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FRIDAY JANUARY 12, 2024 • VOL. 54, NO. 2
Milestone Auctions’ Jan. 13 Antique Toy Extravaganza To Present International Mix Of European, Japanese And American Items Prototype For Marx’s Huge 1963 Big Loo Moon Robot Among Rarities Toys, toys and more toys! That’s what’s in store for collectors at Milestone’s big Saturday, Jan. 13, New Year’s Antique Toy Extravaganza in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. The 732-lot sale includes some of the most sought-after of all European, American and Japanese playthings from the golden era through postwar-production years. Many have their rare factory boxes and present in excellent original condition. Marquee highlights include a superrare boxed Linemar Mechanical Popeye & Olive Oyl Tank, a stellar Diamond Planet Robot, and a Marx Big Loo robot prototype with documentation and provenance from its original designer. The toy hobby is still buzzing about the boxed Popeye & Olive Oyl Tank that set a world auction record on April 9, 2022, when Milestone auctioned it for $105,000. One of perhaps a half-dozen examples known to exist, the toy had emerged from Australia, a fact that became widely known after the sale. But, contrary to the old adage, lightning did strike twice in the same spot. Worldwide post-sale coverage led to the discovery of another boxed
The rare German tin flywheel motorcycle, 9 inches long with spoked wheels and rider figure, all original with working flywheel mechanism, tiny spot of touch-up paint (possibly factory touch-up) on one side of gas tank, will be estimated at $5,000-$7,000.
In case Popeye and Olive would like some field fortification on auction day, they won’t have to look far. The sale also features a great looking Yonezawa Batman Tank, all-original and complete with its vinyl Batman driver. One of the rarest of all Batman toys, the bright red tin friction vehicle is emblazoned with Japanese writing, bat logos and nice-looking cartoon images of both Batman and Robin. The scarce toy is in working order and carries a $15,000-$25,000 estimate. Exceptional Japanese robots and space toys from the same production period as the comic-character tanks will be jockeying for the auction spotlight as well. A Yonezawa 10-inch windup Diamond Planet Robot is an especially rare variation
Popeye tank in Australia, from a different, unrelated source. The elusive character toy’s consignor, John Elsbury of Western Australia, received the tank in 1957 as a 7th birthday gift from his parents. He remembers being instructed by his mother to sit outside Randall & Edwards jewelry store in downtown Kalgoorlie
A cold winter day is the perfect day to enjoy making, or consuming, some homemade cooking. And there’s great comfort in reminiscing about grandma’s chicken noodle soup or mom’s apple pie and envisioning them working in the kitchen using their wood-handled utensils and well-worn metal pans. Nostalgia for using or displaying vintage kitchen wares never seems to wane, and the special sales display for January at the Haddon Heights Antiques Center is all about that. Shop goers will find cookbooks and recipe files, hand mixers and vintage electric ones, pots and pans, coffee pots and cookie jars, nesting Pyrex bowls, and vintage pot holders and aprons. Continued on page 7
Michener Art Museum Presents “Renewal And Change: New Acquisitions”
A Yonezawa (Japan) tin friction Batman tank, 8.5 inches long, all original and complete with vinyl Batman driver, working mechanism, one of the rarest of all Batman toys, will be estimated at $15,000-$25,000.
This extraordinarily rare Linemar (Japan) Mechanical Popeye & Olive Oyl Tank, 11 inches long, with original box, was consigned by original owner in Western Australia who received it on his 7th birthday in 1957. Toy is excellent and retains its original 2-shilling price tag. It is estimated at $40,000-$60,000.
Vintage Kitchenware Is The Topic Of Special Sales Display
while the secretive purchase was being made. Sixty-five years later, after stumbling across an online article about the $105,000 price paid for a similar-looking tank, Elsbury starting digging though old boxes and eventually located his birthday toy. It was still in its colorful pictorial box and even retained its original 2-shilling price tag. Elsbury got in touch with Milestone’s co-owner Miles King, and arrangements were made for the tank’s shipment to Ohio. Now a top entry in the sale, it will be offered with a pre-sale estimate of $40,000-$60,000.
with a silvery-blue body and red arms and ears. “Any Diamond Planet Robot is like a Faberge egg to robot collectors. It was made in two color variations, red body with blue arms and ears, and the even rarer blue body with red arms and ears, like the one in our auction. They simply do not turn up for sale anywhere,” said King. The auction example is complete and all-original, with its distinctive googly eyes, “oxygen meter” (on chest), and large windup key. “It’s a great example of what is arguably the most sought-after of Continued on page 2
The James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa., is pleased to present “Renewal and Change: New Acquisitions,” an exhibition featuring 29 works on paper including photographs, prints, paintings and drawings that were recently gifted to or purchased for the Michener Art Museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition, curated by assistant curator Abi Lua, considers ideas of “newness” and change in the works of art themselves. From experimentation with innovative artistic techniques, these works depict the many forms Continued on page 7
In This Issue SHOPS, SHOWS & MARKETS . . . . . . .
starting on page 3
SHOPS DIRECTORY . . . . . . .
on page 4
EVENT & AUCTION CALENDAR on page 5 AUCTIONEER DIRECTORY . . . . on page 5 AUCTION SALE BILLS . . . . . . on page 6
FEATURE AUCTION: Embassy Auctions International January 11 Sale - Page 5
CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . on page 7