the time period and made for hours of enjoyment and imaginative playtime. And this enchantment and appreciation for these early toy aircrafts remain to this day. But because of their somewhat surprising fragility, finding them in good condition is oftentimes very difficult (after all, they didn't actually fly; they often fell). And finding near mint examples of any of them is extremely challenging, so one should take advantage of the opportunity when it presents itself.

Such an opportunity is about to knock in Julia's June 13 auction. A fleet of approximately one dozen fine examples from an exacting east coast collector will make their way to the auction block including an exceptional and large Hubley America, a trio of Dent Lucky Boys in a variety of colors, a Dent Air Express, an exceedingly rare Vindex Lockheed, and more. Most exhibit paint nearly as strong as the day they were made and have tremendous appeal at a variety of altitudes and attitudes.

Large Lindy glider

Kilgore top-prop "Seagull" plane