My Hobo Is No Bum (Or, I Squeak Out A Vintage Toy Deal)

I have this thing for old rubber squeaky toys… Ever since I bought one at a thrift store for about a buck & sold it on eBay for over $50, I find myself looking at them as more than inexpensive ways to get a toy for the terrier — but a way to pay for dog food & vet bills.

At any given time I have a modest collection of them, until time and charm runs out and I list them for sale somewhere. Then, a few weeks ago, at a nearby weekly (during the season) flea market, I spotted this vintage hobo squeaky toy of the thinner, latex, rubber variety.

Vintage Squeaky Toy Hobo

I was smitten. Not only because it was an old rubber toy that still squeaked, but because, thanks to my son, I now am charmed by hobos — with exposed toes, yet (oh, how I do love a rhyme!)

I looked at it, but the guy didn’t have his stuff marked, so I wandered around, feigning a lack of interest until I was sure that the vintage toy was all that I wanted… Keeping the price down. But hubby, aware of both my interest in vintage & retro rubber toys and my new romance with all things “hobo,” brought it over as his own discovery. A few minutes later, I paid the asking price of $4 or $5 and brought home “my hobo with exposed toe.”

I was going to just post a pic of him for one of my Cheap Thrills Thursday posts, so I performed the cursory Google search for the somewhat-bell-ringing maker name: Rempel Mfg. Inc., Akron, Ohio.

The first results were for Froggy the Gremlin (star of radio & childhood memorabilia collecting fame — which explains the faint recall of the Rempel name), and some other info on the Dietrich Gustav Rempel, aka the “Rubber Baron,” who started his Rempel company in 1946, marketing his Sunnyslope line of rubber animals. It is on that page that we learn that, “Rubber historians (a flexible bunch) credit Rempel with making innovations in steam and pressure and the use of steel molds.”

Interesting, but what about my hobo?

Vintage Rempel Mfg. Brookley Dodger's Bum

So I performed an image search and discovered that my hobo, © Fred G Reinert, is a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball “bum” named Ho Jo. HoJo is one of, apparently, several versions (who differ mainly by color and, I guess, name).

And I discover that Ho Jo, circa 1949, is worth some serious coin; he’s listed in various collectibles stores & auction sites from $145 – $300 and at sites that openly list sales results, has sold from $98 – $200.

Now, the only question for me is this: Do I continue my lucky sales streak and put him up for sale, or do I continue to make him my sentimental hobo with exposed toe?

Well, I guess we have the answer. After all, I’d better start putting money away for those kids; especially if they are planning to live the lives of hobos.