Welcome to our vintage toy store!
Thank you for visiting A. Bird and Company! We are just getting started and will continue to add antique and vintage toys to our store. We hope that you will visit us often as our online offerings grow.
In the treasured tradition of the grand toy stores and Christmas wish books of yesterday, we are purveyors of vintage toys bringing fond memories of the past to children of all ages. We strive to carry a broad selection of fine antique and collectible toys and playthings from all over the world. These are original and classic toys beloved by children of every generation.
Our vintage toy collection includes rare Steiff stuffed animals, vintage action figures such as G.I. Joe, Major Matt Mason, and Marx Best of the West series, vintage Corgi, Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and Tonka toy cars, trucks, and other vehicles, pond yachts, pre-war and post-war Lionel and American Flyer trains, and many other vintage and hard-to-find toys. In fact, we are often as surprised and delighted at what we find as we hope that you will be!
Good Old Toys
All of the toys on this website are old, and some are quite old. Many do not conform to modern toy safety standards, and caution should be used before allowing children to play with them unsupervised. In this modern age, many old toys may seem to appeal more as collectibles than as playthings. As designer Charles Eames said in the 1957 film, Tocatta for Toy Trains, however,
In the more recent years, we seem to have lost the knack of making real toys. Most old ones have a direct and unembarassed manner that give us a special kind of pleasure. In a good old toy, there is apt to be nothing self-conscious about the use of materials. What is wood, is wood. What is tin, is tin. What is cast is beautifully cast. It is possible that somewhere in all this is a clue to what sets the creative climate of any time, including our own.
Unlike many of the offerings of manufacturers in the modern toy industry, yesterday’s toys use a child’s skill, daring, and independence. They spark the imagination and initiative, freeing a child to experiment and explore. These are good toys with the magic and power to challenge, intrique, and befriend, and above all to delight a child—even if he or she has otherwise grown up. When it comes to entertainment, all adults are really children at heart.
We invite you to come in and browse, and we suggest that you visit us often. You will find our site useful for gift-giving on many occasions. Favorite toys come from A. Bird and Company the year ’round.
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