Unique Art Mfg. Co. Tin Lithographed Windup “Rodeo Joe” *SOLD*

Rodeo Joe by Unique Art For Sale

Our iconic Unique Art toy is a beautiful and glossy tin windup.  The driver has a Texas sized look with cowboy hat and boots.  The jeep is colorfully decorated with cowboy scenes and a lasso spelling out “Rodeo Joe”.

The tin is in very good if not excellent used condition with very light use as shown.  It works well.

Unique Art Mfg. Co. Newark, New Jersey
Unique Art Manufacturing Company was an American toy company, founded in 1916, based in Newark, New Jersey that made inexpensive toys, including wind-up mechanical toys, out of lithographed tin. One of its early products was a wind-up toy featuring two tin boxers.

The company scored a hit in the 1940s when it acquired the rights to a popular comic strip and released the Li’l Abner Dogpatch Band for Christmas 1945. The windup toy featured Abner dancing, Pappy on drums, Mammy with a drum stick, and Daisy Mae playing piano. Unique followed with a Howdy Doody band several years later.

Unique’s president, Sammy Bergman, was a good friend of toy magnate Louis Marx, and the two men’s companies at times cooperated, with Marx providing tooling to Unique and sometimes acting as a distributor for Unique’s products.

Specialty: Comic/character tin mechanicals, including “Li`l Abner Dogpatch Band” and “Gertie, The Galloping Goose” 1940s.