I have been collecting vintage Nintendo toys and games for around twenty-five years now, and although there are still plenty of items on my search list, they tend to be - obviously - the rarer ones. As a result, the finds occur with decreasing frequency.
Recently I was able to add two items to my collection that are both very rare and hard to find: the Nintendo Time Bomb (covered here) and the Nintendo Love Peace e-clock, which is the topic of today's post.
The Love Peace electric clock (「Love Peace 電気時計」) is one of the seven known variants of electric clocks released by Nintendo in 1971-1972. Of these seven different clocks, the four featuring the Tokusatsu heroes Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Mirror Man and Silver Kamen are the most common. The clock with the Disney figures is rarer, and the Panda clock can be considered very rare, with only a handful copies known in collector circles.
The Love Peace clock is the rarest of all these clocks. The one I was able to acquire was only the second one I had ever seen.
The box and clock itself are decorated with the well-known "Smiley" design. Created in the 1960s by Harvey Ball, this design soon exploded in popularity, and was recognized worldwide by the 1970s. It was produced by the millions in the form of stickers, buttons and used to adorn almost any object you can imagine.
