c.1957 Chein, No. 260 Rocket Ride in Original Box
Extraordinary tin litho spring driven amusement park toy manufactured by Chein & Co. Named the "No. 260 Rocket Ride" the design concepts is similar to Chein's "No. 260 Ride-A-Rocket" toy (1952), but at half the size it's structurally closer to their "No. 265 Musical Mechanical Space Ride" (1958). In fact, the Space Ride toy and this toy use identical rockets, however the base, tower, and column lithography is unique. I know of no other Chein toy that has this lithography. It may have been produced between 1952 and 1958, or possibly it was a precursor to the larger Ride-A-Rocket since they were both assigned the same No. 260 catalog number. Regardless of when it was made, I couldn't find a single reference for it (and that includes Alan Jaffe's book on J. Chein & Co., Schiffer Publishing, 1997). Prior to finding this example I never knew it even existed. As anomalous as this toy is, it somehow survived with its original illustrated box. Rarely did Chein produce an illustrated box especially in color. Most are plain text printed on cardboard. This box is gorgeous with a drawing of the toy on every panel. Most important however, is the phenomenal condition of this toy. It looks fantastic and works beautifully. The box is solid, however it did require some restoration. Incredible as it seems I've found one other example of this toy with box. Noel Barrett's upcoming (2005) rare circus toy auction being held in early October includes the Rocket Ride as lot 619. The condition grade of the Barrett example, both toy and box, are not as good as the one offered in this auction. Size: 7½" diameter, 9½" height. Sold: Sep. 2005
Price Sold: $ 1095
