Henry & Henrietta Travelers Celluloid Wind-up Toy in Orig. Box Japan Circa 1934

Unsold See similar items $4,028.89 Buy It Now, 30-Day Returns, eBay Money Back Guarantee
Seller: Top-Rated Seller charactercarl ✉️ (5,422) 99.2%, Location: Warren, Vermont, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 332039027242 Henry & Henrietta Travelers Celluloid Wind-up Toy in Orig. Box Japan Circa 1934. SELLING A COLLECTION OF HENRY CELLULOID TOYS. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CHARACTER & HIS CREATOR & THE TOYS THAT FOLLOWED READ THE PARAGRAPHS THAT FOLLOW MY DESCRIPTION.  
 
FIRST, THE ITEM DESCRIPTION:   The largest of the Henry celluloid toys it is an impressive 7” to top of Henry's head & 5 1/4” across from the suitcase to the outer edge of Henrietta's hand. The wind-up mechanism is concealed inside the lithographed tin suitcase. The box calls the 2 kids “Travelers” but collectors always refered to the toy as Henry & Henrietta running away or eloping. They are after all children. The suitcase has labels for Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Chicago & more. The original box has the Carl Anderson copyright information & the toy manufacturer's trademark(CK inside a diamond) with information about the trademark being registered in Japan, U.S.A., England & India. Made in Tokyo, Japan. The same information is on the lithographed suitcase along with a copyright date 1934. The original box has been repaired & the bottom flap is a laser copy. The box interior has been reinforced. As repaired, the box is excellent, sturdy, square & firm. The celluloid figures are bright & clean with no dents, repairs or cracks. There is some loss of pink color in the back of Henrietta's dress at the top edge just below her hair. In the back of Henry's shirt is another toy company trademark – TT in a circle – as well as Made in Japan. The tin litho suitcase is excellent. Toy was lightly used if used at all. Please view all my other listings for a great selection of Henry celluloid toys from the 1930s. BUY IT NOW SALE ITEMS can be combined to save on shipping. You may write & inquire about amount to be saved.  
THE ARTIST/ CREATOR: Carl Thomas Anderson, very brief biography
HENRY was the creation of Carl Thomas Anderson, an artist born during the last year of the American Civil War – 1865. He was a very old man(67 years old) by the time he drew his first HENRY panel in 1932 which he sold to the Saturday Evening Post for $50. Prior to his success with HENRY Anderson had worked at various newspapers drawing comic strips & fashion illustrations plus freelancing selling illustrations to various magazines like Judge, Life & Puck. None of the work he did prior to HENRY brought him any great success or fortune. During this time he also offered a mail order course in cartooning for $2.98 from the Carl Anderson School, Madison, Wisc.
The first year of HENRY comic strip panels in the Saturday Evening Post did reach a large audience & brought Anderson the success he had never had. It also brought in fan mail. The panels were reprinted in other publication including in Europe where William Randolph Hearst saw one & immediately telegraphed his office to locate & sign Carl Anderson. His cable said simply “Get Henry.” Anderson had actually worked for Hearst many years earlier but now under the auspices of the King Features Syndicate(owned by Hearst) his HENRY comic strip was featured in 50 newspapers in the US, most in major markets. Anderson continued to work on HENRY for the next 14 years until his death in 1948 at the age of 83.

THE CHARACTER: Henry, an unusual child
HENRY was an unusual child made even more unusual by the fact that his artist creator never married & never had children. According to his biographer he 1st drew HENRY as a mail order course assignment in 1932, a course he was taking to try & get back into the business after a brief attempt as a cabinet making career. HENRY is drawn bald with an unusually large head with a very high forehead. He appears to be no more than 12 years old. While often thought of as mute, HENRY does speak but very sparingly. He is more often seen whistling. It would seem to always be summer time for Henry as he is almost always drawn wearing a T-shirt & shorts. Henrietta is his playmate. 

THE TOYS: Some random thoughts
King Features Syndicate owned the rights to many well known comic strip characters & was broadly engaged in licensing their stable of characters to toy & doll makers. 1934 was the year that HENRY toys 1st began appearing with the Geo. Borgfeldt Co. having acquired licensing rights from KFS. 1934 was a very big year for Borgfeldt as that year saw a wave of new toys, dolls & figurines in production featuring Popeye, Krazy Kat & Henry all exclusively distributed by Borgfeldt. 1934 is the copyright year that appears on some of the Henry toys & collectibles. The colors used in producing the celluloid toys reflected the colors used by Carl Anderson in drawing his characters. When looking at the toys & especially the toy boxes I get the sense that Anderson may have been involved in their design. 
I have always wondered why the Henry toys & collectibles from 1934 were produced exclusively in Japan while Popeye toys from the same year & sold thru the same distribution network were mostly produced in the US. Why were there no Henry tin toys by J. Chein? My guess is that tin toys were considerably more expensive to produce & Henry toys had to be sold at a much lower price point in order to sell enough to turn a profit. Of all the best known comic strip characters in the early to mid-1930s with a large line of toys Henry is the only one that was made exclusively in Japan & exclusively from celluloid. 
How many different Henry wind-up celluloid toys are there? I count 16 which includes size variation but not color variation & not box variation. I have never owned 3 of the 16 but I did have just one shot at buying them. Those 3 were only seen by me the one time which was also the case with the 3 Henry toys in my collection that are possibly unique. That is an unusually large percentage of toys(6 out of 16) that only showed up for sale once or possibly twice in 40 years of buying/selling/collecting.
Please view all my eBay sales for more great comic character celluloid toys & figures.
SECOND, THE IMPORTANT STUFF: *****************************IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ. YOU NEED ONLY READ THIS ONCE. THANK YOU.******************************

BUY IT NOW SALE ITEMS CAN BE COMBINED TO SAVE ON SHIPPING. YOU MAY WRITE TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE SAVINGS ON COMBINING SPECIFIC LOTS. I WILL NEED YOUR ZIPCODE OR SHIP TO COUNTRY.
PLEASE READ COMPLETE DESCRIPTION & VIEW ALL MY PHOTOGRAPHS AS THE PICTURES ARE CONSIDERED PART OF THE DESCRIPTION. PLEASE READ TERMS OF SALE & SHIPPING/HANDLING CHARGES. BUY IT NOW SALE ITEMS CAN BE COMBINED TO SAVE ON SHIPPING.
TERMS OF SALE: EVERYTHING SOLD “AS IS”. I WILL ACCEPT RETURNS IF THERE HAS BEEN A MATERIAL ERROR IN MY DESCRIPTION. YOUR COMPLETE SATISFACTION IS GUARANTEED. IMPORTANT - PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS BEFORE BIDDING & SALE ENDS. I OFFER THE STANDARD EBAY RETURN POLICY. MONEY BACK GUARANTEED. BUYER PAYS RETURN SHIPPING.
U.S. SHIPPING/HANDLING CHARGES: THIS LOT WILL SHIP PRIORITY MAIL WITH TRACKING & SIGNATURE CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.
INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING/HANDLING CHARGES:  PRIORITY MAIL INTERNATIONAL.  ALL PACKAGES SHIPPED WITHIN 24 HOURS OF PAYMENT. PLEASE DO NOT PAY UNTIL YOU RECEIVE MY INVOICE WHICH WILL BE THE ONLY INVOICE THAT WILL SHOW THE COMBINED SHIPPING CHARGES. IF YOU PAY BEFORE RECEIVING MY INVOICE YOU MAY NOT GET THE BENEFIT OF REDUCED SHIPPING CHARGES. MY INVOICE WILL CLEARLY STATE THAT YOU ARE RECEIVING THE COMBINED SHIPPING DISCOUNT.
  • Condition: Used
  • Year: 1934
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: Japan

PicClick Insights - Henry & Henrietta Travelers Celluloid Wind-up Toy in Orig. Box Japan Circa 1934 PicClick Exclusive

  •  Popularity - 0 watchers, 0.0 new watchers per day, 30 days for sale on eBay. 0 sold, 1 available.
  •  Best Price -
  •  Seller - 5,422+ items sold. 0.8% negative feedback. Top-Rated Plus! Top-Rated Seller, 30-day return policy, ships in 1 business day with tracking.

People Also Loved PicClick Exclusive