I have also listed some cute little faux fur gonks on my site. They are all rare survivors from the late 1960s / early 1970s.
This one is slightly different and comes under the classification of being a "gonk" but this one is made of textiles and is more of a strange stuffed toy.
He was made by a company called Gonks - who were based at Poland Street (Soho) in London in the 1960s. He is very "Swing Sixties" or "Carnaby Street " in style. He has his original paper tag and also his cloth label. I have never seen another one of these - so he must be a rare survivor indeed.
He is in pretty good condition - given that he must be over 50 years old. A more famous textile gonk - was Humpty in the children's TV Programme, "Play School".
This one has stuffed and has a floral pattern body - from which issue long dangling felt legs and arms. My gonk has a long red felt tail - and a very strange face and felt spiky black and orange hair. Certainly a very psychedelic toy - perhaps not for a child but for a young adult.
CONDITION - generally for a textile toy of this age - my gonk is in good condition. It is nice and clean. There are two little areas on the legs and top of the arm which has had some slight attention from moths at some point in the past. But nothing major - just confined to the top layer of the felt Mr Gonk's big white felt eyes have some discolouration of the old original glue - but it would be a simple job to replace with a new white felt shape.
DIMENSIONS: body height (main body section to the top of head) is 13 1/2 inches. His red legs are 5 1/2 inches. And his very long strange arms are 10 1/2 inches.
HISTORY: Gonks were originally created by an English inventor called Robert Benson and they went on to be popular novelty toys - after being endorsed by celebrities such as Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers. They were often made of wood with fuzzy hair and google eyes - there were even Beatles Gonks!
Please see my other fluffy ones awarded as funfair prizes which I have also listed for sale on my site. This one is listed at a very fair price - they do not appear on the market that often. It is certainly a flower power collectable.
These are special items for nostalgic collectors of quirky 1960s toys.
I would post to you in the UK in a sturdy box - this would cost £4.95 with Royal Mail Recorded post. Multiple purchases would be capped at £4.95.