A Mars Explorer space car helped send a Milestone Auctions event out of this world with nearly $1.3 million in sales during the 723-lot offering of antique and vintage toys in January. The toy sale was a record for the Willoughby, Ohio, auction house. Top lot: An all-original and complete Exelo battery-operated Mars Explorer space car complete with pictorial box depicting a Martian landscape: $42,120. Image courtesy of Milestone Auctions The all-original and complete Exelo (Japan) battery-operated Mars Explorer space car that had been estimated at a very respectable $12,000-$15,000, but it en ..read more

ROCHESTER, N.Y—They are the forgotten five, a handful of toys that each year are somehow excluded from induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame. For too long, Transformers, the pogo stick, the Fisher-Price Corn Popper, My Little Pony and PEZ dispensers have been bypassed. But not this year. For one of the five, this is the year they finally make it into the Hall of Fame. And the best part? You get to decide which gains entry. Hasbro introduced Transformers, a toy line of action figures that change their shapes, in the mid-1980s. Kovels Antique Trader file photo Toys usually are chosen for ..read more

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio—The legendary collection of toys from Elmer’s Auto & Toy Museum, Fountain City, Wis., heads to auction Saturday, Oct. 28, at Milestone Auctions. The event is the first in a multi-year series of quarterly sales of thousands of toys that enchanted museum visitors for nearly 30 years. Elmer and Bernadette Duellman were married 56 years and amassed one of the greatest auto and toy collections in the world. Elmer died in 2019. Image courtesy of the Duellman family Elmer and Bernadette Duellman started Elmer’s Auto & Toy Museum in 1994. It quickly grew into one of the most i ..read more

Remember the excitement of a Christmas morning at just 3 or 4 years of age? The way the magic in the air hung so heavy it felt as though one was swimming in it—as if the stairway from bedroom to living room was a waterslide awaiting its rider and promising a surprise splash ending sure to cause sheer delight. What if you had the opportunity to relive that brief moment in time all over again—to experience that innocent and youthful thrill of childhood enthusiasm as an adult of 40, 50, 60 years of age? Chances are, it would take a lot to recreate it—such as, say, five or so buildings stocked wit ..read more

I feel for Ken, the poor sap. It’s not his fault. Not really. There are forces at work in the universe we are powerless against. I can speak with some authority on the subject – being a member of the male species my entire life – when I say that every man, plastic or otherwise, has made a fool of himself over a pretty face. And Barbie, Ken’s longstanding girlfriend, is definitely a pretty face. She started life as a teenage fashion model, for crying out loud. Ken was doomed from the start. And it’s only gotten worse. Barbie entered the world in 1959 as a teenage fashion model. Antique Trader f ..read more

We've all heard the old childhood excuse “My dog ate my homework”? But how often do you hear “My dog ate my antique”?  A family in the United Kingdom was cleaning out their mother’s house and found a familiar bisque-headed doll that was originally their grandmother’s. They remembered seeing the doll sitting on their mother’s sofa—and how the family dog, as a puppy, chewed off one of the doll’s feet!  Despite a puppy's gnawing of its right foot, a rare bisque doll sold for more than $65,000 at auction. Courtesy Vectis Auctions Despite the chomping, the family's rare bisque doll recen ..read more

By the power of Grayskull, He-Man leads trio of classic toys inducted into The Strong National Museum of Play Hall of Fame. ROCHESTER, N.Y. — It’s official! The ancient top, cultural phenomenon Masters of the Universe and the beloved Lite-Brite have been inductedw into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play. The honorees were chosen from a field of twelve finalists that also included bingo, Breyer Horses, Catan, Nerf, piñata, Phase 10, Pound Puppies, Rack-O and Spirograph. This Disney character tin lithographed spinning top comes from the 1930s. Courtesy Heritage A ..read more

Antique toy auction with acclaimed expert Noel Barrett features Dresden Santas, ornaments, tin toys, trains and other vehicles, and much more. Decorated feather trees, Dresden Santas and ornaments are among the auction highlights. Photo courtesy of Pook & Pook DOWNINGTON, PA — Pook & Pook is getting ready to help Santa and his elves again this holiday season. Passionate toy collectors have eagerly been awaiting the next Antique Toy Auction with acclaimed antique toy expert Noel Barrett. Tucked between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the upcoming auction will be at 9 am EST on Friday ..read more

When you're a kid, Star Wars meant cool costumes for Halloween, toy lightsabers for Christmas and grappling with the notion that your life was somehow shaped forever by an epic story. When Amy Sturgis was a little girl, just a smidge taller than the shrubs by her house, she dressed up like Princess Leia for Halloween. That’s what happens when your parents take you to see Star Wars six times even though you’re only five years old and can barely see over the theater seats in front of you. Little Amy Sturgis in her Princess Leia Halloween costume. Image courtesy of Donald R. Sturgis Of course you ..read more

With their bright colors, charming graphics, and nostalgic appeal, tin litho pails add summer cheer to a collection. This scarce Popeye tin litho sand pail and scoop by Chein had 21 bidders after it. It shows scenes of Popeye rescuing kids from the water and handing them a sand pail. Marked “J. Chein & Co. USA” and “Copyright 1932 King Features Syndicate Inc.”; 6” x 6” x 6”, $1,722. Courtesy of Morphy Auctions The sight of a sand pail can evoke childhood memories of those sunny, carefree days spent at the beach or lake shore when the biggest worry was if an incoming wave would wash away th ..read more