When toys were made of tin
Jitipong Salathan pops a battery into a 50-year-old Pinocchio and he can still play the xylophone
BROWSING THROUGH the night market at the Chatuchak Green community mall should always include a visit to Tin Toys and Turn, a little stall run by collector Jitipong Salathan, one of the vendors who moved over from the old Rod Fai Market. His old-fashioned tin toys, vintage cameras and gramophone records invariably evoke nostalgia and a lot of good memories.
Jitipong, a technician at Channel 7, has amassed more than 20 American and German cameras from the 1950s and ’60s. The vintage toys – snapped up locally or on eBay – go all the way back to the ’30s.
“I love the complicated technology of the old cameras,” he says. “The ones I have are in various designs and materials and can create some pretty unique effects on film, Most of them have fixed focus, a big flash and even a plastic lens.”
He picked up his first tin toy – a train engine – seven years ago. “Then I started buying die-cast models cars and other lovely tin toys online, at the Klong Thom Market and from friends.”
Jitipong delved into the history of the toys and discovered they originated in Germany in the 1950s. They’re made of thin steel or plated tin and are hand-painted, meaning they’re cheaper and also more durable than wooden toys.
Louis Marx Co dominated the market from the 1920s to the ’60s, issuing hundreds of tin toys, but for the most part the manufacturing shifted to Japan after World War II.
Jitipong ran into the inevitable problem earlier this year – his collection had become too big for his house. So he opened a shop at the Rod Fai Night Market before relocating to Chatuchak Green last month.
His renovated premises are jammed with wooden showcases and shelves, which are in turn overflowing with excellent items. Check out the metal table-football game, and the battery-operated Rosko Pinocchio from the 1960s that plays the xylophone. There’s a model Highway Patrol Motorcycle that’s much more modern but still very cool.
How about a Super Apollo Space Capsule, made in 1986, with a nosecone that lights up, or a Super Astronaut robot from 1962 that shoots laser guns? Another toy, Shutterbug, is a little lad that runs on batteries to walk, turn his head and lift his camera to grab a snap.
But, speaking of cameras, one corner of the stall has an Argus 75, an Asahi Pentax, a Ford Sporti 4, a Bull’s Eye and a Kodak Starmeter, and they’re all in good condition. The shelves of vinyl records are quite interesting too, with names popping out like Suthep Wongkhamhaeng, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, Chatree and Pleonphromdan.
MEMORY LANE
>>Tin Toys and Turn is in the Chatuchak Green Market and open from 5pm to midnight Friday through Sunday.
n Find out more at (084) 321 7799 and www.Facebook.com/TinToyThailand.
