If your childhood Action Man is in the loft, your garden shed houses a train set or you still cuddle your decades-old teddy, you will truly understand the power of toy nostalgia.
Nevertheless, even Hansons’ toy experts, Steve Fulford and David Wilson-Turner, have been surprised by just how powerful nostalgia has become when it comes to fuelling auction sales and rising stars in 2020. Our June Toy Auction achieved record sales in lockdown. An impressive 97% of 504 lots sold for a total hammer price of £75,000.
View our September 25 Toy Auction lots
Buyers were more determined than ever to secure items for their collections. And, thanks to lockdown, many items are being uncovered for them to buy. Forgotten playthings have emerged from attics, spare rooms and garages, delivering the perfect recipe for auction toy joy.
That recipe has a multitude of ingredients – old and relatively new. While Dinky vehicles, vintage train sets and tinplate items are as collectable as ever, we’re witnessing seismic changes in the toy sector. It started a few years ago with the explosion in demand for Star Wars items. Plastic play figures and spacecraft bought for a pittance in the late 1970s or early 80s can sell for hundreds of pounds, and large collections have netted thousands for their owners at Hansons.
Lots in our September 25 Toy Auction
This year a new rising star is emerging fast – the gaming generation is staking its place in the collectables market. That means your retro Gameboy, Sega Mega Drive or Nintendo could net you more than you ever imagined.
This was brought home to us with a bang in our June sales. We witnessed a flurry of strong prices for vintage video games, gaming consoles and equipment – results we’d never witnessed on this scale before. For example, lot 3122, a large number of video games including Sega, Nintendo and Xbox, made £660 and lot 3168, another large quantity of video games plus a PS1 console and Dreamcast arcade stick reached £560.
CLICK to view September 25 Toy Catalogue
Toy Department head David Wilson-Turner saw the trend coming because gaming is huge. There are millions of gamers worldwide and millions of fans pay just to watch masters play video games online. This sector has now come of age with collectors.
Nostalgia moves with the decades. As people get older and gain disposable income, they like to buy back objects that remind them of their youth or childhood.
Different toys, games and playthings appeal to different people but the joy they bring is universal. This year, perhaps more than ever, we want to be reminded of the good times.
To sample toy diversity, look no further than our September 25 Toy Auction. Hundreds of items will go under the hammer and the eclectic mix – which you can view at www.hansonslive.co.uk – shows how varied the sector is.
For example, lot 4222, above, is a Victorian dapple-grey rocking horse by Ayres of London with original horse-hair mane and tail and saddle. Estimate £500-£800. See a toy and you often picture its owner in your mind’s eye. I imagine a little girl in a white cotton frock gently rocking, a face full of smiles, on her trusty steed.
Lot 4009, below, drives us back to Dinky – a military gift set to be exact featuring an Austin Champ, cargo truck, armoured personnel carrier and army wagon. The vehicles have slight paint chips and the box is scuffed but the estimate is £80-£120.
Landing back in the 1970s-80s, lot 4141, below is a collection of assorted Palitoy Star Wars figures including Scout Walker, Tauntaun, Yoda and Chief Chirpa. The estimate was £60-£80 but bids soared to £150 way ahead of the auction.
Flipping back in time, lot 4242, is a pair of Pelham Puppets. Fireball XL5 was a 1960s children’s science fiction TV show and puppet characters Steve and Venus Zodiac have a £200-£300 – and bids are flying in.
Heading into the 1990s, lot 4174 is a 1998 boxed Gameboy Pocket Light Console, only sold in Japan with original packaging, estimate £150-£200.
On the same theme, lot 4180 consists of seven boxed Gameboy games including Color NFL Madden 2000 (sealed); Super Star Wars Return of the Jedi; Chase H.Q.; The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening; Pokémon Red and Blue (Spanish version) and Color Pokémon Pinball. Pre-auction bids had reached £75 well before sale day which means the £60-£80 is likely to be smashed.
The joy of toys is that no matter how many we sell, see and value, such is the variety there is always something new to discover.
Our toy expert Steve Fulford has run his own toy museum in the past. Nevertheless, when a large collection of W.Britain toy soldier sets came there was something he’d never seen before – The Camel Corps of the Egyptian Army, circa 1920s.
It will be sold in our November 23 Toy and Gaming Auction and entries are invited until November 7. Something to sell? Free valuations are available at Hansons, Heage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire, DE65 6SL, Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, Wednesday, 5-7.30pm, Saturday, 9am-noon. Alternatively, for toy valuations, email [email protected].
