Is this tricycle really Playmobil?

[GrahamB]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Vintage-Playmobil-Geobra-Tricycle/331576624001?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D31488%26meid%3D95e1ba65631d471fb94271403a63c9f2%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D321777073668

I can't find it in Produktarchiv or anywhere else!

[tahra]

I would say doubtful. The "seat" seems all off.

Doesn't mean it's not Geobra's previous (or non-playmobil) work though.

[Tiermann]

I agree, not Playmobil but could well be Geobra as they made many other things before Playmobil came along.

[cachalote]

i really don't know, i'm sorry.
pirates is my "solo" playmo-world.
although i like modern things in the real-world.
this is the WICLA , designed and produced in wood and cork, by a team of designers from the I.P.V.C. in viana do castelo (quite nearby from my week-end house).
i am so proud. it looks great.
maybe i'll try one someday (just as long as nobody sees me, a motorcyle-only man).

[Ismene]

i really don't know, i'm sorry.
pirates is my "solo" playmo-world.
although i like modern things in the real-world.
this is the WICLA , designed and produced in wood and cork, by a team of designers from the I.P.V.C. in viana do castelo (quite nearby from my week-end house).
i am so proud. it looks great.
maybe i'll try one someday (just as long as nobody sees me, a motorcyle-only man).

That's an adorable tricycle. I want one!

[playmofire]

That's a great piece of design and workmanship.  No need to feel embarrassed riding that, even if you are usually a motorcycle man.

[GrahamB]

Thanks for the replies, I had forgotten there were plastic toys from the Brandstatter stable before PM! Seems the most likely explanation (if it has Geobra stamped on it, for example, then its a reasonable mistake by the seller to assume its PM!)

Chachalote- you will be my first port of call for all questions piratical! Thanks for sharing the tricycle pictures, its good to see another market for natural cork, as the production of natural corks for bottles has been threatened by synthetic alternatives and the Cork Oak forests are a fantastic natural ecosystem in your part of the world (surprisingly, the survival of the forests depends on the cork bark being harvested, if I remember correctly). Our local bicycle manufactury makes electric/pedal powered bikes- much more my style of cycling, (especially in this hilly area!)

[cachalote]

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20150413-raiooo-wilca-portugals-wheels-of-change
a little bit more information.
cork (cortiça in portuguese) come from the periodical extraction of the bark from the trunk and main branches of the cork oaks (sobreiros). 

[GrahamB]

Ha! I cannot read the information in the link because the BBC only provides the site for 'international' viewers (i.e. not those in UK)!

I can't actually see any cork bark used on those tricycles, perhaps they use timber from the Cork Oak? (It is the harvesting of the bark- which, if done properly, does not harm the tree- which provides an economic reason for maintaining the 350 Cork Oak forests in Portugal, according to this and this. All of which is fascinating, but getting far from PM!

[cachalote]

yes, way-off topic.
unless an idea to produce, as an exaemple, some southern europe agriculture sets could be put forward.
cork extracting.
olive harvesting.
black pigs farming.
lusitano and andaluz horse farm (much more beautiful than those enormous and clumsy horses they have in the north).
playmobil could even "go" into north africa and make a palm tree farm.
and what about the fisheries - a traditional work all coastal-countries have?
swordfish are already available, maybe some giant tuna could make them company.
there are a few tv series about these guys.
is this worth another topic in "brainstorming for..."?