c.1955 Masudaya, Sight Seeing Planes In Original Box
All tin litho battery operated "Sight-Seeing Planes" manufactured by Masudaya, Japan. Toy works great and is incredible near mint condition and comes complete with original box. Superb box grades exc+ to near mint. Very scarce toy I've seen only one previous example and it was in much lower grade. This is the first and only box I've seen. Beautiful tin toy features a fully lithographed, embossed Eiffel Tower as its center. The girders were embossed to resemble three tiers topped with a red platform and a green plastic ring. On top of the ring sits a very complex pink plastic hexagonal "jewel". This pink part is hollow and contains electrical wiring with a blinking light housed in a transparent red "bullet" shaped cap. Screwed into opposite sides of the "jewel" are two nickel plated metal screws. Each screw holds an 8½" chrome plated metal rod. The screws at the ends of the rods are color coded. In other words the wiring inside the pink "jewel" is specific for each aircraft. Hanging down about an 1" from the end of each rod are "the planes". The red aircraft (5½" wingspan, 5" fuselage) is an airplane with real spinning yellow plastic propeller. Hanging from the other end is a blue jet fighter (5" wingspan, 5½" fuselage). The jet nose is tipped with a "red" blinking light. The tower base has three sides lithoed with outdoor scenes. The fourth includes a large red plastic knob with lithoed cockpit controls plus the manufacturers trademark. The knob functions as a start/stop switch and has a red metal arrow indicator just above it which really turns. I've run it several times and I'm convinced that the knob controls speed, as well as being an on/off switch. Batteries are inserted into the base. Turn the knob and the two aircraft go round and round and round. All functions work beautifully (rotating planes, spinning propeller, blinking tower light, blinking jet nose light). The plane are permanently wired to the metal rods, however the rods unscrew from the pink "jewel". The jewel is held in place with a small nickel plated set screw which should not be removed. It has an awesome box which shows a large girder tower with two hanging planes attached by rods to the cap. A helicopter closely flies by the tower. The left box cover apron was printed with two schematics instruction operation and assembly of the toy. It includes the original box bottom and waxed paper separators. Size: Tower 12" tall. Sold: Oct. 2009
Price Sold: $ 790
