Vintage Batman Toys - 1966 BATMAN ACTIVITY BOX Play Set by Whitman

I have been meaning to post these picture for awhile but here they are at last! Shown right here on the Bat-Blog is this totally amazing Vintage 60's Batman Toy. This is the BATMAN ACTIVITY BOX Play Set made by Whitman in 1966. Basically it's a very large paper place mat (you can color) that comes with cardboard punch-outs of Batman characters, building pieces, & vehicles. Oh man, this old toy is so beautiful!! The graphics are really great. Just look at all the photos and you will start to cry, ha! I love the stand-up people here, characters like: Batman, Robin, Alfred The Butler, Commissioner Gordon, Joker, The Penguin, a Policeman, & even Batman and Robin as their alter-egos, Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson! There are some pieces for the Gotham City Police Station, the Bat-Cave, Wayne Manor, and also the Batmobile Car and Bat-Plane!! They just don't make toys today with this sort of imagination & quality. Especially since this thing was meant to be sort of inexpensive. So, I gotta know, what do you think about it? Please leave comments.

Auction News: Original 1966 Batman Coloring Book Production Art

Last night, on eBay, the auction for the original production art for one of the 1966 Batman Whitman Coloring Books ended at $1,925.00. Now, if you ask me, that's a huge bargain. I mean, this item is totally priceless! This RARE piece of Bat-Memorabilia was offered by Golden Treasures of New York City. They always seem to have the most amazing stuff! Oh well, I'm happy for the winner & he's lucky I'm not super-rich or I would have outbid him, ha ha! ( Readers - Be sure to click on the above photos for larger, more detailed, versions ).

2 Classic-Style BATMAN AND ROBIN Desktop Wallpaper Backgrounds

OK, a Bat-Blog Reader, named Barry, wrote me recently & said he seriously loved my Batman Desktop Wallpapers that I post every Wednesday ( Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday ) but could I please do something with retro-style graphics. Like maybe something with a 1960's Vintage Batman Item. So, I thought I would use some graphics from the cover of an extremely RARE 1966 Whitman Batman Coloring Book. Here's what I came up with & there are 2 variations. Barry, I hope you enjoy BOTH of them! If any other readers have anything they would like to see then just let me know. This blog is for serious Batman Fans & I want everybody to be happy!

ORIGINAL PRODUCTION ART For The WHITMAN 1966 Batman Coloring Book!!

Here's an amazing photo showing the original production artwork for one of the Whitman 1966 Batman Coloring Books. This was sold on eBay recently & it made me sick that I missed it. This is an item most serious toy collectors would call a "Museum Piece". It's very "one-of-a-kind" & will probably NEVER show up on the market again. I wanna congratulate the winner & let him know he has a RARE piece of Batman-History he can be really proud of. Readers, please click on the above image for a way larger, more detailed, photo...it's SWEET!

ORIGINAL ART For 1966 BATMAN and ROBIN Whitman Frame-Tray Puzzle

Last night I was visiting a friend's website & saw these 2 photos that I had to totally steal, ha ha! They show what the original artwork for the 1966 BATMAN and ROBIN Whitman Frame-Tray Puzzle looks like! Oh man, this is a wonderful piece of Bat-History that I had to share. ( Be sure to click on the small photo up above for a larger, more detailed, version ). I have the puzzle but to be able to own the original art would be totally insane. I mean, how can you even put a price on something like that?! So, thanks "Percy Trout Hour" for allowing me to steal these pics, not that I asked or anything, ha ha. Readers, here's a link button to his website. It's a fun place to visit with a lot of quirky weird stuff ( I mean that in a good way ). Also, it's NOT SAFE FOR KIDS, Adults Only.

Vintage 1960's BATMAN and ROBIN Frame Tray Puzzles!

For today's post I wanted to get back to VINTAGE TOYS because, really, that's what this site was originally created for, the love of the old Batman Toys & Memorabilia! So, here's a really nice example: Shown up above are some rare 1960's Batman & Robin Frame-Tray Puzzles made by Whitman (#1 & 4 ) and Strathmore ( #2 & 3 ). As a toy collector I really love these because they're neat to frame for display on the wall. Plus, I used to totally love puzzles when I was a little kid so they kinda bring back good nostalgic feelings. My Grandmother used to buy these for me at a store called TG&Y that doesn't exist anymore. So, I guess I'm kinda sentimental about these for that reason. The graphics are very cool. The 1st one is my personal favorite because it's a great scene with the Batmobile. It's the most common of the four shown but the picture is so awesome. I would like to take a minute to ask some of you to send in your photos & stories. Sharing information about this hobby is another main reason for this blog. I hope you enjoy these puzzles as much as I do.

Vintage Sixties Batman Memorabilia - Toys & Paper Items

OK, We have been posting a lot of the new photos from THE DARK KNIGHT Movie so we thought we would get back to what the BAT-BLOG is really all about & that's cool Vintage Batman Toys! The 1st photo is a personal favorite, mainly because they are so cute & extremely hard to find in an unopened package, that's the Box of 1960's Batman Valentines Cards. The retro-style graphics on these are really great to see! The next item is pretty RARE also. It's a Batman & Robin Punch-Out Book made by Whitman ©1966. Again, the graphics are great!! It's also kind of funny that you could buy it for 29 cents. If any readers have photos of some of your cool Batman Memorabilia then please send them in to us to share.

Vintage Batman Toys: Puzzles

Recently the BAT-BLOG has sort of been bogged down with THE DARK KNIGHT movie news so I thought I would do a traditional posting that is about Vintage Batman Toys. Which, is the main function of this blog! Here's some nice examples of different Batman Puzzles made thru the ages. The 1st one is a 1966 Batman & Penguin Puzzle made by Whitman. The graphics are really wonderful with a cool vintage Batman-Logo. The next picture is one of those Batman "Canister Puzzles" made by APC from 1973. I always thought that the way they sold them in coffee cans was kind of neat. The graphics on this baby were done by the Classic Comic Book Artist Carmine Infantino...nice! The next puzzle is one of my favorites. It was made by Aurora of all companies. They specialized in slot cars & model kits but I guess since they had the rights to use Neal Adams' awesome artwork they went ahead & made this puzzle. The cool thing about this puzzle is that it is super-HUGE & when put together it's almost 9 square feet, GIANT-SIZE, & great for display on the wall!! The last puzzle is a wooden frame tray puzzle made by Playskool. It features the cartoon version of the Batman & Robin movie, very obscure!

RARE & Unusual Batman Memorabilia From 1966

The BAT-BLOG is famous for featuring Vintage Batman Toys & the ones from the 1960's are our favorites. Now, we also cover the stuff from the 70's, the 80's Batman Movies, & the Animated Series. We even profile alot of very current items too but the 60's stuff is what we love best! Here's some nice bat-items from 1966: the 1st one is pretty hard-to-find & quite RARE, it's a BATMAN PILLOW! They made a few variations. The 2nd piece of Bat-Memorabilia is a COLOR & RUB-OUT BATMAN KIT made by Whitman, the company famous for their great coloring books. This kit came with 8 different pictures that were plastic-covered & after you colored them you could just wipe the Crayon marks off & do it again! I have this in my personal collection but it's missing 1 or 2 pages. The guy I bought it from said it was complete & charged me an arm & a leg for it...arrrggghh! That's the only time THAT ever happened, I learned my lesson. The 3rd bit of Bat-Nostalgia is also made by Whitman ( sort of a theme happening here I guess ). It's a BATMAN ACTIVITY BOX. Basically it came with some punch-out free-standing characters & a large mat you could color. I guess it's sort of like paper dolls but without the clothes....really super-rare!

Assortment of RARE Vintage 1960's Batman Memorabilia

The BAT-BLOG covers everything Batman but our main focus is the area of collecting. We sometimes cover news about the comic books, both old & new, but our favorite things are the awesome Vintage Batman Toys & Memorabilia. Here are a few examples of some RARE 60's items, mainly from 1966. The 1st item is a photo of the RARE & highly collectible 1966 AURORA Slot Car of the Batmobile from the TV Series, shown in it's original box. This is a Bat-Fan favorite & also desired by many slot car collectors for it's beauty & history. The next item is a fun coloring book featuring Robin as the main character on the cover. This was published by Whitman in 1966. The last, & most RARE item, is a felt pennant of Batman & Robin that was a souvenir of Saskatoon, Canada! We hope you have enjoyed seeing these rare beauties & hope you return often for more! Also, Be sure to check the BAT-BLOG ARCHIVES for many more Rare Vintage Toys & Memorabilia....See you tommorrow!