Any "old toy" experts out there?

[litefire56]

I have a chance to acquire this battery operated toy cowboy and was
wondering if anyone could date it? Possible value?

Thanks guys!

[acevillav]

It's a 1950's toy made in Japan. If it has it's original box it will be worth much more. I"m thinking @ $50-$75 bucks as a ball park figure. I'm working on researching the true value so it may be more or less than that...

[spartacus53]

I would agree it's a 50's toy and reminds me of Howdy Doody

[spartacus53]

I still think it's from the late 50's to early 60's I remember those kinds of "high tech" toys of that time. I tried to google Howdy Doodly with a gun and came up empty

[Breezie]

I would wait and see if Breezie can help you some on this one....

she is the resident "Toy Expert", especially boys western toys from 1940-1970 or so...

Spooky, thanks for your vote of confidence. I'm out of town, on a stupid slow laptop at a cyber cafe, and will be back home tonight (Saturday). As soon as I get settled in, I'll make a post. In the meantime, look on all of the tin portions. On a large percent of these tin lithographed BO toys is a company name and a copyright date. Be sure to carefully slide the materal back to see if it is printed under it, especially on the back of the neck area. Right off the top of my head, I'd say is is made my Chein (made in Japan, which is a GOOD thing,) but will post when I'm back on my 'real' computer instead of this dinosaur! Breezie

[Breezie]

I checked in my O'Brien's Toy editions and could not find your 'cowboy,' which is neither good nor bad because every toy made can't be listed. If I'm able to locate it in some of my other books, I'll make a post. Hopefully you will be able to find some marking on the tin.

From my experience, this is my opinion: I think this battery operated tin lithograph shooting/walking cowboy was made in Japan during the late 1950's to early 1960's or in the USA by Marx. Japan was the leading country for tin litho toys during that time, which started out as wind-ups then advancing to battery ops. The very early ones were all litho tin, then later cloth, fur, plastic, etc. were added. The Louis Marx Toy Co. (1919-1978) from the USA also made quality tin litho toys. There logo is MAR with an X in through the middle, so you might want to look on your cowboy for that mark. I feel 90% sure your cowboy is marked somewhere. As far as value, as you know there's a difference between value and sale price. I think advertised correctly and photographed properly, this cowboy (depending on working condition and general condition) would sell for $85.00+ on ebay 'if' listed at the right time. People generally buy alot of this type of toys between late September to early-mid November as Christmas gifts for collectors.

Hopefully I've helped somewhat. Breezie