1936 Daisy, Buck Rogers XZ-44 Liquid Helium Pistol in Original Box
"The Daisy, Buck Rogers XZ-44 Liquid Helium in its original box". After 35 years of collecting antique toys that's the first time I've ever written that sentence. This holiday season I'm proud to offer one of the finest toys I've ever found. Considered by many to be the most beautiful space toy ever produced. An historical work off art, its style, design, and coloration represented a positive, futuristic post-Depression America. This example, in near mint condition, is by far the highest grading toy of its kind I've seen. It's prodigious original box is in excellent+ to near mint condition and is only the second I've ever seen. The first was incomplete, in pieces, and was many years ago. (I originally wrote that paragraph December, 2006). The Liquid Helium Pistol is basically a water ray gun. It's all pressed steel, not tin litho, with an internal leather bladder bag. 70 years ago you'd immerse the tip in water and pull back on the siphoning rod. It was engineered to shoot a 20 foot stream of water 15 times before reloading. Less than 500,000 were produced compared with several million of Daisy's disintegrator pistols. Eventually the leather bladder dried and cracked making the gun inoperable. Most of them rusted. Virtually all of the boxes were discarded. The toy is brilliant mandarin orange and deep yellow. Lightning bolts shoot across the outside of the water chamber. The grip is pillow embossed on both sides. The barrel tip is gold enamel. Graphics on the right side of the bladder chamber include the name of the comic strip, manufacturer's name and address, a patent pending notice, and a small drawing of Buck Rogers. The left side has the name of the toy in columnar arrangement of four rows. Each row was printed using a different type face. The box is nothing short of phenomenal. To see and hold something that I've been hunting for since 1970 is a dream come true. Again, an art deco style was used. Graphics of the two main panels are identical, but the side panels and both endflaps were illustrated differently. Orange, black, and white were the only colors used. Main panels include a large drawing of the Liquid Helium Pistol, set against a wispy dark background. In the center is a small figure of an airborne Buck Rogers. The name of the toy was divided into two sections. The upper half includes the name at the toy similar to the comic strip title. Along the lower edge are the name of the toy and model number. The two side panels are similar. Both flash the toy name in bold text. Each has an illustration of Buck plus adversary. The drawings are different, but the theme of an alien and spaceship are identical. The toy sold originally for 25¢. Size: 7" long, 5½" tall. Sold: Dec. 2006
Price Sold: $ 5900
