Edison, Italy. Nice range of toys

[grwebster]

Edison made a nice range of aircraft toys in the 1960s {dates uncertain}. Here is one of the nicest in my opinon.

Some of the planes in this series lived on when far east versions arrived in the USA under the guise of Christmas tree ornaments, and the like.

[grwebster]

Here are some others in the series



The info sheets supplied with each model also showed a depiction of an orange/red and black striped Grumman Gulfhawk {basically a civilian variant of the Grumman F3F built for Gulf Oil. Gulf used several Grumman biplanes from 1932 until the start of WW II for advertising and business use}. This toy, however, was not issued by Edison before the the series was suspended.
Recently what appear to be the original Edison castings have been found in fictitious markings like this one below. It is a nice addition to the original series for the collector. Note the cast-in embossed 'starburst' design on the top of the wing and the horizontal stabilizer. This reflected the actual design on the Gulfhawk and would have been highlighted in black on the Edison toy.

[Tone]

Some Close-ups of the few I have,

Aviatik,



Hansa B2,



Nieuport,



Balilla

[pendulum19]

Those are cute boxes!

[richardstarr]

Thanks very much for sharing these beautiful EDISON GIOCATOLLI Italian
biplanes. These are absolutely beautiful,
especially with their original boxes. I really like the shiny colours.
They are in perfect 72nd scale. These are fantastic biplanes.

I have been able to get some of the Boley reissues of several years ago.
I was able to get some of the TARGET CHRISTMAS issues of roughly twelve
years ago. Also have been able to acquire some via EBAY. Regards, Richard

[Tone]

Hey Rick

Even though the Boley re-issues might benefit from razzle-dazzle, new technology tampo printing, I prefer the finishes on the few Edisons I have to the more recent ones ... Also I have a couple Pyranglo Toy Way planes that a British fellow sent me in the 90s (not available in US stores) - these toy models are closer to the original Edisons than are the Boleys, but the Edisons are still the best of the bunch!

[MichaelB]

The Boley pieces show a degree of "simplification" in their execution compared to the originals. They are still nice, and their appeal as an "oddity" cannot be denied. Here's the back of a Boley card. They currently do not show on the Boley website, and my notes show I got mine back in February of 2003.

[grwebster]

Michael and I talked about this line yesterday on the phone {first time we have spoken live in 12 years!!!} and he proved the importance of keeping the original packaging forever for blister packs, which he posted above.
Boley did not reuse the tooling for the MACCHI CASTOLDI M C 72, a beautiful, red float plane racer. Perhaps it was too complex or had been damaged.
I have two Edison Gift sets which I will show soon.

[grwebster]

Michael
Here are the non-Edison toys I have

the one on the left is a USA find, distributed as a Christmas tree ornament with attached string, see reverse for info.

The other two were found in France and there is nothing on the back side.

[grwebster]

I believe only two sets were issued, but who knows for sure? I have never seen any others.