Models, Toys, Dolls & Games

Bassett-Lowke’s model of the bullet-nosed Pacific locomotive and tender, ‘The Coronation’, ranks among the rarest of all British toy trains.

These figures representing The Beatles were manufactured by Subbuteo, the name made famous by the series of table-top games mainly concerning football but also other types of sport.

Back in 1998 Lacy Scott & Knight of Bury St Edmunds were instructed by local art teacher and model enthusiast John Clibbon to sell the majority of a large collection of tinplate toys.

This Märklin 0 gauge 20 volt electric train is a model of the ‘Earl Marischal’ (no 2002), a LNER P2 Mikado 2-8-2 locomotive built in 1935 to pull passenger trains on the Edinburgh/Aberdeen line.

A large collection of playing cards comprising some 200 lots has been consigned to Stroud Auctions in Gloucestershire and will be sold without reserves on November 14-15.

The long history of Tipp & Co. of Nuremberg (1912-1971) ranks among the most illuminating of all 20th century toy stories.

A local 90-year-old gentleman and his wife were in the room to watch his childhood toy sell for a small fortune at W. & H. Peacock’s recent ‘Memories of Childhood’ sale in Bedford.

This large, scratch-built 5in gauge Great Western Railway locomotive is one of two being sold at Lawrences of Crewkerne on November 2, with both expected to realise £3000-4000.

This Dinky pre-War delivery van advertising Maison De Bonneterie’s flagship department store in Amsterdam will appear at Vectis in Thornaby, near Stockton-on-Tees on October 17.

Dealer, collector, author, military historian – Shamus Wade amassed the remarkable collection of toy soldiers and figures which was recently sold at Special Auction Services of Greenham, near Newbury.

Documented in the book ‘The Allure of Toy Ships: American & European Nautical Toys from the 19th and 20th Centuries’, the Richard T. Claus collection is widely acknowledged as the best toy boat collection in America and, some say, rivals the very best in Europe.

As all Märklin boats were available with a variety of names and flags (trade buyers could choose these details prior to placing an order), it seems safe to assume this ocean liner named Deutschland was made for the home market.

It was full steam ahead at Dreweatts’ auction of model locomotives from the Salem Collection as a world record price was run up.

A rare Märklin ‘first series’ tinplate toy ’HMS Terrible’ was the jewel in the Ron McCrindell collection sold by Special Auction Services of Greenham, near Newbury, on April 20.

BY the early decades of the 19th century it was clear that the ancient and cosmopolitan game of chess would require pieces of standardised size and shape as it entered the era of international competition.

ENTERED for sale by a descendent of the family for whom it was made, this carved wood and painted plaster model of an East End butcher’s shop sold for £22,000 at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury.

The range of British die-casts is so massive that enthusiasts tend to narrow the field and collect either by factory, period, vehicle type, category – or a combination of these. Nostalgia has a big part to play.

VECTIS have auctioned some exceptional Dinky collections over the past decade, but what made the David Ireland collection sale stand out was quality over quantity.

SOUTH Africa’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961 brought with it hefty import taxes on finished luxury goods: a difficult moment for Meccano, for whom the colonies were key markets.

AN original Monopoly set offered as part of the toy collection of publisher Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) and his sons made $120,000 (plus premium) at a recent auction at Sotheby's New York.