The man was wondering aloud what many of us longtime auction-goers stopped asking years ago. Where did he keep all of this stuff? “This stuff” was a collection of Disney characters – Mickey Mouse in…
Category: Toys
Pulling the strings on Disney’s Mickey & Minnie
Posted in Children, collectibles, Performers, and Toys
Mickey and Minnie had lost their luster. They lay inert in a case at the auction house like discarded playthings. Their clothes were tattered, their bodies were marred (Minnie had a chip on her nose),…
A hand-held mouth organ called a PlaRola
Posted in collectibles, Music, and Toys
First, I tried to get the boxy contraption to play, and then the auction-house staffer, who was just as curious as me about this instrument, tried it. As we watched the paper roll round a…
Cracker Jack prizes and childhood nostalgia
Posted in collectibles, Personal items, and Toys
The sign on the open flat box clearly identified the tiny metal items, but plenty of us auction-goers knew instantly what they were. “Vintage Cracker Jack Prizes,” the sign stated. Who among us Baby Boomers…
When cap guns were king
Posted in collectibles, and Toys
As soon as I saw the two sets of cap guns, they brought back memories. Memories of my boy cousins and little brothers who fired paper caps at each other with toy guns. How far we…
Things that make me go “Wow!” and “Huh?”
Posted in Carvings, collectibles, Home, Toys, and Vehicles
Most of the time when I’m previewing items at auction – usually in the hour before the action starts – I amble through the aisles, stopping at a table here and there, picking up stuff…
This auction was obviously for the men, and plenty of them turned out for it. It was also for those of us who like nifty little things, and we got our eye-full, too. We all came…
Vintage toy pianos that were child’s play
Posted in Music, Toys, and Uncategorized
The first piano I saw was in the back lot of an auction house, most of its front stripped clean of the black paint that defined the rest of it. All that was left was…
When I saw the dummy grenade in the glass case, I knew it was someone’s idea of a joke. Instead of recoiling from this faux weapon, I asked the auction-house staffer to take it out…