JohnA Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 My goal is not a HUGE collection of guns, just a choice few. Over time I hope to have a nice sampling of my favorite pieces from many of the space toy categories. I've only been at this for 3 months but I'm thrilled at my progress. I've managed to grab some pieces I wanted pretty early. The most recent was the Liquid Helium. That was not even on my list because I thought it would be too expensive and I didn't like it *that* much. I thought it was ok but it's really grown on me so I started to look around. I saw a box go off pretty cheap followed by a MINT gun less than a week later. For that price I'd make a run for it. So, a boxed one came up recently and it was a little more than where I wanted but in range of what I would pay. In fact, it literally closed at my TOP bid. A penny more and I would have lost. Luck was on my side. It's nowhere near the caliber of many collections I've seen here but I'm quite thrilled. Does anybody know anything about the small gold one? I think I saw on in Phil's collection. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratchet Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 I would say thats a Very Nice Start!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil R Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Nice start, John. If you check that gold cap gun it indicates Hong Kong on the left which should make it some where in the 1970s. On the opposite side it's marked ZEE International. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dratomic Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 A stellar beginning, John! (Pun definitely intended...) Three top-tier guns in their extremely rare boxes -- doesn't get much better than that! Just because it's not a large collection doesn't mean it's not impressive. There's definitely a long history of collections that put quality over quantity.The plastic one is from Hong Kong, as Phil said. It's basically a knock off of of a knock off of the Dan Dare cap gun. Came out in the Seventies (again, like Phil noted) and pops up quite a bit on eBay. I think -- though I could be wrong -- that it was also done in a sort of forest green color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinplate6 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 JohnA...geeze, you started your collection at the top :o , now where do you go? :huh: That's the best right there, the rest should be easy, it's all downhill now. :lol: Great stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted March 24, 2010 Author Share Posted March 24, 2010 If you check that gold cap gun it indicates Hong Kong on the left which should make it some where in the 1970s. On the opposite side it's marked ZEE International.Hey Phil, Thanx for the reply.1970's is good to know. It looked late 60's early/70's so I wasn't sure. Are all HK guns 70's then?I can't find the pic but it looked like yours has a silver tip. Do you know if they all came that way? Mine is just gold and doesn't look like anything fell off. Is yours painted silver or did some sort of cap fall off the tip of mine?All,Thanx for the kind words, guys. You guys all have some beautiful collections so it's nice to see positive words about my 4 lonely guns. :^)I've got a few more I'd like to get in time. I'd like boxed versions of XZ-31 and the Hubley Atomic Disintegrator for sure. Guns I've waffled over include the 2 Tyler picked up. The first was the Ideal Aqua Pilots gun. The gun is cool as hell and I love the box art but that box seems pretty rare so I guess I have plenty of time to decide if I'd like it. I also kind of like that little red one with the compass. I believe it was made by Reliable. A few other guns have caught my eye here and there but I'll need to wait until I have my display cabinet set up. I want to see what space looks like. Don't want to overcrowd. Since this is a side hobby I want everything to display well and tell a story and I don't have a lot of space to do that in. The rest of my room is full already. Overcrowding will only display poorly and ruin the message I want to convey.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dratomic Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 The Reliable water pistol shouldn't be too tough for you to pick up -- they come up every so often and usually don't go for too much. The trick is finding them with their compass, which often falls out. Like so many water pistols of the day, it came in a variety of colors (none particularly rarer than the rest, as far as I can tell). I've never seen a box for this one -- I'm assuming it was sold either loose, or in a multi-gun counter display box. Possibly a bag and header card, I guess, but again, I haven't seen one.The box for the Ideal gun has come up a few times -- I've seen it more often than I've seen the XZ-44 box, anyway. If you do some hunting and poke around in the right places, you could find one. It's not going to be easy, but then again, if you'd asked me a month ago whether it'd be easy for you to even find a boxed XZ-44 in good condition, I'd have said no. (Come to think of it, you did ask me. And I did say no. And look how that turned out!) With this hobby, you just never know... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler H Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 You definitely live by the quality collection rule John! Those guns are hot!!!!!! Prefect examples! Being one of the lucky few who have seen his other collection in person, I can tell you that when it comes to quality and display, John is right on top!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fineas J. Whoopie Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 That's the way to do it John!! As Robert Lesser used to say "mint in box, mint in box, mint in box." He also likes to say "collect the best and forget the rest." Or something like that. Anyway - great job! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toyboy Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 Outstanding start! - Great taste, too! Happy Collecting out there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted April 5, 2010 Author Share Posted April 5, 2010 Outstanding start! - Great taste, too! Happy Collecting out there!Thanx guys! I'm having a great time with this new hobby. :^)John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.