Looking Back At The Toys Of Yesteryear

Charming, whimsical toy stores reminiscent of Santa's Workshop are hard to find these days.  That's what's special about working for The Ark, especially here in San Francisco where it's really one of the few independent toy shops left.  So we like to keep that spirit of classic toys alive by carrying quality wood toys from Europe, local toys made in the USA, creative wooden block sets, Waldorf dolls, and all types of cool toys that veer on the timeless side.

These types of stores bring back memories of past toy shops for many, while introducing that same magic to a new generation of kids and parents.  Toys are more than just things, they're an experience.  Using the Museum of Childhood's amazing collection of historical children's objects,  lets take a look back and get to know some of history's favorite toys in this first entry of the "Toys of Yesteryear" blog series!

Turn Of The Century Dollhouses

Actually this insanely detailed dollhouse was made in 1890 and is noted for featuring some of the most advanced home technologies of the time; miniaturized of course.  Water heaters, knife cleaners, and bicycles are featured, while popular architectural spaces of the time like billiard rooms and in-home classrooms are also packed into this grand dollhouse.

Dominoes of Year's Past

Did you know Dominoes were first introduced in 13th century China?  And by the mid 18th Century, the game grew in popularity and made its way over to England from Italy where it took off ever since.  The very first dominoes sets were made from bone strips and ebony, then tightly fastened together with brass pins; these pins were known as "spinners" and they helped to support dominoes tiles so they could be placed upright.  

The most commonly played dominoes game is called the "block game."  It's most fun with at least four players participating.  Each player must draw seven dominoes tiles from the pile and place them upright so they stand freely on their own; however the tiles cannot directly face the opponents, just the edges of the tiles!

The first player who ends up with the "double 6" tile must place that tile on the table face up, which really gets the game going!  When players have tiles with the same number of spots, they must place those tiles next to dominoes already played.  The game ends when one person plays all of his or her dominoes tiles.  This same game is played together and enjoyed by kids, parents, AND their amazing grandparents. 

Stay tuned for Volume II of this very special blog series about cool toy history!

My Favorite Rare and Retired Lego Sets

I seriously can't get enough of LEGO. They were, hands down, my favorite toy growing up. And since I work at a toy store, I'm knee deep in Hobbit Lego, star wars Lego, city sets, Heartlake Friends sets, etc, it's awesome! So I decided to take up the quest of finding the most valuable Lego sets in the world.

There are some great LEGO sites out there, like Brick Picker , The Plastic Brick Blog, and the Eurobrick forum, which combined are great sources for Lego history, rare sets, value, you name it. There was a good amount to choose from, so I just narrowed down the top 4 to my personal favorites in no particular order. For the time being that is; I think this list is definitely subject to change :)

It's the Ewok Village! I remember the Ewok Village my brother and I had back in the late 1980s - This newer version of a LEGO classic comes with even more odds and ends to recreate one of the most awesome scenes of the Return of the Jedi!

This the LEGO set I want! Retailing at around $300 (yikes!), this impressive set recreates the amazing architecture of the renown Sydney Opera House.

I love the Dumbledore office LEGO set! Harry Potter legos have a great color scheme to them as well; I sort of want to combine them with that Ewok set above. I found this retired set on Brickpicker, with an estimated market value of over $130. Another popular, retired Harry Potter LEGO set is Hogwarts Castle; this 2001 set commands a current market value of $240.

This small Indiana Jones LEGO set from 2008 is pretty popular with Lego buyers these days. Recreating a familiar Indiana Jones Motorcycle chase, I definitely would have begged my mom for this if I were kid back in 08' - Reminds of the motorcycle chase from The Last Crusade.

LEGO is definitely here to stay, so it's fun to think about what the future holds for rare and collectible LEGO sets. Star Wars sets definitely dominates the LEGO collectors world, however sets like Disney's Toy Story LEGO are in demand since the third film was the final installment of the popular animated trilogy. And we can't forget about the insanely popular Minecraft Lego sets, the new Mixel figures, and of course, Duplo!