For sale is a 1950s TIN METAL AIRMAIL MAIL BOX BANK from the Ohio Art Company. Ohio. This colorful red, white, and blue mailbox is in great condition. The bank still has its bottom plug to access the bank. The mailbox toy bank features a mailman with a bizarre red skin complexion and a chart that compares daily saving rates to the corresponding yearly total. The bank stands about 5 3/4 inches tall. A great collectible toy bank.
In 1908, in Archbold, Ohio, Henry Winzeler started the Ohio Art Company because of his profound interest in art and its location. Winzeler began making metal picture frames and various other novelty items. In 1912, the company moved to Bryan, Ohio where it became even more successful with its Cupid Awake/Cupid Asleep picture frames. In 1917, the Ohio Art Company began manufacturing toys such as the windmills and the climbing monkey.
After World War I, the toy company grew exponentially, leading to the introduction of colorful tea sets and drums. In the late 1950s, a French electrician named André Cassagnes created a drawing toy that used a joystick, glass and aluminum powder. The “Telecran” gave users the ability to draw a picture and then erase it. This iconic toy was renamed the “Etch A Sketch” and is the same one used today. In 1995, the Etch A Sketch toy was featured in the original Toy Story, in a scene where one performs a “quick draw” duel with Woody. This short 12 second feature was enough to give a significant sales boost, requiring the company’s production line to work overtime to meet demand.
By 1999, the company had again fallen into severe financial where the solvency of the company was in question. However, the company recovered due to sales bump from Toy Story 2 which featured an Etch A Sketch being used to present sketches related to the investigation of Woody’s kidnapping. This 45 second scene was much longer than the Etch a Sketch scene in the original movie. The exposure from the second Pixar movie boosted sales of the toy by 20 percent and ensured the survival of the company.
