1962 Yonezawa Mechanical Crawling Crab In Original Box
This is the "Mechanical (Crawling) Crab manufactured by Yonezawa. It's a huge toy measuring 14" long and with its steel litho body and pincers weighs over a pound. It's spidery, eight side legs are deep red plastic and look incredibly realistic. They're hollow and most likely polyethylene. He has two little beady wooden eye mounted onto coiled springs. As you can probably guess it probably wasn't a big seller. It was available for only one year through the Sear-Roebuck Christmas catalog making it an incredibly scarce toy. It's the only example I've seen. The lithography on this toy is amazing. Fiery red and yellow contrasted with bright green and black with very mean looking steel pincers The mouth, despite being only lithographed looks exceeding real! The underside was also realistically colored in yellow and white and shadowed with black and neutral gray highlights. The Yonezawa trademark was lithoed on the underside as well. The toy is powered with a strong internal motor which winds up with an attached key underneath the body. It has two large rubber wheels mounted horizontally, plus a single small rubber wheel which turns right or left. They're all controlled by the motor. I've never seen anything like the actions of this toy. It moves sideways rapidly while raising and lowing the claw pincers. The eight legs are set onto hinged springs so they too move up and down. Even the eyes, mounted on their little springs, bob around slightly. It moves in one direction, but not in a straight line. It sort of wiggles along. It'll run for several feet. Then it stops. Initially, I thought it was done, but I was wrong. It stops for a couple seconds and then restarts, and moves horizontally, but in the opposite direction! The entire time it's front claws, side legs, and even the eyes, are moving and bouncing right along. Overall, it's one of the most realistic animal toys I've seen. The box features a fantastic full color illustration of a large, hairy, mean looking crab with bubbles coming out of its mouth (real crabs do this bubble thing). Off to the right corner are a couple of brother crabs plodding their way through water and rocks. In large print in the upper right corner are the words "MECHANICAL CRAB". This immediately grabs your attention. Lightly printed in the lower right corner is the item number and Yonezawa logo . The rear apron was printed with a mildly ugly schematic of the crab showing its operation and instructions. Of course the large word "CRAB" lies just to the left of the schematic. The front and side aprons were printed another crab and again the name of the toy "MECHANICAL CRAB". It has its original insert which protects the eyes and pincers. Size: 14" x 6" x 3½". Date Sold: Aug. 2009
Price Sold: $ 258
