Models, Toys, Dolls & Games

Must-have Christmas presents in the Sixties and Seventies, Sasha dolls have remarkable appeal today.

Whatever chaos faces hundreds of thousands of commuters on the railways as we enter the New Year, the better-ordered world of model trains steams on to continued success.

A two-day sale to be staged by Morphy auctions in Denver, Pennsylvania on December 16-17 offers almost 1000 lots of antique and vintage toys, juvenilia and ephemera.

Barry Potter is surely the king of toy fairs: he and his sons Ellis and Simon run toy, train and model collectors’ fairs in seven venues across the country – in Surrey, Bolton, Coventry, Doncaster, Birmingham, Stafford and Rugby.

What expert James Opie described as “the most intriguing collection I have ever come across” provided Rochester auction house C&T (18% buyer’s premium) with its biggest statement yet in the toy soldiers market.

London is thick with antiques events this weekend and here we pick two specialist fairs in Kensington.

“A very niche but hugely vibrant market,” said specialist auctioneer John Morgan of the hobby of live-steam modelling.

A collection of 28 German tinplate clockwork toys all found buyers, generally above estimate, at Bourne End Auctions (15% buyer’s premium) on October 4.

Topping the 175 toys at David Lay’s (15% buyer’s premium) sale at Penzance on August 22, was this 1930s clockwork tinplate Krazy Kar marked By Permission Walt Disney – Mickey Mouse Ltd to the rear and Made in England to the left-hand side.

More than 100 lots of robots and space toys feature in Morphy Auctions’ 1700-lot toy and doll sale to be held on September 16-17 in Denver, Pennsylvania.

Three names prized by collectors helped this 19th century German train set, pictured, to top the 330 lots of toys and railwayana offered at the David Duggleby (20% buyer’s premium) sale at Scarborough on August 12.

Multi-consignments from single-owner collections and a smorgasbord of different collecting categories provided bidders with a huge choice of vintage toys in specialist auctioneer Bertoia’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale on June 2-3.

Among the eye-catching pieces sold during London Art Week (June 30-July 7) was this reversible games board made in the late 16th or early 17th century in the northern province of Portuguese India, probably Bombay.