c.1956 Chevrolet Golden Peanuts Truck In Original Box
Superb near mint+ Chevrolet "Golden Peanuts" Van Truck in original box. All tin litho construction, friction drive motor, made in Japan. Could not identify the manufacturer and not listed Commercial Tin Toy Cars book. Unplayed with store stock complete with original box. Beautiful stark, bright white two-piece truck features full color images of a can of Golden Peanuts on both trailer sides. Shows stages of peanuts from "in" the shell, to loose, to in the can. "Golden Peanuts Special" is labeled just below the images. Above this is the word "Peanuts" in large white letters in a red oval. Front of the trailer is also labeled "Peanuts" in blue text. Rear section has two "barn" type doors which open outwards. Tires are solid knobby black rubber and have yellow tin lithoed centers. The front grille assembly is a single piece of chrome plated tinplate. The windshield has a polished tin frame and it's original celluloid "glass". The trailer section connects to the cab using a very unusual sliding-slot mechanism which I've never seen before. The two ends (trailer and cab) fit together like a lock and key with one inside the other. It's interesting to point out that any mis-match while trying to slide the two sections together would probably scratch the litho. However, on this store stock example both sides are pristine. It appears that they've never been connected. It's also interesting that both the trailer and cab have only one pair of wheels. Neither will remain upright without connecting the two sections. The full color box show three different Chevrolet Van Trucks; presumably from the same series (although I've never seen any of them before). In addition to the Peanuts truck a Livestock and Moving Van were available. Although both the box and toy are marked "Made In Japan" neither was lithoed with the actual manufacturer's name or trademark. Only the U.S. importers name, Rosko, was printed on the box. It's also curious that in order to use a smaller box and thus save money on paper, the manufacturer designed the cab section to fit inside the trailer van. It's the only way that the entire truck will fit inside the box. The box also still has its original 98 cents price sticker on one end. Size: 10" Date Sold: Jun. 2011
Price Sold: $ 448
