The price of the Erector sets made the construction toy even more popular. A.C. Gilbert grew up in a poor family and knew what it meant not to have toys he wanted. As a result Gilbert kept the price reasonable especially during the depression years. Gilbert wanted every boy in America to play with Erectors and a fair price was the only way for that to happen2. The Erectors, during the 1920's to 1940's sold for one to ten dollars depending upon the model. The 5 1/2" set was the first motorized model and that sold for a very reasonable three dollars12. The 7 1/2" model, the one in the Greenbelt Museum, would probably have sold for between seven and eight dollars. The Erectors made very good Christmas presents in fact the A.C. Gilbert Company believed that over ninety percent of the Erector business came in the months of November and December.
The A.C. Gilbert company was the first toy manufacturer to use large scale advertising in national magazines. These advertisements would feature Gilbert talking to the children. Many times Gilbert would play up his athletic past. These advertisements were featured in such magazines as The American Boy, St. Nicholas, and, Saturday Evening Post 12.
Other construction toy companies tried to compete with the A.C. Gilbert Company's Erector Set by offering cheaper prices 1. The ad seen below shows The Skipper Toy company's construction toy. As you can see the price of forty-nine cents is cheaper than Erector. As Richard Lebow said a child wanted Gilbert's Erector. Mr. Lebow had another construction set but none of his friends would play with it, so he begged his mom to get him a Gilbert's Erector8.
Today the Erector sets have become collectors items. Conventions are held throughout the United States that are strictly devoted to Erector's. The Erector in the Greenbelt Museum, a 7 1/2", if it had all original parts could go for two hundred dollars to three hundred dollars.
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