AMERICAN TIN-LITHO TOYS by Lisa Kerr...

AMERICAN TIN-LITHO TOYS by Lisa Kerr (Collectors Press, P.O. Box 230986, Portland, OR 97281: $29.95; 139 pp., paperback original). Kerr has assembled an array of brightly colored sand pails, doll houses, tea sets, tops and wind-up toys for this upbeat collector’s guide. A wind-up Santa’s sleigh from the 1920s may fetch $1,200; a 1936 Popeye “Roll-Over Airplane,” $1,000; a 1930s tea set with characters from the Charles Mintz studio’s dreary animated version of “Crazy Cat” (sic), $350. Readers may regard these toys as colorful examples of Americana--or further evidence that the definition of “collectible” now includes anything people are willing to have around the house in large quantity.