Collecting News Briefs

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Top Ten Most Expensive Classic Toys - Wikicollecting

New Wikicollecting's Top Ten Most Expensive Classic Toys:

Image by Cea. via Flickr

"As Christmas approaches, it's impossible not to think of toys. So to celebrate the festive season, Wikicollecting presents a list of ten of the most expensive classic children's toys ever sold."

Toy soldier - $200,000

G.I Joe was the world’s first action figure, and he’s also the most valuable. The first prototype of the All-American Hero, hand carved and painted in 1963 by his inventor Don Levine, was sold at a Heritage auction in 2003.

Barbie doll - $302,500

The world’s most expensive Barbie Doll has some serious bling about her. Created in 2007 by the Australian designer Stefano Canturi, the doll wore a black strapless party dress, black stilettos and a necklace featuring a one carat pink diamond surrounded by three carat white diamonds.

Monopoly - $146,500

Hand-made by the game’s purported inventor Charles Darrow, the set features a circular board cut from oilcloth along with hand-made hotels and printed instructions. It was sold at Sotheby's in December 2010 as part of the Malcolm Forbes Toy Collection for a record price of $146,500.

Meet the thimble queen | queen, simply, many - Burlington Times News

Meet the thimble queen | queen, simply, many - Burlington Times News:

"Blaylock has at least one thimble for each of the 50 states and multiple countries, all the holidays, a Morton Salt and an Aunt Jemima thimble. She has a soda pop collection with Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper thimbles, the months of the year in which her family members were born, and thimbles made from pewter, silver, tin, copper, cedar and even seal skin.

And the thimbles aren’t just limited to the ones in the cases.

“The presidents are in a box,” Blaylock said, indicating the collection she ordered while Bush was in office. She said her Obama thimble is on its way, to make the set complete."

Blaylock’s sister, Blanche Wrenn, is partially responsible for building her thimble collection. Blaylock said she showed an interest in thimbles after a friend brought one back from Texas 30 years ago and started picking them up at yard sales, sometimes scoring five for $1. “Unless you’re collecting them, they don’t mean anything,” she said. Blaylock also began picking up thimbles anywhere she visited, including The Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas. “Anywhere that I would go that had a thimble, I’d buy it,” she said. Then her sister started ordering from Gimbel & Sons collectibles catalogs, Blaylock said.

Image via Wikipedia

As a thimble collector, don’t forget about other related items, like the original Monopoly thimble game piece, which is no longer in production.

"No one seems to know who actually invented the thimble, but it is believed they were introduced around 7000 BC, at the time when people started using cloth and needles."

ROBOTS INC.: Collection Gigantor - "Tetsujin 28"

ROBOTS INC.:

"THE ORIGINAL GIGANTOR was "born" in New York City during the summer of 1963. That is when Fred Ladd first saw artwork of a giant, needle-nosed robot remotely controlled by a young boy. The artwork had been created in Japan some 5 years earlier by Tokyo-based artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama; the adventures of the robot (in Japanese, "Tetsujin 28," translated as "IronMan 28") had appeared in a boys' magazine (Shonen) and were successful enough to generate a black-and-white animated TV Series called "Tetsujin 28-Go"."

Can't get this song out of my head, now. The theme song to Gigantor in 1960s American TV broadcasts has a lively, tribal beat, with half steps, like a samba or bossanova.

Robot News:

Vintage music a spin-out for collector - The West Australian

Vintage music a spin-out for collector - The West Australian:

"Mr Mau admits his collecting habits are starting to stretch the capacity of his Koondoola home but says he is not ready to give it up just yet.

His obsession with records and music memorabilia only took hold in the past two years, which is just as well because he has already poured tens of thousands of dollars into it."

Vintage music a spin-out for collector

Mike Mau's wife doesn't mind the jukebox in the kitchen but she's had enough of the one in the lounge room. She also has to contend with a 2m Gene Simmons mannequin and hundreds of old records.

Get all 4 KISS characters in a set - Funko Pop! Rocks

Pop! Vinyl toy figures by Funko

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