ANTIQUES
A fighting force in the saleroom
Rare
As Christmas comes around, homes across the world will see new additions added to the already bursting toy boxes in nurseries and play rooms, with new fandangle must-haves taking centre stage and what remains of last year’s toys being left of the shelf.
1970s Grand Prix Action Man - sold for £110
chauffeur -sold for £80
than boxed, with many duplicates in the mix.
During the gentleman’s 40 or 50 years of collecting, each item was sorted and categorised, his home filled with storage boxes neatly labelled in a logical, systematic way. Circus figures in one box; British army figures in another; soldiers from WWII standing to attention; popular TV and film characters bringing back memories.
a pack. Then, with one pack came the need for another, and another until the troop was a force to be reckoned with.
Having spent his entire adult life collecting toy soldiers and model figures, the gentleman collector had amassed over 10,000 single pieces – the size of a literal small army.
Yet at Sheffield Auction Gallery, their recent specialist toy auction proves that those once-loved toys are better off collecting dust in the attic or under the bed than being thrown away for good.
As the region’s oldest auction house dating back to 1840, Sheffield Auction Gallery are one of the area’s leading toy specialists, holding bi-monthly sales with everything from train sets to teddy bears, dinky toys to dolls falling under the gavel.
In October, a single toy figure collection went under the
hammer for just shy of £20,000 – just think how much LEGO you could buy with that.
Growing up in the pre and post- war era, many young boys were hell bent on becoming action men, reliving the stories of their fathers or uncles who had spent years away in combat. Toy soldiers were prevalent in toy collections, with rows and rows lined up ready to face each other as the battle waged on.
Step by step, collections were added to; you could never just buy one toy soldier, you needed to buy
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On his death, his single collection, mainly soldiers, were handed over to Sheffield Auction Gallery to be sold in lots at auction.
Having spent 40 years in the specialist collectable toy market, this was possibly the largest single model collection that valuer and auctioneer, John Morgan, had ever seen and dealt with; with far too many to count, the assembly of figures could reach anything up to 30,000 items.
While the collector probably never played with the figures in a conventional way, the majority of the toy soldiers were loose rather
Part of the collection
Finding a plastic figure in one piece and fully painted is rare.
His overwhelming collection also included forts, play sets and exact replica collectable military figurines.
“Most collectors are not
interested in both toys and military, they either choose one or the other so it is very rare to find such a great
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