Marx Presidents Collector Sets

     Back in the 60's Marx started making President figurines as play sets.  They were made in Hong Kong, they were 2 3/4" tall, hand painted, hard plastic and stood on a gold painted base. 
     The last name of the president, the number of president he was, and the years they served were impressed on the base.  These were displayed on a Styrofoam stand, that looked very impressive with foam pillars and steps.  Each president number was in a circle on the Styrofoam so you knew where to place him on the steps.
     I came across one at a yard sale last week and she only wanted $5 for it so I snapped it up.  I set it up on my kitchen table and everybody that came over last weekend was just enthralled by it.  They kept picking up the pieces and trying to mix them up, inspected them and dubbed it one of my coolest finds this year.
     It turns out they are valuable so I listed the set on ebay.  It had all the presidents from Washington to Nixon and was only missing one of the pillars.  I put it on eBay for $50 and sold it within a few days.
     In doing some research I found that they still make the presidents.  The yard sale lady told me her children played with it as young children, she was 78 years old.  Now days they are collector items.  They make them just exactly the way they did back in the 60's, they even have President Obama now. 
     However, in the spirit of money, they also make the supreme court justices, the presidential candidates - yes there is a Mitt Romney and of course Sarah Palin has also been added.  Why I don't know but who could forget Sarah?  Apparently nobody.

    
    

Garage Sale Find: Griswold Cast Iron Kitchenware

     This week's best garage sale deal was a nice lot of Griswold Cast Iron.  Griswold manufactured Cast Iron pieces from 1865 to 1957.  The first and oldest pieces will be marked simply Erie, over the years the name Griswold and a trademark emblem was added. 
     Collectors always look for the words "Erie", "Erie, PA" or "Erie, PA USA", this identifies the pieces as being the oldest and also of being produced by the original manufacturer.  
     After the company sold in 1957 other manufacturers produced under the Griswold name, however, if you are collecting cast iron always look for the Erie name as it is much more valuable.    
     Wikipedia has some great  information on the various logo's throughout the years.  Also, if you do happen to find some Griswold at a yard sale or garage sale don't try to clean it up until you read about the procedures of cleaning cast iron.
      Flea Markets, estate sales, yard sales, garage sales and of course eBay are the best places to find the older Griswold.  I paid $50 for all these pieces and will probably make anywhere from $250 to $300 when I sell them. 

The above trivet is a vintage Griswold cast iron star trivet.  It's marked  Erie, PA

     Below is a Griswold cast iron skillet marked #10  it a Griswold Skillet # 716, notice the Griswold lettering is slanted inside the emblem.  Griswold with  italic lettering was produced from 1897 - 1920. It is also marked Erie.

The most interesting find is this Griswold cast iron Plett Pan shown below.  This is a vintage piece, probably from the 1950's.  The underside reads NO 34, GRISWOLD inside the Griswold emblem, also there is the number 2980 with an A.
     The Plett Pan is a Swedish pancake griddle, it can make 7 perfectly round pancakes each 3 1/4" diameter.   The pan itself  is approximately 9  1/2" in diameter.  The letter "A" makes this the first lettered Plett Pan that Griswold made. 
     This was a very good deal at $50 for all three pieces!!!