Models, Toys, Dolls & Games

A remarkable collection of dollhouses, dollhouse furniture and juvenilia was sold in London towards the end of 2022.

Models produced for promotional purposes usually benefit from considerable rarity value and so it proved when a Dinky toy came up for auction at Stockton-on-Tees saleroom Vectis.

A collectors’ timed online sale at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) included a group lot of early 20th century juvenalia owned by a key figure in Second World War naval intelligence.

Punch and Judy shows in Britain date back to as early as 1662 – recorded by Pepys – with origins in the charismatic 16th century Italian puppet Pulcinella.

Lucy Peck ran The Dolls’ Home, a successful business that opened in Regent Street in London in 1893.

Such was the renown of toy collector the late Jack Tempest that when his collection came up for auction many of the bidders who flocked to the sale on November 10 recognised a lot of the items on offer.

Forget names such as Palitoy, Britains, Dinky, Sindy, Bing and Marklin for a moment – recent auctions have shown the demand that can exist for lesser-known manufacturers and brands in the toys world.

This wonderful photo taken in 1914 shows the Coghill family plus a rather hairy friend: a rare large Steiff centre-seam teddy bear c.1906.

Over the course of 35 years Andy Houldsworth amassed one of the largest collections of Action Man and similar action figures in the UK.

In 1981 the most powerful man in the universe, He-Man, began his fight against the evil Skeletor to save the planet of Eternia and protect Castle Grayskull.

Nomura was one of the biggest Japanese toy makers post-war and is now particularly renowned among collectors for mechanical toys such as robots.

Shown here is one of ‘very few known’ examples of Yonezawa’s c.1962 Diamond Planet Robot – the largest tin windup robot produced, 10in (24.5cm) high.

This Japanese ‘Super Car’ tinplate vehicle is an unlicensed model, probably based on the Supercar vehicle from Gerry Anderson’s 1960s UK television series.

Bertha Alexander Behrman – aka Madame Alexander – was probably destined to be a doll maker.

To quote toys specialist supremo Daniel Agnew, ex-Christie’s teddy bear auctions, co-organiser of the annual 'London International Antique Doll, Teddy Bear and Toy Fair: 200 Years of Childhood': “It’s like being in a museum where everything is for sale.”

Illustrated here is a complete deck of James Moxon’s ‘Geometrical’ cards, each bearing figures of scientific instruments and dating from the mid-1690s.

Davidson Auctions in Annadale, New South Wales, Australia, is dispersing the contents of the Leuralla Toy and Railway Museum.

The sales at Stride & Son (21.6% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Chichester on September 1-2 included a trio of avidly contested items, each a rarity in three highly specialised collecting areas.

Revered in the world of railway modelling, the name James Stanley Beeson (1906-90), better known as Stan Beeson, attracted well-heeled collectors and specialist dealers to Tennants’ (22% buyer’s premium) sale on July 27.