Finally, An Elusive Rushton Found!

    Since the frenzy of Mary Rushton plushies began in the early 2017 because of a resurgence of collectors following a particular singer. Seeking Rushtons these days are not as crazy for many collectors anymore. 

In fact, even for myself. I've long sold off most of my rare Rushtons and have only held onto a small few. But, recently, a Rushton I had thought was never in reach for me, finally popped up on an auction site! 

google photo of Blue Rushton Crying Bear.

 

IG Cry bear that sold.

A quick prelude, back in 2018, I found a post on IG that had a blue bear up for grabs! Sadly, someone had already claimed him! Darn. I have seen one sold fast on a Japan site as well one on ebay. I guess at the time I was just not going to acquire one and I told myself long ago, that it is, what it is... Haha! Fast forward to now...

Even the price was quite a shock! But considering it will need a lot of TLC! So I used BIN and I knew he would take a month to get to me. I finally got my hands on the elusive Blue Crying Musical Animated Rushton Bear!! When he finally arrived, I began to work on him when I wasn't babysitting my grandson. Haha! He quietly sat on my computer desk waiting. 

Poor baby, missing most of his fur, this little bear has the arm mechanism sticking straight out from his palm! I was surprised to find he still had his hanky!! Practically shredded though, and his music box key didn't wind up at all and was frozen. Most of his face paint had faded as well, and he has a few holes at the back side. He was definitely well loved and according to the seller, she found him at an estate sale. She wanted to have him restored but just never got around to it. Until I adopted him...

A positive is that he still had his original Rushton Tag! Yippee! I began with his face first and cleaned him up. While he sat a few days at my computer desk. I was trying to decide if I will use his old fur to use as a pattern to cut out from new fur and give him a new plush body? But in the end I decided to wash him first and see what he'd look like afterwards and go from there.

I began to remove all his stuffing and placed them into a bag for later. I took out his music box and began with washing him first. It took two soakings to get most of the dirt and grime off him. While he was air drying, I began to work on his music box. The music box was made of wood and tin metal. I took apart the main box. The mechanical arm stuck out of the main music box as shown below. Sadly, I forgot to take photos of me working on the innards of the music box. Ugh. The music box is made in Switzerland, and it says that it plays "Frere Jacques". 

After taking apart the music box, I began to wipe off the excess dust and stuffing particles that were caked onto to the gears and mechanics of the music box. I used alcohol wipes and than started to oil the gears up with baby oil or mineral oil. I tried to see if I could get the key turning, but no dice. Darn!! 

So than I started playing with the part that looks like a propeller or fan, and started to use my flat screwdriver to move the gear close to it and sure enough the fan started to rotate a bit! Could this be helpful?! I didn't know, but it was worth a try. As I pushed onto the roller with the musical note picks or at least tried too, it made a sound!! I was thrilled! I must be doing something right! Haha!

I worked on the gears about thirty minutes or so and slowly, the gears began to move a bit at a time. Sadly, the gears where the key was didn't budge! Ugh! No matter what I did. So I decided, if I couldn't get it to work, it was okay. At least, I had tried. I decided to pour some more oil inside the mechanism for the key. Then, I let it set. Whilst I watched Tron Ares with my family.

After the movie was over, I went back to the music box. So perhaps about an hour had past. I tried to turn the key once more... Sure enough it moved! Yay!! I began to wipe off the excess oil and clean up where I could. Now, when I turned the key the gears slowly but surely started to move. It was playing a little bit better, but still not smoothly.

I just let it set for the night and allowed the bear to continue air drying. By the next morning, the music box played and the bear was dry! Yippee!! It was a success and even the mechanical arm still moved! What?! Yup!! I was so happy. Now, I just needed to re-stuff him and do his face paint. Will I make him a new body or not?

To Be Continued... Part Deux here!

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls

Rare Rushton Blue Bear Restored!!!

 

@ggsdolls_vtg 🎀🐻🩵 #maryrushton #rushtontoys #ggsdolls #restorations #commission #rushton #bear #rare ♬ 오리지널 사운드 - M2

Rare Mama Rushton Bunny Found!!

@ggsdolls_vtg Rare Mary Rushton Find…😱💘#ggsdolls_vtg #ggsdolls #maryrushton #bunny #vintagerubberface #kitsch #commissioned #restoration ♬ original sound - Gigi

 

Oh my goodness, when it rains it pours!! I was commissioned to find this amazing rare sleepy Mama bunny by Mary Rushton. Here is a catalog pic of her below. 

She was found recently and just needed a bit of a clean up and also removal of pink highlights on her eyelids, that perhaps was done by previous owner or I am told a type of mold that happens by a fellow restorationist. So, that part is what took me long to take care of as I used a method that is a slow process to remove markings. 

It took me about 2 weeks and at first, I thought it was not going to work. But whew after a week it did. Still very slight, but most of the pink marking is gone, Yay! I touched up her nose, added a bit of blush and a bow and now she is ready to go to her Daddy. She is definitely one of my ISOs. Ahhh someday!

She stands about 30 inches long and generally her paws are touching and held a baby bunny. She has felt feet and wires in her ears. Just love her so much and to be able to enjoy her for a bit is definitely a dream for sure! Also some quick finds recently, this adorable aqua lace and ruffled Valentine's chocolate box. Oh my goodness, truly gorgeous for its age. I will definitely be using these for Valentine's decor photos!!

I also got these adorable ceramic kitty pen holder vase above and this MCM wooden kitty pen decor below. Both have already been added to my shop! Just too cute! Yes, I did! I bought another Cookiegirls pillow and this time a girl hanger. Doesn't she remind you of anyone? How about Cindy Brady of the Brady Bunch!! She's so cute and currently on my wall with a cute vintage child coat!! I just love her cute face with big eyes!!

You can see my chocolates box and the pillow by Cookiegirls. I couldn't resist getting another pillow!! Last for today, is this adorable vintage Mary Poppins' charm bracelet, in decent condition with pink and blue coloring. Sadly, its chipping away, but still just adorable. I love the little Mary, umbrella and her suitcase too!

I hope you all have a great rest of your week! Happy Finds!

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls

Rare Blue Mini Chubby Tubby Cherub Cub!!

 Oh my gawd guys!! He's here!! Just look at this freakin' chubby cutie pie!!

@ggsdolls_vtg Omg 😱 my rare mini blue Rushton Chubby Cherub is here!! 👼🏻🧸💙💛💙💛 He’s so little! Only 9.5 inches tall. 💖😍✨ #ggsdolls_vtg #ggsdolls #mycollection #maryrushton #rushton #vintageplush #vintagerubberface #kitsch #kitschycute #nfs ♬ Sky Aesthetic - Tollan Kim

 I gifted myself this cutie that popped up on the fave site for finding vintage plushies, and when he listed, it took only one second, to know, what I was seeing and that I needed him in my life!! If you recall my post here about Chubby Tubbies from a 50s ad, and here about the Chubby Tubby I restored. Last, my ultimate love this small white Chubster here! I have been wanting a blue chubby cherub since seeing the ad! But, to have one in person is a whole nother' level guys!! I'm shaking with excitement here!!

This adorable Chubby Cherub is the mini version standing at only 9.5 inches tall!! What?! Yup, he's even smaller than my white Chubby! In the standing position, this Cub, has rubber wings and vinyl paws and feet. He came with his original bow as well. To find one is next to none these days!! So I'm just thrilled he is mine! Squee!

Above and below the blue version in the advertisement.

Just look at his chubby behind, and in a lovely blue color too! Sadly, he no longer has his tag, but that doesn't take away from his rarity. Many of us know how hard it is to be able to afford a Rushton these days and to find a Rushton like this one and not in the thousands?!! What no way dude?! Was definitely a blessing in disguise! My Christmas is complete with him in it for sure!

Here he is with my white Chubby. Sadly, he does have a darker face, but who cares! I will get to enjoy him for a long time or at least until I am ready to let him move on and be enjoyed by someone else...

I hope your Christmas dreams come true this Christmas... Sending positive vibes out there to all of you!

Thank you for stopping by! ~ ggsdolls

To Restore or Not To Restore, That is the Question?

 

Restoring vintage items can be a labor of love, but sometimes from my recent experiences, not all things need or must be restored. I was inspired to write this post to share this one bad experience, that I have had. Special thanks to KewtKitsch and OldSoulVintage for encouraging me too. They both had discussed with me about their thoughts on restorations. So my hope is that this post will give you some 'food for thought' when deciding whether or not you need to restore something that is vintage... 

Now, if you are thinking about restoring anything, first decide whether this is for yourself? 2nd is it to be resold or 3rd is it for a customer? Because if you are restoring something for yourself, than if there is a mistake, it is okay and it is not something that will hurt another person. If you are restoring something to be resold, please make sure you are honest and share that in the description of your item, because it is only fair to the buyer that will be purchasing the item. Now if it is the latter, than extreme precaution should be taken to make the customer understand fully what you will be doing and how you will go about doing this to restore their vintage item. 

The photo above, is an adorable sleepy kitty I was given the opportunity to trade for from a dear friend, post here. She was honest with me in that the kitty had issues like plastic degradation on the face, and the body needed cleaning and some patches were needing to be resewn along with some fur loss. So since she was to be mine, I took into consideration, what I was up against and how I was going to get her looking decent again. I tried washing her first. I removed the sponge stuffing inside her and after being washed, much of her original fur came off from age. Ugh. Even with handwashing, the fur can be so delicate, it still slowly came off. So, I tried making her a new body, post here. 

Which was nice, but she was not how I expected her to be in pink. So I decided after a month to put her original body back on her. It was difficult because her original fur was still coming off, and even as I began to sew the parts back together. Why was it still falling apart? Well sadly, the orange sponge that these types of plushies have are basically were like the glue that held most of the fur in place. I also had a hard time putting her ears back into the proper placement and I had her arms sewn too low on the body. I think I had resewn her like 3 time by now! Darn it! In the end, this is the way she turned out in photo above. I felt gutted, angry at myself for even trying and even more upset for making it worse in my eyes. Sleepy kitty's face was repainted and fine, but her body was as if she had been starved to death, even with added cotton stuffing. UGH!!!

A LESSON LEARNED. Period. Sometimes not all restoration are good ones no matter how hard you may try to fix the issues. Take it from me, sometimes it is okay for a plush to look vintage, because it is.

I also wanted to add, that I've been saddened by some 'so-called' restorations that are happening in numbers by collectors as of late, mostly because they want to think of themselves as being experts or perhaps just to make a video. It takes research, experience, and understanding of what you are dealing with to even begin to try to restore something. Even a seasoned collector like myself, is still learning. 

Friends, when making a video and calling it a restoration when it really isn't one can be damaging to those who may watch it and get the wrong impression. Especially if you are going to share with others that you are using any kind of soap. People will get the sense that any kind of soap is okay to use, not realizing that soaps with perfumes may damage the plush or vintage rubber further. Also, sometimes not all original stuffing is bad. Some are still perfectly good, and tossing them out isn't restoring, but rather being wasteful. These are things that I've learned the past few years myself. Another example is that there are seams on the back side of a plush, and you could use a seam ripper to open the fur up without having to use a scissors to cut a new hole. These are just some things to note.

Well, thank you for reading. I hope that sharing my learning experience with even a rare plush may teach you something. I'd rather you know about it now, than to ruin your vintage plush in the future...

Thank you for listening! ~ ggsdolls

Rushton Wall Mount!

 Late May, I was doing my usual searches and I came across a plush wall mount, that looked familiar. As I searched my scans of an old Rushton catalog, here's what I discovered...

This lovely vintage plush wall mount of a tiger, is actually a Rushton Plush Trophy mount!! In the scan of the catalog, it only showcases a black bear, a polar bear, and a tiger. But looking closely of the jawline and mouth of this tiger I found on ebay. It is exactly the same. The stamp on the backside unfortunately is unreadable. But, I am definitely convinced it is a Rushton.

You can see below, the scan, same type shape of the wood for the mound, and use of glass eyes along with rubber mouth. Because I shared it on Tiktok and IG, a few fellow collectors learned that they own a black panther, and tiger trophy as well!! LOL Glad I could be of help guys! They do show up often, one just has to keep a look out! Mine is displayed on my bedroom wall. He's definitely unique!

I've also been obsessed lately with finding vintage rattle dolls and the like... I just love their hand painted features, cuteness, and that they still exist! I found a lot below and started to fix them. The clown large rattle doll is already listed in my shop. The little small ones too and one has already sold. I finished restringing the kitty one. Which was quite a challenge, but I figured a way to do it. I touched up his face and now he's just adorable!

I also repainted this Plakie rattle and added a blue satin bow. The rattle doll below that had some nail polish on him, and he needed restringing as well. Here he is before and after. He is a lot smaller than the ones I generally find and so cute too! I will be keeping him.

I hope June is going well for you! Take care and happy collecting!

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls

Wishes Come True Twice in One Year!!

 If you recall my post here, I was gifted an ISO by my husband. Well... I had sold a few rare vtg Rushtons to some close collector friends and saved up the funds for a moment like this!!! I made the investment and got another vtg Rushton in light pink Happy Bear!!! My first choice was always a light pink version in the large size. But, for months there wasn't any being listed. In the past, month one was, and I was thrilled to know I could possibly own one I actually wanted. So, I did! Yippee!!

This adorable version arrived to me actually on Monday, but even though I lined up at the counter, at USPS, and had the slip to pick him up... He actually wasn't at the facility yet. The guy even chucked at me, saying you have to wait 24 hours after getting a pink slip to come up and get it. I was like, well it was worth the try! Because sometimes, when I go to the counter to pick up a box, they give me the box that a slip was just given that day. So, obviously, it depended more so on the persons who bring the boxes to Hagatna from the Main Facility in Barrigada. Oh well. So, I went home empty handed. But no worries, my hubby worked that night and was able to pick him up from the PO after work. I just had to be patient a few more hours. Haha!

The box arrived without any issues and when I opened it up, first is the note you see. The seller was very sweet. He said the bear was his mother's and that she had passed away a few years ago. So he was finally going through her belongings to sell. This was her original Happy Bear from the 50s along with a few others. Then, he also shared that he used to live on Guam in the 90s!! I was like oh my goodness, truly a small world indeed! Thomas, was very kind and I was happy to own his Mother's treasured bear. The stars could not have aligned any more so, for me to own this baby. Inside, the box was another box and tucked away underneath white tissue paper and in a clear bag, was this lovely pink and white bundle of joy!! Upon immediate inspection, this bear was immaculate. The photos did not do it justice, seriously! This bear was in almost perfect condition. Thomas did share that one side of the bear was lighter then the other, but, it was "Bearly", Haha, (Pun inserted) noticeable!!

This is the pic I took of the bear prior to a wash. His fur was just needing a bit of freshening up. Afterwards, just drying and the next morning. I brushed him out and wiped his face down with magic eraser, and TADA!! His fur is full and fluffy, his face paint is just amazing, there are a few tiny spots and perhaps a bit of imperfections from the manufacturer. But, he is gorgeous!! Nicely stuffed and oh my gosh!! Squeeeee!!!

Here he is with my first Happy Bear. I can't keep both, so be on the look out for a post via IG or my Etsy shop when I do list the Hot Pink one. I might take a bunch of pics before letting my hot pink Happy Bear go?! LOL

Feeling blessed. Have a great rest of your week!

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls

Lady Prince by Iwai Co.

 Continued from my last post, here. I decided to contact, Hello Iwai, a fellow collector, from Instagram, about these Twiggy style dolls. That was Sunday, of course, it was the weekend, so the response was, that he would check their catalog and get back to me on Monday. Little did I know, I was DMing the CEO of Iwai Industrial Co. Ltd. in Japan. Oh my! Mr. Hideyasu Iwai, III, is the grandson of the creator and former CEO of Iwai Co.! He shared with me that his father took over the company at the time and now him. His father/Eddie is photographed with their most popular doll, "Hi Hi" on their Instagram page. For further information their main website for Iwai Co. Ltd. or you can also click for the English site here.

I was star struck for the moment, and had to remind myself, to be humble and show respect. Mr. Iwai was very kind and shared with me on Monday, a catalog picture of the very doll, I had shown him Sunday.

He said that my dolls were in fact, real Iwai products and that these were the dolls produced and release back in 1972. From google's translation, It says, "Ladies Fashion - Lady Prince! Ladies Fashion is a refreshing friend." Due to release in May of that year. Oh my it was just amazing and to have the information of the dolls I have admired since seeing the first one back, in 2015!! The catalog ad continues on with, "Three styles created, "Gaucho", "Midi", and "Pantalon". At the time, Gaucho's were very popular in the early 1970s, these were short pants that were originally worn by Horsemen from South America, but they became a popular style for women in the 1970's - Wikipedia/Pinterest. So, my girls Amy and Twiggy have that style, made in two colors. "Midi" style were dresses or skirts that stopped at the mid-calf, also called, "Longuettes"- Wikipedia/Pinterest . This fashion is worn on the doll, I do not own in my collection, also in two colors. Last, is "Pantalon" I think it meant, "Flared Pants" style, also known as "Bell-Bottoms"- Wikipedia/Pinterest, and that is what Cynthia and Marsha from my collection are wearing. I grew up wearing these as a child of the 70s!

Quite unique how Iwai Co. choose to use the latest fashion trends of the day! Because, I'm sure those who owned a Lady Prince, were into the stylish look and probably displayed the dolls in their homes. They probably greeted you at the door on a side counter in a shop or perhaps were decorative on the work desk at the reception, of an office or restaurant... How exciting to imagine! They were only 600yen about $6 at the time.

I truly appreciate Mr. Iwai's help and giving me the information I needed on these amazing dolls. Now, to just find the gals in the Midi dresses, and my collection will be complete! The Iwai co. has many other dolls and products that are equally desired, visit their website! The ones we collectors see often are, "The Moodies" and they are also made by Iwai Co.!!

Until next time, Cynthia, Marcia, Amy and Twiggy bid you farewell/sayonara!!

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls