Models, Toys, Dolls & Games

Bear in mind 'Hugglets Bear Festival: The World of Teddy Bears' which runs on Sunday February 25 at Kensington Town Hall in London W8.

The Doll & Bears Sale at Vectis (20.83% buyer’s premium) in Stockton-on-Tees included this rare Disney Donald Duck from the 1930s.

The appeal of more modern toys for the latest collectors buying based on nostalgia for childhood playthings was underlined by a large group of Transformers offered at Special Auction Services on January 17.

The toy company of Lines is often mentioned in relation to rocking horses but it was a double bay-fronted dolls’ house produced in c.1895 that impressed at Sheffield saleroom Ellis Willis & Beckett (19.5% buyer’s premium).

As well as being an artist’s model and gallery owner who founded the museum dedicated to the work of the sculptor Aristide Maillol, Dina Vierny was also known as a collector of antique dolls.

Dolls’ houses from the collection of a renowned expert and author came to auction in Kent.

Special Auction Services is selling what it bills as ‘the largest and most valuable doll collection to been seen at auction for 25 years’.

The Late John Ruddle Collection of toy soldiers sale held at C&T (22% buyer’s premium) on December 6 was a very special occasion.

A sterling silver scale model of the Lockheed TriStar aircraft was the top lot at Kinghams’ (25% buyer’s premium) Silver and Objects of Vertu sale in the Cotswolds.

Auction offered near-complete example of the set that also formed a first pocket atlas of England and Wales

Dealer Daniel Hadden is hoping for an early Christmas present with the sale of two tree decorations that once belonged to Queen Victoria.

The Matchbox Superfast 74a Daimler Fleetline Bus estimated at £60-80 as Lot 214 in the Vectis (27% buyer’s premium inc VAT) sale on October 31 made £35, while the version guided at £50-70 two lots later made £120.

Created in the late 1920s by Spanish aeronautical engineer Juan de la Cierva (1895-1936), the autogiro entered service in the late 1930s.

How much would you spend on an antique or vintage chess set? Here are three examples from different periods that sold across a wide range of prices.

The Barbie movie might not have been such a hit if it was called Bild-Lilli instead.

The highly imaginative post-war toys made in Japan for the US market are sought-after lots at auction

The first American Civil War playset produced by Marx came in 1958 but in 1961 a real blockbuster version appeared: the Giant Blue and Gray Battle Set.

An intriguing painted wooden British soldier doll sold for more than 10 times the top estimate when it was offered at Guernsey auction house Martel Maides (24% buyer’s premium).

The growth in toys and collectables is related to the age of buyers and the items they remember from their own childhood, auction houses say.