ENEMIES: Imposters – others who claim they are the real Steve Austin

EMPLOYER: NASA, INTERPOL, the CIA and the Defense Department

This board game came out in 1975 and was made by Parker Brothers.
It was one of the many licensed products based on the popular 1970s TV show.

Steve Austin game piece

Kovel's July 2010 newsletter

My last post featured a Pullman Train brochure.
Let’s stick with the transportation theme, but switch to toy boats!

These photos are from the July 2010 issue of the KOVELS newsletter.
(I recommend subscribing to it if you don’t already.)

These toy boats were auctioned in May at the Noel Barrett Antiques and Auction house.

Pac-man‘s a fun and easy game to play.
But, believe it or not there’s a strategy to play it.
So keep these in mind next time you head to the arcade :

1 – Your only aim is to eat all the dots (it moves you to a higher level)

2 – Eat the red (Blinky) and pink (Pinky) ghost first — the red one takes the shortest route to get to you quickest; the pink one knows where you’re heading.

3 – Try to eat the fruit for bonuses, but remember your ultimate goal is to eat the dots

4 – If a ghost is behind you, stop eating dots (Pac-man moves slower when eating) and go down a clear alley

5 – Eat the blinking white power pellets in an emergency (if a ghost is on your tail), but try to save them ’til the very end.

So go and grab a joystick OR play the game online by clicking HERE!

‘Tis the season for shopping! Here are two toy catalogs from the mid-1960s. This was back in the day when mom and pop hardware stores sold toys and handed out catalogs. Perhaps the most sophisticated toy in 1965 was the Easy Bake Oven!

Here’s a 1966 Toy Catalog from a hardware store in southern New Hampshire.
G.I. Joes were big sellers that year. The male doll had been introduced two years earlier.

His love of toys not only consumed his personal life, but his professional life as well. Mr. Kaufman was vice president of the KB Toys store chain. He retired from that job in 1981, but his hobby for collecting toys never stopped.

This past spring Kaufman decided to auction off his antique toys. The first lot of 1,500 toys brought in more than $4 million dollars. In September, another lot took in $3 million. Bertoia Auctions in Vineland, New Jersey is handling the sale of Kaufman’s collection. All the photos in this post are from the two auction catalogues.

Sadly, Donald Kaufman won’t be able to reap the benefits from the next three lots on the auction block, but afterall the whole point of collecting is to collect what you enjoy. Mr. Kaufman certainly heeded that advice.
RIP Donald Kaufman