The journey has been a long one for these tiny folks; despite having no arms or legs, they have come a long way through adversity and a changing world. They are known in the collecting world as "Little People" and have entertained millions of small children and babies through the decades.
"Little People" are small toys originally made out of wood and created in the 1950s by Fisher Price. Each toy has a wooden body and head and, usually, a plastic head covering but no arms or legs.
Because of their size, the original "Little People" were determined to be a choking hazard to small children and babies. They have gone through several redesigns. They now are made of vinyl, and the small toys still are on the market as a favorite of children. They also have come to be highly collectible toys for adults.
Dale Patterson, a Texas native who also lived in Southern California, moved to this area when he was 10 years old. He and his wife Debora reside in Southside.
Patterson, who designs Web pages for churches and small businesses, is one of the thousands of people who now collect the small Fisher Price toys. He started collecting them in the mid `90s.
"I was at a yard sale and found a box of toys which included some `Little People'. I remembered having played with the wooden toys when I was a child and bought the box."
Patterson now counts his collection at approximately 1,000 pieces.
Patterson loves the toys and the hobby so much that he has started buying the new version for his 14-month-old son Jon. The toys are designed to fit easily in the hand of a child and are brightly colored to attract their attention, as Jon demonstrated while playing with the Noah's Ark version and the fire truck complete with "Little People." Generally there are no electronics involved with "Little People" sets; however, the fire truck does make fire truck noise.
The toys are designed to inspire the imagination of children who create their own little world of a jungle or a circus complete with "Little People" and animals. Although the original "Little People" have no legs or arms, the animals were designed to look more real.
"Little People" toys are designed to portray little people in various occupations such as firemen, policemen, teachers, etc. Whether the child gravitates toward animals or a people profession, there is a Fisher Price "Little People" playset for virtually every imagination.
According to Patterson, there are thousands of "Little People" figures. Most have their own name and are created wearing different clothing. Some of the figures and objects are very hard to find, which has spurred the hobby into greater collecting. The newer figures also have hands, something the original "Little People" are missing.
To demonstrate his son's enthusiasm for the small toys, Patterson pulled a set of Fisher Price "Little People" from under their Christmas tree and placed it in their living room floor.
Jon immediately gravitated to the set and obviously was enraptured by the brightly colored toys, despite them still being in a box and destined as his Christmas present.
"Jon has a real good attention span for his age; these are ideal for inspiring his imagination," Patterson said.
"I've always been a collector of different things, but there is just something about these toys which attract my interest. Once I found that box of toys at the yard sale, I began researching and found how highly collectible they are. Both inexpensive pieces exist as well pieces which can bring $200 or $300 each," Patterson said.
He said some of the odd varieties,
where mistakes were made in the automated process, can fetch prices approaching $1,000.
One of his favorite sets was given to him by a friend.
"She was having computer trouble, and I helped her out. I wouldn't take any money, so she knew that I collected `Little People' and gave me a complete set of School House. She had the entire set from when she was a kid with all the original pieces. It's real unusual to find a set with all the original pieces," he said.
The set also has its original box, which is highly unusual.
"That's one of the things I do is build out and complete sets. I buy sets which might be missing pieces and find the missing items as part of my hobby," he said.
Although he buys and sells items on the Internet, Patterson says some of his best finds have been at yard sales or estate sales.
"When we go to an estate sale, the first thing we ask is to see the children's rooms. That's where the toys are usually found," he said.
His collection has swelled in the process, yet there still are many pieces he hasn't obtained. Sometimes to add to his growing collection, he does search the Internet for harder-to-find pieces, but he says the hobby has grown so much that more and more people are going after fewer pieces.
A testimony to the growth of the hobby is the huge number of Internet sites devoted to collecting the toy. There are hundreds of sites providing information and a base for learning about the collectibles.
"I've found some pieces in antique shops, but generally the only thing you find in a store like that are the common items," he said. "I thought I had all the black-and-white dogs made by Fisher Price, but I've found another 20 that I don't have. There are just a lot of different pieces and sets; some of those are rare."
Despite the earlier problems with the toys being hazardous, the redesigned versions are highly sought after, especially to grandparents who remember having let their children play with the older versions.
According to Patterson, the hobby has become so popular that there are now clubs for like-minded hobbyists to attend as well as conventions. The closest club is in the Atlanta area, he said. Although there are conventions, he doesn't usually attend those.
"Conventions are about trading pieces and selling, but I tend to keep all the `Little People' I find," he said.
Gene Mitchell is an award-winning former writer and city editor for The Gadsden Times. He now owns Mitchell's Collectibles and travels the Southeast visiting collectibles shows. Send questions to GeneMitchCoin@aol.com. Questions may be answered in future columns.
