Description: The Buzzy Bee is a popular toy in New Zealand. It resembles a bee with rotating wings that move and make a clicking noise while the toy is pulled along the ground. Possibly based on an earlier American concept, it was designed and first produced in Newton, Auckland in the 1930s, by Maurice SchlesingerThe Buzzy Bee has become a classic toy that many New Zealand children have growing up. It is considered to be an icon of kiwi identity and it has featured in museums, on postage stamps, in books, paintings, posters, songs and in a television showFREE SHIPPING IN THE UNITED STATES ONLY!!!!The History of Buzzy Bee™The Buzzy Bee™ is New Zealand's most famous children's toy.This brightly coloured, wooden pull-along toy has been handed down from generation to generation and is now regarded as a major New Zealand icon. There would be few New Zealanders that don't remember playing with this charming little toy in their youth. The exact origins of Buzzy Bee remain a little unclear and several versions of its history exist. Our best research thus far finds the origination of the toy in the very late 1930's in a small workshop in St Benedicts Street in Newton, Auckland. Toy and wood craftsman Maurice Schlesinger, via his company Playcraft Products fashioned the very first Buzzy Bee, which is similar in most respects to the Buzzy Bee children enjoy today. Mr. Schlesinger used a local tradesman in Erin Street in Epsom who had a wood lathe to turn the bodies and acquired the lead free paint from a paint shop at the top of Aye Street in Parnell. He sold his Buzzy Bee (and Mary Lou dolls) to Stan Challenor of C L Stevensons located in Anzac Avenue who in turn sold them to lots of small retailers and shops throughout New Zealand. In the early 1940's Mr. Schlesinger became very ill with spinal meningitis and was forced to close his workshop. However such was the appeal of the Buzzy Bee as a toy that Hec Ramsey, a traveling sales man who was an agent for C L Stevensons took the Buzzy Bee to his brother's wood turning business in New Lynn. There Buzzy Bee™, Mary Lou™ and many of the other famous toys flourished including Oscar Ostrich™, Dorable Duck™, Trikey Tom™, Driver Don™, Elle-Gator™, Peter Pup™, Katie Caterpiller™, Kris Cricket™ and Richard Rabbit™, to name a few. The postwar baby boom and import restrictions saw yearly sales of Buzzy Bee™ increase rapidly. However following a fire at the New Lynn factory in the late 1970's, the Buzzy Bee™ operation was sold into a number of different hands before the trade mark and device was sold to Lion Rock Ventures Limited, its current owner in 2004.GREAT ITEM FOR ANY BABY'S NURSERYLARGE HUGGABLE PLUSH DOLL FIGURECUTE RED NOSEBUMBLE BEE WITH HANDS LEGSRARE VINTAGE LARGE PLUSH DOLL FIGUREWINGED BUMBLE BEE FASHION PILLOW100% POLYESTER FIBERSVisit My eBay Store: KATHY'S BARGAIN SPECIALSDAN
Price: 42 USD
Location: White Oak, North Carolina
End Time: 2024-08-11T01:42:52.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
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Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Color: Yellow
Brand: FASHION PILLOW
Size: 15"
Animal: BUMBLE BEE
Features: SPOT CLEAN ONLY
Character Family: BUMBLE BEE
