Vectis

Showing little sign of their huge popularity slowing down, Star War figures made a significant contribution to a two-day TV and film-related auction.

The Matchbox Magic sale at Teesside saleroom Vectis (20.83% buyer’s premium) on May 30 lived up to its billing by entrancing bidders.

A buyer got their teeth into an antique doll at auction despite the foot being chewed off by the family' pet dog.

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.

Vectis Auctions is expanding into new categories and has added three new departments.

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

To mark the new range of Star Wars toys that came with the release of Return of the Jedi in 1983, the Leicester firm Palitoy commissioned a series of hand-built and hand-painted store displays to send to some of its best retailers.

The latest Tinplate & Specialist Toy sale at Vectis (20.83% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Stockton-on-Tees included this large-scale tinplate clockwork vintage car by the Gebruder Bing factory of Nuremberg.

As in so many collecting fields, slight variations can be key when it comes to pricing of TV generation toys.

What was billed as ‘the finest Matchbox collection to be auctioned in recent years’ was offered at Vectis (20% buyer’s premium) in the spring.

The fortnightly Saturday afternoon TV show Whirligig was the first children’s programme to be broadcast live from the BBC studios in Lime Grove, Shepherd’s Bush.

Copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone impressed in several summer sales.

For most enthusiasts of Airfix’s plastic construction kits, it was the company’s dramatic box artwork that caught the eye when choosing the next model to make.

Considering that W Britain began making his revolutionary hollowcast toy soldiers only in 1893, a set dating from just three years later certainly deserves the tag ‘early’.