TOY BOX TREASURES OF THE PAST - THE SPACE BLIMP OF CHRISTMAS...

Rejoice with me - that's another toy box treasure from the past that will shortly be back in the fold.  The SPACE BLIMP Of CHRISTMAS is a toy that my parents (with me in tow) bought from WOOLWORTH's back in the '60s, though I can't now recall whether I got it '66 or '68 - or maybe even in between.  On the evening of purchase, on the run-up to Christmas (that I do remember), we retired to a cafeteria (pretentiously) titled The NORFOLK RESTUARANT ('twas a great place though), where I examined my new acquisition.

I had the Santa figure for quite a few years before, in my teenage years, I binned most of my childhood possessions in an attempt to 'grow up'.  (As you can see, that never quite worked.)  Well, for the last 10 days or so, I've been keeping my eye on another aforementioned Space Blimp on ebay, and tonight I struck.  (Surprisingly, there was only one other bidder - and this toy is extremely rare.)  It's bought and paid for, done and dusted, and will soon be winging its way to Castel Crivens to join all my other replacement childhood toys.  Can't wait!

The one I owned in the '60s had a different colour scheme as far as the rocket sled goes.  I seem to recall the top part as being orange or brown, though the colour of the bottom half escapes me.  (It was quite common back then for toys to have variant colours and I'm just glad to have one.)  I'm not too fussed as I never actually kept the sled for too long, though I retained the Santa figure and reindeer head into the early or mid-'70s.    In case you're wondering, I don't actually play with any of my toy col-lection - the satisfaction of ownership comes purely from looking at them - and remembering.

Anyway, I'm sure the seller won't mind me sharing a few of his photos so that you can see what it looks like - I'll put my own up when I receive the toy.  Until then, I'm simply wishing my life away!  Incidentally, the one I had originally came in a window box (I'm pretty sure) like the one below, but these toys are so rare that I'm not too fussed about that little fact.  Both boxes feature the same main artwork, and I can always make myself a replica window box if I feel like it.  "Ho-ho-ho!"

Posted in: Cartoons