Owl & Twig

The Field Guide

How to identify, date, and value the things you find. Written from what passes through our hands, one estate sale at a time.

Doorway into the Owl and Twig Vintage booth at The Rabbit Hole in Waterford, Michigan, under a hand-painted owl sign FeaturedSeller's Desk Find us in Waterford: our new booth at The Rabbit Hole The Rabbit Hole in Waterford Township is doubling its floor space and adding 23 new vendors, and Owl & Twig is on the lineup. Booth pieces are sold in the store only. Reopens September... September 16, 2026
ToysThe Square Box on the Bottom Shelf: How to Find Board Games Worth Money at the Thrift Store How to spot hobby games, bookshelf games and Dungeons & Dragons boxes on a thrift-store shelf, and what... Oct 1, 2026 Loose neodymium rare-earth sphere magnets of the same size and type sold as Buckyballs and its many successors ToysBuckyballs: the toy a federal court un-banned, and the rule that banned it again Buckyballs was recalled in 2010, hit with a federal hazard complaint and an unprecedented personal-liability case against its... Oct 1, 2026 ToysAqua Dots and Bindeez: the recall that proved the urban legend true By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · September 30, 2026 A children's craft toy that turns... Sep 30, 2026 ToysMuscle Men Page 538 of the 1986 Sears Wish Book sold 28 M.U.S.C.L.E. wrestlers for $6.99, a quarter apiece, a... Sep 29, 2026 ToysThe Battlestar Galactica missile toy: illegal to resell, for a different reason than you've heard By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · September 30, 2026 A four-year-old's death in December 1978... Sep 29, 2026 The box for a vintage Austin Magic Pistol, showing its raygun graphic and PATENT PENDING mark ToysThe Austin Magic Pistol: illegal to sell in Virginia since 1950 By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · September 29, 2026 Every other case in this series... Sep 29, 2026 Green Monstor vending machine shell with red eyes and yellow fangs ToysThe Monstor, the Vendor and the Vendora: A Field Guide to 1988's Candy-Machine Monsters The green fanged Monstor, the silver Vendor robot and the red Vendora genie fronted bulk candy machines around... Sep 26, 2026 Vampire bat, color plate 46 from Frank Finn's The Wild Beasts of the World, 1909 ToysGre-Gory: Mattel's big bad vampire bat, and the borrowed pump in his chest Gre-Gory, Mattel's rubber vampire bat with the see-through chest, is remembered as a 1978 toy and sold as... Sep 24, 2026 ToysLead paint on vintage toys: legal before 1978, not after By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · September 24, 2026 Two federal rules govern lead in... Sep 24, 2026 Vintage 1970s Gigantor gorilla rubber jiggler, 8 inches, made in Hong Kong ToysOily jigglers: the grease on your hands is the toy leaking itself By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · September 20, 2026 An eight-inch ape with GIGANTOR and... Sep 20, 2026 ToysMy Pet Monster: the money is in the orange plastic, not the blue fur By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · September 20, 2026 The blue fur is the famous... Sep 20, 2026 ToysThe Kinder egg: a federal offense at the Michigan border, penny candy across the river in Canada By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · September 20, 2026 Case No. 006 was a wheeled... Sep 20, 2026 ToysClacker balls: the toy that got banned outright, and stayed that way The Hazard Files, Case No. 004. In 1971 the FDA banned an entire toy design, not one company... Sep 19, 2026 A Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab open in its case, showing the instruments, ore jars and manual ToysThe Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab: the toy the government never banned, and what a set brings now Hazard Files Case No. 002. In 1950 the Erector Set company sold children four jars of uranium ore... Sep 19, 2026 I Vant to Bite Your Finger, the Hasbro Dracula board game ToysI Vant to Bite Your Finger: the Halloween board game that marked the loser A 1979 Dracula game asked children to put a finger in a monster's mouth and gamble. The mechanism... Sep 15, 2026 E.T. Finger Light, Knickerbocker No. 4111, 1982, mint on card ToysThe E.T. Finger Light: the movie tie-in that couldn't survive being looked at In 1982, Knickerbocker turned E.T.'s glowing fingertip into a flesh-colored rubber toy. Retailers pulled it within months. Here's... Sep 13, 2026 A Union Pacific Railroad train near Cajon, California, photographed in March 1943 for the Office of War Information ToysAmerican Flyer S gauge: the more accurate train set, and the one that lost A.C. Gilbert bet his company on two-rail S gauge in 1946 and built the more accurate system by... Sep 12, 2026 ToysRushton rubber-face stuffies: the Atlanta plush that looked back at you Every other stuffed animal of the 1950s asked a child to imagine a face. Rushton painted one on... Sep 5, 2026 Rocky Rock 'em Sock 'em action playset by PAC Toys: Rocky Balboa and Clubber Lang in the ring, two children at the controls ToysThe Rocky Rock 'em Sock 'em playset: the $18.88 toy that let you knock Mr. T's block off PAC Toys put Rocky Balboa and Clubber Lang in a Rock 'em Sock 'em ring for one season,... Sep 4, 2026 1984 Wallace Berrie All-Star Snork plush, yellow with curled snorkel and SNORKS shirt ToysThe Snorks plush: two $9.97 dolls that beat their own cartoon to the Christmas catalog Casey and All-Star Snork were $9.97 each on page 104 of the 1984 Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog, weeks... Sep 4, 2026 Early Dakin Garfield plush with small, separated eyes ToysThe Dakin Garfield: how to date a plush cat by the space between his eyes Every Dakin Garfield says 1978 on the tag and almost none were made that year. A field guide... Sep 2, 2026 ToysThe 1952 Sears Christmas Book: the year Marx went plastic Sears gave six pages of its 1952 Christmas Book to electric trains. Read against the Lionel pages that... Aug 30, 2026 A Mechanical Martin wind-up Martian with its original tall, narrow box, from the author's collection ToysThe Mechanical Martin: the misspelled Martian that terrified 1950s children The box says Martin. The toy is a Martian. A wind-up tin invader from 1950s Japan, why so... Aug 28, 2026 Lawn darts: the toy America banned like a weapon, and what a set is worth now ToysLawn darts: the toy America banned like a weapon, and what a set is worth now Sold in the toy aisle, banned like a weapon, worth up to $200 to collectors today. Case File... Aug 27, 2026 The reverse of a 1982 Masters of the Universe He-Man blister card, showing cross-sell artwork for all eight wave one figures ToysBy the Power of Grayskull: the origins, lore and collector's guide to the original 8 He-Man figures Mattel's answer to losing Star Wars was a barbarian with a spring in his waist. Eight figures shipped... Aug 15, 2026 A vintage Kix Atomic Bomb Ring, showing the gold-toned band and aluminum warhead with its removable red plastic tailfin. ToysVintage cereal premiums: a collector's field guide Cereal companies spent seventy years perfecting the art of selling breakfast to children who only wanted the prize.... Aug 9, 2026 3D printed Castle Grayskull inspired desk organizer with dramatic sunset background ToysCastle Grayskull: the full history, the materials, and why we 3D printed our own The real history behind Castle Grayskull, what the original 1982 toy was made of, how vintage pieces are... Jul 26, 2026 ToysEighties toy variants: the small details that change the price A doll's hand and the pattern on a cardboard box. Neither is obvious, both decide what the thing... Jul 24, 2026