SAY “TOY BOATS” THREE times fast and if your tongue doesn’t get completely tied up, scientists say you are definitely in the minority. Now just imagine saying toy boats hundreds of times and being surrounded by one of the most extensive collections of toy boats in the world. That’s what collectors will get treated to, at the Rich Penn Auction [...]
VINELAND, NJ – If all the nautical toys in the world were lined up in a single fleet, their captain would surely be Dick Claus, whose magnificent collection of antique boats is being offered in two parts this year by Bertoia Auctions of Vineland, NJ. Park 1 of the Claus collection, a 220-lot array of ships and related toys, will [...]
BY RICHARD T. CLAUS MARKLIN #5050 7/E “DEUTSCHLAND,” CATALOGED 1909-1915 SHIPS HAVE FASCINATING HISTORIES and their toy counterparts are no different. As bigger and faster ocean liners evolved and plied the Atlantic during the early part of the 20th century, their toy representations became objects of excitement for their young admirers. No doubt the parents who bought these toys were [...]
BY JACK HERBERT QUITE PROBABLY THE MOST handsome early paper-on-wood toy is this 40″ long “City of New York” Ocean Liner, circa 1895. The toy is based on one of the very first ocean liners to sail under the banner of the United States. It was of the era that still boasted a gracefully extended prow, and auxiliary sails on [...]
WILLIAMSPORT, IN – TOYS! Stout Auctions has great toys for our next auction, held February 24-25, 2012 at our Williamsport, Indiana, gallery, beginning at 10AM Eastern each day. Our auction includes a large and unbelievable black memorabilia collection that is primarily tin. Many are black Americana items, about a third include their original boxes. This auction includes more Buddy L [...]
BY JACK HERBERT AMONG the very earliest of American-made toys are the rarely seen tinplate Riverboats designed and manufactured by such firms as Althof Bergmann and Francis Field & Francis in the 1860s and 70s. They are quite fragile by now, of course, which may account for the scarcity of some of them which were not originally made of cast [...]
BY R. T. CLAUS Most toy collectors are aware that Albert Schoenhut started his wooden toy business in Philadelphia in 1872; and, that by the turn of the 20th century, his company was one of the largest toy makers in the world. We also know that, although Schoenhut’s most famous toys were his pianos, dolls, and the Humpty Dumpty Circus, [...]
BY JACK HERBERT The time has come, I think, for a word or two about our current Toy Auction Catalogues from the major houses. There was a time, about twenty-five years or so ago, when the Antique Toy Catalogues were little more than simple listings. In heft, they resembled pamphlets. They could easily be lost in the pages of your [...]
Go to Sotheby’s. Do not pass Go. But do see some of the earliest surviving Monopoly game sets, as well as the rest of the celebrated Forbes Toy Collection. The Collection comes to auction at Sotheby’s on December 17th. Assembled by legendary collection Malcolm Fores and his sons over a period of nearly four decades, the toys include the largest [...]
