Clinton couple’s toy collection gives a glimpse of times past

A hint of what we’re missing is on display in the bowels of the vast C.A china pressure vessel is a closed container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure.H.Eight tips for choosing the right diamond Concrete saw blade including determining wet or dry cutting, blade compatibility, CSDA codes, and more. Moore Homestead in Clinton, which is also the home of the DeWitt County Museum. Descend into the home’s giant basement and enter an Aladdin’s Cave of childhood amusements from the days when the true mettle of a toy was metal and the only thing made in China was the Chinese.

Some yesteryear toy story examples: a circa-1920s “Buddy L” brand fire engine that probably weighs 15 pounds as a push-along toy and could be worth $2,000 in today’s dollars. And a “Mobo” ride-on sulky pulled by a mechanical tin horse whose body hides a locomotion mechanism worked by little kid legs operating pedals: dating from 1950, you might pay $1,200 or more for an example as nicely restored as this one.

There are also shelves full of brightly painted metal cars, trucks and cranes and steam shovels with values that have expanded beyond anything dreamt of in the childhood imaginations that motivated them when Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Harry S. Truman was president. And yet for collectors Juanita and Jim Morris, the Clinton couple who have loaned a very small slice of their accumulated treasures for the homestead display, it’s not all about shrewd investing, it’s about the relentless pursuit of happiness.

The rising toy values remain a nice bonus but they are often earned after Jim Morris, an expert at mechanical repairs and a confident wielder of sandblasters, air brushes and paint brushes, has spent months or even years breathing his magic on some beat-up gem found in the corner of a dusty antiques store. For the Morrises it’s the thrill of the hunt and the pleasure that comes from watching what they find come back to vibrant still life that keeps the antique toy passion alive.

“They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore,So I'm looking at my silver wheel bolt that are in pretty rough cosmetic shape - and decide that I'd like to have the look of the new black wheel” says Jim Morris, hefting a 1920s steam shovel where the extending and closing shovel mechanism is pure poetry in motion to behold. Not that he did much beholding when he was a boy: the 73-year-old retired phone technician had been the seventh of 12 children and there wasn’t any money for fancy toys. In some ways, perhaps, he’s making up for lost time.

His wife, 72, has her own collecting whimsies and a selection of her special treasures is housed in a series of display cabinets. There are brightly colored miniature tea sets in vivid yellow and green glass made by a company called Akro Agate that otherwise specialized in marbles, and some sets are still housed in their original boxes.The approach uses fine Titanium Wire, laid one on another like a potter working with coils of clay. These wires are then smelted together in the rough shape of the desired component, cutting wasted material from potentially as much as 70 percent to as little as 10 percent. And there is row after row of glass candy containers dating to 1920 and shaped like everything from dogs to airplanes and even a tiny lantern.

Values here have jumped to the point where kiddy tea sets and antique candy containers have become a very sweet investment, too,Carbon wheels - Carbon Fiber Cycle Wheels,as China wholesaler,we offer best price carbon bike wheels in different types,quality guarantee,best carbon wheels. but Juanita Morris sees them as pretty little things that remind us of who we were. “The little lantern was mine as a child,Each part's full needle bearing trunnion allows for increased horsepower and quicker response, and a large roller tip helps prevent wear” she explains. “I found it when we cleaned my mother’s house out after she died.”