TOY SOLDIER HQ INC

OHIO ART INC. FIGURES AND ITEMS

Ohio Art made some nice toy tool kits so small children could emulate their elders. Hatchet and hammer handles are wood and the rest of the tools are rubber like vinyl. The vinyl tools were first sold in 1956 replacing more dangerous metal examples.

NO TOOL KITS IN STOCK

5.00 Toy Iron.

- Doll House

Ohio Art jumped into the tin litho doll house market like most other companies about 1949. We believe they only made this "Midget Manor" doll house from about 1949-1952. In the above montage the catalog picture is from 1950 while the other three photos are courtesy of ebay seller ebabeelaine who has had many nice items for sale. Her set was missing only one piece of the 28 piece set of elusive hard plastic furniture.

NO DOLL HOUSES IN STOCK

Farm Playsets and Items

Ohio Art made farm playsets from 1950 through 1974. Each set was centered around a nicely lithoed "tin" (steel) barn. Barns all have logos located at one end of the barn on the outside near the ground. Unless the litho on an item changed we believe that the items were still made with the logo first used even though new Ohio Art items might have new logos.

Through the years Ohio Art changed the name on their playset barns . Looking through catalogs as follows;

1950-1956 Sunnyfield.

1956-1960 Sunnyfield with new stone foundation litho

1961-1966 Rolling Acres.

1967-1972 Meadowlane.

1969-1971 no name "bird house" (Fidos Dog House) barn "fantasy farm"

1971-1973 Valleyview

1971-1974 Fundale

1974 Springdale.

MINI BARNS

1954 (maybe earlier)-1955 mini barn no cupola.

1956-1966 mini barn with cupola

1967-1970 mini barn no cupola, new logo.

Set numbers on boxes were used for different barns over the years which can add some confusion. Also Ohio Art would make special sets for large customers that do not appear in their wholesale catalogs.

Boxes used to display sets at stores

The above picture shows the type of box used when ordering from the Penny's Christmas catalog (circa 1969). Like Marx, Ohio Art used simple boxes for catalog sales. This was an exclusive set for JC Pennys as indicated by the P in the set number. 199 & 200 were the two numbers Ohio Art used for their largest sets. By 1970 the largest 199 set seen in old Ohio Art wholesale catalogs had 103 pieces while this special JC Penny's set lists a record 225 pieces. This was accomplished by simply adding more animals and fence sections.

Farm Playsets

NONE IN STOCK

SOLD - Valleyview playset. Missing only the box with instructions, 1 weather vane, 1 pig and 1 sheep. Otherwise complete and in very nice condition. Please inspect the pictures. A very nice set to add to your collection.

SORRY SOLD - Set #188 from 1961-63 era and has never been assembled. Has tin Rolling Acres barn + silo. Farm family in blue vinyl, Farm workers with ram & dog in gray soft plastic. Has tractor and both groups of implements with weather vanes + two sizes of fence. Has two sets of ten small + 1/2 set (5) of medium series three animals + 4 series four cows in soft plastic. Has three original marked bags. Original box bottom in bad shape but top is nice. Very nice example.

"Tin" Buildings

20.00 Tall silo ROLLING ACRES. (NONE)

20.00 Tall silo, no top piece; NONE

15.00 Short corn silo, NO TOP. (NONE)

15.00 Silo top, red with lines. (NONE) 25.00 Corn Crib building. (NONE)

15.00 Chicken Coop. (NONE)

15.00 Early Indoor feeder. (NONE)

30.00 Outdoor feeder. (NONE)

20.00 "Bird House" carry all barn circa 1969-71, nicer shape. (1)

25.00 Mini barn with cupola. (NONE)

The earliest mini barn circa 1954/55 did not have a cupola so no holes are in the center top of the roof.

NONE

Ohio Art like Marx would separate the farm playset plastic components into paper bags. The above four examples are circa 1970-72. The bags marked; MEN ANIMALS would have the three farm hands, collie and ram that were made in the same mold, OLD STYLE ANIMALS held a 9 piece set of series 2 hollow animals, SMALL ANIMALS held a 21 piece set of series 4B fowl, lambs and piglets, and MISCELLANEOUS ACCESSORIES had the 6 piece (making 5 assemblies) yellow farm accessories including the loading platform.

Farm Figures

These 60mm farm family figures were long thought to have been made by Auburn, but are indeed Ohio Art instead. Early version farm family figures are made of rubber like vinyl unless noted (SP = polyethylene soft plastic). The 54mm farm hands + the dog and ram are all copies of Marx poses and were mainly used in larger sets.

3.00 Farm Woman in bonnet, holding basket of corn; VINYL; 1 red, 1 blue, 1 white, SOFT PLASTIC; 3 yellow.

3.00 Farmer in cap, VINYL; 3 red, 1 blue, SP; NONE

3.00 Young farm boy with basket, VINYL; 1 yellow, 1 red, SP; 1 yellow, 1 lime green.

9.00 All three in matching color; 2 red vinyl.

LATER WORKERS always in soft plastic

3.00 Fork Man; 1 gray.

3.00 Seed man; 2 gray, 1 red.

3.00 Wrench man; 1 gray.

3.00 Farm dog; 1 red.

3.00 Merino Ram; NONE.

16.00 Matching set of 3 workers, dog & ram; 1 red.

FARM VEHICLES AND IMPLEMENTS

The earliest vehicles Ohio Art made for their farm sets were a hard plastic tractor and wagon. The steering wheel which was glued in place is often broken often and gone. These pieces are shown in the 1950-56 catalogs we have available, but were phased out by the rubber like vinyl BARR tractor & wagon by the late 1950s.

12.00 Red HP tractor with black wheels, NO STEERING WHEEL.

12.00 Red HP tractor with black wheels, MISSING HITCH.

10.00 yellow wagon with black wheels, HP, FRONT AXLE ATTACHMENT BROKEN, may be able to repair.

The later tractors are marked OHIO on each side although just to help the confusion the front wheels are marked THE BARR RUBBER PRODUCT CO. SANDUSKY OHIO. The black hard plastic implement wheels are marked THE OHIO ART CO. BRYAN, OHIO. Early versions are in rubber like vinyl while later versions are in soft plastic. The Barr Rubber company may have the tractors, wagon and the second series vinyl animals for Ohio Art. The 54mm (4 1/4 inch) tractor was included in playsets. It the 5 1/4 and giant 7 1/2 inch tractors were also sold separately.

8.00 54mm Tractor red vinyl with yellow SP wheels. (NONE)

8.00 54mm Tractor red vinyl with black wheels. (NONE)

8.00 54mm Tractor, red soft plastic with black wheels. (NONE)

8.00 54mm Tractor blue soft plastic with black wheels. (NONE)

7.00 Tractor SP, 70mm, orange; 2 rear things on top of tractor gone.

12.00 Wagon; NONE.

8.00 54mm Tractor marked BARR not OHIO, red vinyl with yellow SP wheels. (2)

Most farm vehicles and implements seem to be made of polyethylene soft plastic with black hard plastic wheels and are probably later additions to the Ohio Art Farm line. The tractor however can be found with the body made of vinyl and dates earlier. Most are very reminiscent of the Marx 3rd version farm implements. The hay mower also has the Ohio Art logo on the underside. The implements were made in two molds.

Series A Implement Mold

The series A mold contained the; plow, hay mower, hay rake, pitchfork and shovel. These five pieces would then be in the same color in playsets. Earlier colors most often seen are green and orange while a very light blue green was used in later sets.

25.00 Matched set of all 5 pieces( hay mower, plow, hay rake, shovel & pitch fork), black wheels; 1 green, 1 pale greenblue with black wheels, 1 pale greenblue with blue wheels.

8.00 Hay Mower; NONE.

8.00 Plow; 2 orange, 1 pale greenblue, 1 medium blue with blue wheels.

8.00 Hay Rake; 2 green, 1 pale greenblue, 1 medium blue with blue wheels.

3.00 Shovel; 2 medium blue, 4 palegreenblue.

3.00 Pitchfork; 1 green, 1 orange, 5 medium blue, 2 palegreenblue.

Series B Implement Mold

The series B implement mold contained the; manure spreader, disc roller and horse and cow weather vanes. These pieces would then been in the same color in playsets. Earlier colors most often seen are red and blue while later sets had a pale mint green color.

15.00 Matched set of Manure spreader & Disc Roller; 1 aquagreen with black wheels.

8.00 Manure Spreader; NONE.

8.00 Disc roller; 1 blue, 3 red, 2 later aquagreen.

5.00 Horse weather vane; NONE.

5.00 Cow weather vane; NONE.

2.00 Manure spreader fatter blade; 3 blue, 1 red.

2.00 Manure spreader thinner blade; 1 blue, 1 bright orange, 1 aquagreen.

2.00 Disc roll piece; 1 red, 1 blue, 3 bright orange.

Ohio Art copied a number of the Marx farm accessories in one 9 cavity mold as seen above. Earlier 1960 circa large farm sets would get all 9 pieces (7 assemblies) While later circa 1970 sets would no longer contain the two piece litter carrier or the pulley as the tin barns had been simplified and no longer had use for those pieces. These accessories were made in shades of yellow soft plastic and in 1969 they were also made in tan.

5.00 Stile (steps), SP; NONE.

5.00 Loading platform, SP; 1 deeper rich yellow, 5 bright yellow yellow, 1 tan.

5.00 Pulley, yellow, SP; NONE.

5.00 Hog feeder, SP; 2 bright yellow, 2 deeper rich yellow.

3.00 Hay bale, SP; NONE.

5.00 Gas tank with separate hose; 1 tan.

5.00 Litter carrier, 2 pc; NONE.

Above litter carrier picture courtesy of Tom Loback who sells lots of cool from stuff on ebay under the tomtin name.

Ohio Art also copied other Marx pieces to make a six piece "milking" accessory set consisting of; one stool, one pail, and four milk cans. Made in soft plastic, yellow is the most common color but catalogs show these made in gray and red as well. Please note T.Cohn (Superior)also copied these same accessories but the three different items were made in three different molds so the colors will not match (plus the T.Cohn milk cans were made in a hard plastic).

15.00 6 Piece milking set; 4 cans, stool & pail; NONE.

2.00 Milk can; 2 yellow, 3 red, 4 gray.

3.00 Stool; 1 gray.

3.00 Pail; 2 yellow, 1 red, (1.00 split handle 1 yellow, 1 red).

Ohio Art used two basic styles of fence. The smaller style is a copy of the Marx chicken coop fence and is usually found in multiples of 3 in Ohio Art sets. The larger fence is found in multiples of 4 and there is a later version with added supports for the feet. Early fence was in white but later sets had the modified fence in blue.

1.00 Larger fence; 3 white.

1.00 Larger fence later style with leg support; NONE.

1.00 Smaller "Chicken coop" fence; 2.

FARM ANIMALS

Ohio Art used four different series of animals copying Auburn and Marx at will. Ohio Art used molds made by other companies until about 1960 when they helped set up their own mold making in Bryan Ohio.

Ohio Art sold the animals not only in farm playsets but on blister cards and in small boxes as seen above.

Competitor Auburn sold their vinyl farm animals in similar packaging.

30.00 20 Piece Box of farm animals. Has 21 animals, all the smaller poses, cellophane window broken.

- 40.00 Boxed set #27 circa 1953-53. No cellophane but unsure if it ever had any. Some rubber bands degraded from age and box worn.

SERIES ONE FARM ANIMALS

SERIES 1 "Flat" FARM ANIMALS

The first year or two of Ohio Art farm sets (1950-51) they included three "flat" semi round animals; a horse, cow & pig. Each early #88 set got four of each of these "flat" animals (12 per playset). Earliest animals were a cream or off white color while later ones were made with black or dark purple swirl coloration. At some point we think in 1951, some of the Series 2 "hollow" animals (colt, calf & sheep) in the dark purple swirl plastic were added. By 1952 these flat animals had been discarded and the Series 2 animal set was completed with the addition of a horse, cows and pigs.

6.00 Flat horse with dark swirl coloration. (1) 4.00 Flat horse, cream. (4)

6.00 Flat cow with dark swirl coloration. (2)

4.00 Flat cow, cream. (1)

6.00 Flat pig with dark swirl coloration. (NONE)

4.00 Flat pig, cream. (1)

SERIES 2 "Hollow Belly" FARM ANIMALS

Series 2 animals have hollow bellies, have less detail and were first made in 1951. We believe the mold was made for Ohio Art by Caldwell Products who also sold similar animals through their subsidiary Empire Plastic Corp. A few animals were made in swirls colors in the same semi hard plastic as the series #1 flat animals ,but quickly changed to earth tone colors (black, gray, brown). One "set" of animals consisted of nine pieces; 1 horse, 1 colt, 1 calf, 2 cows, 2 sheep & 2 pigs. Large playsets would usually get 4 sets (36 animals) while mini-barn sets would get 1 set or less. About 1952 a switch was made to styrene hard plastic in bright colors; red, blue, cream & yellow. By 1955/56 they were being made in polyethylene soft plastic. Soft plastic animals were made in gray, and dark brown for a short period then white/creams and tans(light brown) from about 1956-68. About 1960 as all of the new "Marx Copy" molds were made the hollow belly animal mold was either redone or modified so the animals now had a number (indicating mold cavity position) up inside them. About 1969 the tan color was dropped and white, pink, lavender and black were used. In 1974 the final year of farm playsets they also were made in mustard yellow, and for a few years in the later 1970s on blister cards in soft plastic red and white. They were made longer than any other series of Ohio Art farm animals.

Above picture shows some of the colors these Series 2 "hollow bellies' can be found in.

Rough Dating;

1951 Swirl coloration.

1951-52 Semi hard plastic in black, gray & brown.

1952-56 Styrene hard plastic in red, blue, yellow & cream.

1956-58 Polyethylene soft plastic in gray & dark brown.

1956-1966 Polyethylene tans.

1963 Polyethylene chocolate brown.

1956-1974 Polyethylene white/creams.

1969-71 Polyethylene black and lavender.

1969-73 Polyethylene pink.

1966 & 1974 Polyethylene mustard yellow.

1978 Polyethylene red.

1951-1952 Odd semi hard plastic

3.00 Horse; 1 white, 2 gray, 1 brown, 2 black.

3.00 Cow; 1 white, 2 gray, 1 black.

2.00 Colt; NONE.

2.00 Calf; 1 white, 1 gray.

2.00 Pig; 3 white, 3 brown, 3 black.

2.00 sheep; 2 white, 1 tan, 2 brown, 3 black.

Hard & Soft Plastic

tan = light brown.

Nine piece "set" as used in playsets that includes; 1 horse, 1 colt, 2 cows, 1 calf, 2 sheep & 2 pigs.

9.00 Nine Piece set, SP; 2 tan.

12.00 Nine piece set, SP; 3 lavender, 1 gray.

12.00 Nine piece set 1950s hard styrene plastic; 3 yellow, 2 blue, 1 red.

Individual Animals

1.00 Cow, SP: 1 tans, 4 whites,

2.00 Cow, SP; 10 gray, 5 lavender, 1 mustard yellow, 1 tan, 1 black.

2.00 Cow, HP; 19 red, 12 yellow, 8 blue, 9 cream.

3.00 Cow, SP; 2 red.

1.00 Calf, SP; 2 white, 2 tans.

2.00 Calf, SP; 1 lavender, 3 gray, 2 dark brown.

2.00 Calf, HP; 5 red, 3 blue, 3 yellow, 2 creamwhite.

3.00 Calf, SP; 1 red.

1.00 Horse, SP: 2 whites, 2 tans.

2.00 Horse, SP; 2 lavender, 7 gray.

2.00 Horse, HP: 2 blue, 7 yellow, 5 red, 1 red with paint.

3.00 Horse, SP; 1 red.

1.00 Colt, SP; 4 whites, 5 tans.

2.00 Colt, SP; 1 pink, 1 lavender, 4 gray, 1 brown.

2.00 Colt, HP: 1 red, 1 blue, 3 yellow.

1.00 Pig, SP; 2 tans, 7 whites.

1.50 Pig, SP; 5 gray, 2 redbrown, 2 lavender.

1.50 Pig, HP; 11 yellow, 18 blue, 17 red, 13 creamwhite.

3.00 Pig, SP; 2 red.

1.00 Sheep, SP; 1 tan.

1.50 Sheep, SP; 8 gray, 2 lavender, 2 pink.

1.50 Sheep, HP; 13 yellow, 8 blue, 23 red, 15 creamwhite.

3.00 Sheep, SP; 1 red.

SERIES 3 Rubber Like Vinyl "Auburn Like" Farm ANimals

The above picture shows the series 3 farm animals made of rubber like vinyl. First made in the 1956 they had disappeared by 1967. The horse and cow had been deleted by 1961 perhaps due to the horse's inability to stand properly. They seem to based upon Auburn animals and may have been made for Ohio Art by the Barr Rubber Co. Due to being made of vinyl most of these will be dirty from years of play. Based upon how they were sold we believe that they made three molds each mold group weighing about 6 ounces;

A. 1 HORSE, 2 COWS.

B. 3 CALVES, 2 COLTS, 2 PIGS, 2 SHEEP & 1 TURKEY.

C. Two sets (20 pieces total) of; 1 DUCK WITH DUCKLINGS, 2 LAMBS, 2 PIGLETS, 1 ROOSTER & 4 CHICKENS.

Some times sets would only get five animals of the B group. These were sold in playsets, blister cards, in a cardboard barns shaped box and as individual counter toys.

burnt orange = light brown

ANIMALS MAY BE DIRTY AS DUE TO THE LARGE PORES IN VINYL PLASTIC DIRT STICKS. SOAK RUBBER LIKE VINYL FIGURES IN HOUSEHOLD BLEACH OVERNIGHT AND THEY SHOULD CLEAN RIGHT UP. SEE EXAMPLE IN NEWS/REVIEWS WEB PAGE.

7.00 Horse; 11 white, 1 brown.

7.00 Cow; 2 browns, 1 cream, 3 white.

3.00 Duck with ducklings; 16 white, 19 light brown.

2.00 Colt; 10 white, 5 gray, 6 brown.

2.00 Chicken; 62 white, 75 light brown.

2.00 Calf; 5 gray, 6 white, 3 light brown.

2.00 Pig 8 white.

2.00 Lamb; 16 white, 30 light brown.

2.00 Piglet (NO TAIL - Auburn's HAS TAIL); 29 white, 31 light brown.

2.00 Rooster; 20 white, 14 light brown.

3.00 Turkey; 6 white, 1 light brown.

3.00 Sheep; 1 white.

SERIES 4 "Marx Copy" Farm animals

Series 4A cows copied from two of Marx's prize livestock set are solid from the udder rearwards and made of polyethylene soft plastic. They were made circa 1961 but had been eliminated from use by 1969. Large sets got 8 and medium sets got 4 cows.

4.00 Cow head forward; 1 tan, (1.00 NO TAIL; 1 white, 1 tan).

4.00 Cow head to the left; 3 tan, 3 white, (1.00 NO TAIL; 2 tan).

SERIES 4B

Also made of polyethylene soft plastic these small animals are also based upon Marx poses. There were two distinct sets. Each set would have the 11 piece group of fowl. The "A" group would also have 5 piglets head up and 5 lambs bawling, while the "B" group would have 5 piglets head down and 5 lambs looking to the left. The mold was made about 1961 and the early figures are made of white (and rarely tan) but in 1969 the color was changed to bright day glow reds and greens. Two running horse weather vanes were also made in this mold to be used in sets that did not contain the contents of farm implement mold B. Excess or unneeded weather vanes were usually not placed in playsets.

10.00 21 Piece small animal set with group "A" lambs and piglets; NONE.

10.00 21 Piece small animal set with group "B" lambs and piglets; NONE.

1.00 Rooster; 6 white, 2 bright green, 7 bright red.

1.00 Hen pecking; 2 white, 7 bright red, 6 bright green.

1.00 Duck; 8 white, 4 bright red, 5 bright green.

.50 Lamb bawling; NONE.

.50 Lamb head turned to the left; NONE.

.50 Piglet head up; 7 white, 4 green, 7 bright red.

.50 Piglet head down; 13 white, 4 green, 11 red.

.50 Chicks; 2 white, 12 bright red, 11 bright green.

.50 Ducklings; 4 bright green, 7 bright red.

5.00 Running horse weather vane; NONE.

A word about colors. Ohio Art like other toy figure companies could see the decline in interest and like other companies such as Processed Plastic offered their figures in bright fantasy colors in the late 1960s and 70s. In 1969 Ohio Art put out a "Fantasy Farm" with the tin "bird house" barn as the center piece. The mini barn was made in pink at least one year in this period as well. The farm helpers/dog/ram & milking accessories came in bright red, fence in pink, green or blue, outdoor accessories in tan, small fowl, piglets and lambs in day glow red & green. Seen below from Gary Anderson's collection are the series one animals in lavender and black While the disc, manure spreader & weather vanes were bright orange and the other implements in a tourquise blue with royal blue wheels. In the catalog this set was listed as SALEADELIC a play on psychedelic.

CATALOGS FOR SALE

8.00 -8.00 - 8.00

8.00 - 8.00 - 8.00