THE NEW COLOUR RANGE – 1972-1985

1972 saw a shift in the range of colours Bestoys offered to buyers, both wholesale and retail.
The adaption of the wonder building material “Corinite” – a high-pressure plastic laminated to hardboard and particle board - by Bestoys to many of its products in the mid-1960s, did away with a great deal of the time-consuming lacquer finishing of that range. It offered the toys and nursery furniture in a wide variety of beautiful woodgrain colours, but these were less conspicuous in shop windows among the more colourful plastic toys on display.
It was time to revamp the range, and doing it big by not only adding colour to its existing products but adding more colour and more products.
This was the year of innovation and renovation. New products for 1972 and 1973 were:
  • Doll’s High Chair
  • De Luxe Ironing Board
  • Buffette
  • “Chefette” Stove and
  • Settee Toybox
All but the “Chefette” Stove and Buffette were offered in a range of colours that no other Australian manufacturer of wooden toys and nursery furniture had previously offered: green, primrose, pink, blue, and later, mauve and brown, all in pastel shades and trimmed in ivory.

Doll's High Chair - c1972-1985

c1972-c1977
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Doll's High Chair from Bestoys 1973 catalogue

This was one of the few items that Bestoys supplied fully assembled in a carton. 
The tray swivelled out, allowing a doll of up to 21" to be seated comfortably.
The original colour options were pink, blue, green or yellow with ivory-colour trim.
c1978-c1981
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Doll's High Chair from Bestoys 1978 catalogue

A few years later, very little had changed to the basic design and manufacturing process, the only obvious change was the shape of the backboard.
The Doll's High Chair was proving to be one of the best sellers in Bestoys contemporary range, being made by the 1000s.
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c1982-1985
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Doll's High Chair from Bestoys 1982 catalogue

By 1982, the backboard reverted to its original shape but was now decorated with a two-olour motif.
In 1984, Bestoys specification sheet listed the colour options as blue, brown, green, mauve, orange and yellow - pink having been dropped.
It also stated that some assembly was required, most likely the the seat component to the legs component.

From the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer trade magazine

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Bestoys advertisement from the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer magazine, August, 1972 edition

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Bestoys advertisement from the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer magazine, June, 1972 edition

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Bestoys advertisement from the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer magazine, June, 1973 edition in conjunction with Alltoys International Pty Ltd

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Bestoys advertisement from the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer magazine, January, 1973 edition in conjunction with Alltoys International Pty Ltd announcing TAGMA exhibition

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Bestoys Buffette from the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer magazine, August, 1972 edition

De Luxe Ironing Board - c1972-1985

c1972-c1977
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De Luxe Ironing Board from Bestoys 1973 catalogue

c1978-c1981
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De Luxe Ironing Board from Bestoys 1978 catalogue

c1982-1985
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De Luxe Ironing Board from Bestoys 1982 catalogue

In the 13 or so years that Bestoys produced the De Luxe Ironing Board, very little changed in its manufacture other than the colour of the original silver-painted iron rest. 
As with the Doll's High Chair, the 1984 Bestoys specification sheet listed the colour options as blue, brown, green, mauve, orange and yellow - pink having been dropped.

Settee Toybox - 1973-1985

1973-c1977
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Settee Toybox from Bestoys 1973 catalogue

c1978-c1981
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Settee Toybox from Bestoys 1978 catalogue

c1982-1985
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Settee Toybox from Bestoys 1982 catalogue

A sturdy and decorative box to store toys was a necessity in any child's playroom and Jim Bonaretti made it fun as well as functional by adding a blackboard beneath the lift-up lid. By making it a settee or chair reduced the sales tax from 20% as a toybox to 7½% as an item of furniture. 
Nothing changed to the design or manufacturing process in the 12 or so years that Bestoys produced the very popular Settee Toybox, and like the Doll's High Chair  and the De Luxe Ironing Board, the 1984 Bestoys specification sheet listed the colour options as blue, brown, green, mauve, orange and yellow - pink having been dropped.

​From the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer trade magazine

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Bestoys advertisement from the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer magazine, July, 1973 edition

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Bestoys advertisement from the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer magazine, May, 1973 edition

"Chefette" Stove - 1973-1985

1973-c1977
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"Chefette" Stove from Bestoys 1973 catalogue

c1978-c1981
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"Chefette" Stove from Bestoys 1978 catalogue

c1982-1985
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"Chefette" Stove from Bestoys 1982 catalogue

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Bestoys advertisement and editorial from the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer magazine, May, 1973 edition

The changes to the "Chefette" Stove were superficial: from the original 1973 design, only the control board was redesigned. The next change was to the hot plates - the applied square hardboard hotplates were replaced with round hotplates silk-screened directly onto the stove top.
​The stove's door came in a wide variety of woodgrain colours.

Rotary Clothes Line - 1978-1985

c1978-c1981
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Rotary Clothes Line from Bestoys 1978 catalogue

Supplied unstrung and unassembled in a flat pack carton, this was one of the least expensive items in the Bestoys range, apart from the blackboards. It was made of a panel of particle board for the base, a small length of dressed radiata pine for the hub, timber dowels for the upright and arms and cotton string for the lines. Bags of miniature plastic pegs could be purchased through Alltoys International Pty Ltd.
c1982-1985
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Rotary Clothes Line from Bestoys 1982 catalogue

"Sunny" Deck Chair - c1982-1985

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"Sunny" Deck Chair from Bestoys 1982 catalogue

A late addition to the Bestoys range was this folding wooden deck chair made of dressed pencil-round radiata pine and wooden dowels and sized down to suit children. The sling was made of heavy-duty colourfully printed canvas.
A prototype was introduced around 1960 but was not produced.
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"Sunny" Deck Chair from Bestoys "New for 1983" pamphlet

"Finds"

"Settee" Toybox

Strictly speaking, this "find" is not a product made by Bestoys but one made by the new owners of the Bestoys range when Nazzareno and Ebe Bonaretti sold the business in 1985. The new owners changed the style of the 'box' but kept the designs on the front and screen-printed in one colour only. The original motifs were drawn by Susanna Bonaretti in 1972.  Strangely, the 'found' toybox on the left has the 'Bestoys' logo while the image on the right does not. This most likely dates between 1986 and 1995.
The telephone numbers on Toyland's Christmas catalogue lack the preceding '9', which was introduced to Sydney telephone numbers on 29th July, 1995 and Toyland, itself, came into being after the demise of most of Uncle Pete's toy stores in Sydney around 1993. This indicates the catalogue was for Christmas 1994. The advertised full retail price $59.99; in 1984, the suggested retail price for the Bestoys "Settee" Toybox was $47.50.
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Toybox found discarded on a Sydney street 5th September 2015

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Toybox from Toyland's Christmas catalogue c1994