Four major collections anchor Inman's Mar. 17-19 Toy Auction Randy Inman Auctions' Mar. 17-19 Spring Toy Festival is centered around four advanced collections with a strong emphasis on pressed steel and cast iron.
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - Randy Inman’s March 17-19 Spring Toy Festival
features four private collections of outstanding quality
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Randy Inman Auctions returns to the new, state of the art function hall of the Allentown Fairgrounds’ Agri-Plex for a 2,000-lot toy auction March 17-19. Dubbed the Spring Toy Festival, the sale is centered around four advanced collections from four different states, with a strong emphasis on pressed steel and cast iron.
“Collectors are going to be thrilled with the caliber of toys in this sale, which have come from long-held collections in the Midwest and both the East and West Coasts,” said Inman. “Cataloging toys of such beautiful condition has been a real pleasure.”
A major grouping of toys has been consigned by Jack and Donna Johnson of Kimball, Nebraska. Their collection exhibits their interest in a wide variety of playthings, but the majority are cast-iron toys by Arcade. In addition to farm and automotive vehicles by the prestigious manufacturer, there are many examples of Arcade dollhouse furnishings, miniature tools on their original cards, and toy garage sets with filling station pumps and other accessories.
Also included in the collection are Arcade still banks, a large collection of cast-iron toy stoves and several airport hangars and service stations. The selection also includes examples of the scale-model miniatures so favored by Arcade collectors, including toy lawn mowers, doll carriages and beds, gardening tools and dollhouse furniture such as Hoosier cabinets, step-back cupboards and water heaters.
“Almost all of the Johnson collection is in original near-mint condition – really superb” said Inman. “Many of the items still have original Arcade tags and labels, and some are in their original boxes or affixed like new to original Arcade packaging. Surely it is one of the very nicest Arcade collections to come to the market in some time.”
Other additions consigned by the Johnsons include 40-50 paper litho on wood dollhouses and a 30-year assortment of American-made, boxed teasets in their original boxes. “Mrs. Johnson’s teasets are of tin, plastic and a few of china, and they span the 1920s through the 1950s. Many of the boxes have wonderful graphics.”
A fine selection of pressed steel toys – including examples by Buddy ‘L’, Keystone and Sturditoy – comes to the sale through Jewel Plumb of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Mrs. Plumb’s late husband, James F. Plumb Jr., amassed the collection, which also includes several pedal cars, TootsieToys, penny toys and cast-iron horse-drawn and automotive toys. In all, the Plumb collection comprises 300-400 pieces.
Another grouping of desirable pressed-steel toys has been consigned by Douglas Rieden of Albany, Oregon. “Most of it is in near-mint condition and comes with the original boxes,” said Inman. “There’s a lot of Structo, including Structo sets like U.S. Highway Department, which is mint in the box; the Army Engineers set, which is near mint and boxed; and an auto transport set with the original boxes for all the hauled cars.” Another subcategory within the Structo group is construction sets, similar to Erector
