c.1940 Marx Double Barrel Home Defense Machine Gun
One of the Marx Company's most elusive pre-war toys' is their Double Barrel Home Defense Machine Gun. This example works beautifully and although in "only" very fine to excellent condition, is the highest grade I've found. It may have been boxed, but I don't know for sure because I could find no published reference for it. The toy is unusual both in its lithography and design. It weights nearly a pound and a half, and is almost 2 feet long. Two-thirds of it including the front grip, trigger and guard are lithographed steel. The stock, which is the remaining third, is varnished pine. Only two tiny rivets and a small steel bracket secure the stock to the frame and because of this it's frequently found with the wooden section missing. It comes with its original, stationary, ammunition drum which is removable and is also frequently missing. The "sawed-off" barrels are correct for the toy. It's not missing "an attachment barrel". It has an internal clockwork motor which is wound using the large attached key. The lithography is unusual in that it shows a youngster with his Home Defense Machine Gun shooting at three helpless parachuters. The guy on the left looks like he's already been "eliminated" and is lifelessly drifting away. Most likely this gun was produced in response to "a war". This could've been WWI, or the growing European or Asian conflict. I dated as c.1940 by the trademark style and with the release of similar pre-war gangster machine guns. Because of its steel and wooden construction it may also have been a short production post-Pearl Harbor issue. The design is unusual in that it's a double barrel gun with a double barrel recoiling mechanism. Lithoed shot gun shells shown just behind the ammunition drum on the top of the gun, move back and forth. Simultaneously a loud brakkkk-brakkkk sound and recoiling are produced exactly at the same time. Sparks fly out from the twin "sawed-off" barrels. In my opinion it's one of the most realistic and "most fun" machine gun toys made by any U.S. company. Size: 22" Date Sold: Aug. 2009
Price Sold: $ 264
