Need some place to put your "new" vintage Christmas toys? (Status: Max the cat approved)

Maxipuss posing beside one of my favorite finds ever, a 1957 Spacemaster tin toy chest!

I received a tip about a relatively new resale shop in my hometown: after looking around a bit, I didn't find anything but stopped to chat with the owner.   Her husband came out from the back room and left the curtain parted; I saw the chest and asked if it was for sale...

That answer was "Yes".  I did a little happy dance in the parking lot.

I'm a big ol' science fiction nerd and this baby has some great Buck Rogers/ Flash Gordon style graphics.  The graphics are in pretty good condition, as is the chest it self.

Not only can you keep your toys in the chest (or blankets), you can also play checkers on the lid.

I looked around the interwebz and found a few of these (one was dated to 1957). Weird thing that I found was that some of these were assembled inside out, yup, the cool graphics were on the inside (huh?).  I think these were sold as kits, maybe for industrial arts classes.  It's not the sturdiest thing I've ever seen, I would not try to sit on it, but it is in solid shape.

fun for girls

Fun for boys

Cool rockets and missiles, it's a BLAST!