c.1950 T. Cohn Inc., Duck Shoot with Revolving Target in Original Box
The idea of a revolving screw gravity fed toy had been around for 40 years before the appearance of T. Cohn Inc's., Duck Shoot toy. Complete with working plastic dart rifle it looks like it was never played with. It comes complete with rifle, darts, instruction sheet, box and illustrated box sleeve. Both the rifle and revolving mechanism work great. The toy consists of three colorful mallards taking to full flight. They're made from a laminate of lithographed paper and die cut, 1/8" thick pressed cardboard. The detail and coloration is fantastic. Even their little webbed feet are shown correctly tucked up and under the tail. The reverse side of each has a steel bracket with 9" of chrome chain. While the toy is operating, the chain prevents the ducks from falling to the floor and getting damaged. The ducks connect to a large revolving, red enameled, steel post. The post has three legs which disconnect and three fold down arms. Lifting the arms clicks them into position. Ducks are attached to the clips on the end. The post is 29" tall, but when fully extended it pulls out to a total length of 44". The extension post uses a chrome steel spiral rod which allows it to gradually be drawn back into the base post. The "spiral" causes it to rotate. It'll make 20 complete rotations before it stops. Of course while it's rotating you're supposed to be firing away at the colorful varmints. Hitting one of the duck targets releases the clip in back. It falls over and hangs from the chain. The all plastic rifle is 22" long and uses spring loaded darts. It has all four original rubber tipped darts and works beautifully. The 25" long box includes the cardboard liner plus a full color outer sleeve. It has a terrific illustration of the three ducks (two in flight, one in duck heaven). The opposite end of the panel shows the young hunter taking aim. The entire toy is demonstrated on the right edge with claims that it can make 20 rotations with each reset. The side panels show one of the mallards set against a black background. The name of the toy and manufacturer name was printed along side. The original 8½" x 11" instructions show set up for the revolving post, spiral, and ducks. Superior Toy (printed on the box, toy and embossed into the rifle) was the designation used by T. Cohn, Inc. to indicate that it was a post WWII toy. Size: Ducks 12", all other dimensions indicated above. Sold: Jan. 2007
Price Sold: $ 431