3/2/2024 0 Comments Vintage matchbox playsets![]() Mattel would ultimately acquire Fisher-Price on August 20, 1993. The Fisher-Price Corn Popper, and the Xylophone was released in 1957. Mattel started television advertisement when it became the first sponsor of the Mickey Mouse Club TV series. In 1950, the Magic 8-Ball, currently owned by Mattel themselves, was invented by Albert C. The company was incorporated in Hawthorne, California in 1948. In 1947, the company had its first successful toy, a ukulele called "Uke-A-Doodle". Matson sold his share and stake to the Handlers due to poor health the following year, with Handler's wife, Ruth, taking over his stake. ![]() The company began selling picture frames and later dollhouse furniture out of the scraps from those frames. The company name chosen is a portmanteau of the surname of Matson and first name of Elliot, with former chairman and CEO Bob Eckert revealing at a 2013 Christmas Day Peninsula Seniors lecture that the founders, according to Elliot, couldn't fit Ruth's name into that of their company. History Origins and early years īusinessman Harold "Matt" Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Elliot and Ruth Handler founded Mattel as Mattel Creations in January 1945 in a garage in Los Angeles. Two of its historic and most valuable brands, Barbie and Hot Wheels, were respectively named the top global toy property and the top-selling global toy of the year for 20 by The NPD Group, a global information research company. It is the world's second largest toy maker in terms of revenue, after The Lego Group. Mattel consists of three business segments: North America, International and American Girl. Mattel has a presence in 35 countries and territories its products are sold in more than 150 countries. ( / m ə ˈ t ɛ l/ mə- TEL) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth and Elliot Handler in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The Diecast Model Cars Group on Facebook (click here to visit) covers other lines like Dinky and Corgi in addition to Matchbox, but with over six thousand members, there’s a lot of information and knowledge there.Mattel, Inc. On Facebook, The Matchbox Cars Group allows for buying and selling of cars (click here to visit it), and gives a good look at the trends on pricing and demand. Online price guides are also available: a guide to vintage Lesney releases is available from the North Carolina Hot Wheels Association (click here). This should give a collector a better idea of value. To find a car’s real value, collect several results, throw out the top and bottom finishes, and average the remaining results. Online auctions can sometimes skew values, especially if collectors get into a bidding war. Checking recent completed auctions (this can be selected through the search options) provides a better idea of overall interest and demand. This is not always an indicator of interest many eBay auctions do not see bids until the final day of listing. There may be a dozen ongoing auctions for a particular Matchbox car, all with no (or very low) bids. It is important to search completed listings, not ongoing auctions. Three different variations of the original Lesney Matchbox #35 Snow Plow. Before accepting eBay results as the market rate for particular cars, however, there are several factors to take into account. ![]() With a quick search, a collector can probably find the going rate for most Matchbox cars. When it comes to collectibles, nothing tracks the rise and fall of current prices (as well as demand), like the internet. Online Auctions, Websites, and Social Media Mattel’s Matchbox cars have been extremely popular in America, and collectors rely on several sources to determine the value of their cars. The number of vehicles as increased substantially over the years, especially after the Mattel acquisition. Lesney originally released 75 vehicles in its initial line (shown below), with many variations released in subsequent years. Mattel eventually bought the company and continues to release cars under the Matchbox brand. The name “Matchbox” was used because, at the time, British schools only allowed students to bring toys small enough to fit in a matchbox. Matchbox cars officially first appeared in 1953, when Britain’s Lesney Products rebranded their already-existing line of miniature toy vehicles. With a number of collectors buying and selling Matchbox cars, finding values for them is an important part of the hobby. Matchbox cars, the classic miniature toys, have become worldwide collectibles since their creation in England in the 1940s.
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