What Does a $5 Million Dolllar Toy Collection Look Like? Forbes Toys For Sale
December is the season for toy buying. Parents everywhere will be purchasing playthings from their local Targets, Wal-Marts and ToysRUs. But some of the well-heeled and moneyed set won’t be heading to the mall for their toys. They’ll be going to Sotheby’s. Why? This December the legendary auction house will be hosting an auction of extensive Forbes collection of vintage miniature toy soldiers and boats will be up for sale.
For the past twenty-five years these mini masterpieces have been on display at the Fifth Avenue headquarters of Forbes Magazine. The items were arranged in small vignettes, a charming scene for those heading to mag’s offices. The collection includes over 7000 pieces and will be sold in about 250 lots. The toys were made from the late 1800s to the 1950s and are worth a fortune, seriously. The auction is slated to bring in about $3 or $5 million bucks. There are several pieces that will bring in big bucks all by themselves. An example? A boat toy, a 37-inch-long replica of the Cunard Line’s Lusitania cruise ship, will probably sell for over $100,000. Malcolm Forbes had bought is for $28k back in the eighties.
Malcolm’s father, the founder of Forbes, had bought his sons toy boats when they were tiny, and it was a passion that stuck with Malcolm. But Robert Forbes and his other brothers thought it was time to let the toys go. He said he wanted to give, “others a chance to own them, collect them, and maybe even wind them up on a pond or pool and watch them go.”
Don’t you wish could sell your kid’s toys for that much? Sure they’d have to do without but they’d be set for collage and beyond!
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