Morphy's Welcomes Holiday Season with Nov. 30-Dec. 2 Antique Toy & Collectibles Auction

Featured: Ultra-rare Electro Man robot, American & European toys, marbles, Jim Challenger biscuit tin collection, complete 1951 Bowman baseball card set, collectible sneakers

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Morphy Auctions

Nov 24, 2021, 08:32 ET

DENVER, Nov. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Many lucky antique toy collectors will be enjoying their holiday gifts early this year, thanks to Morphy's Nov. 30-Dec. 2 gallery auction of fine toys and popular collectibles. The 1,633-lot auction contains a broad selection ranging from early American cast-iron, German tin toys, and a famous biscuit tin collection to a trove of rare 1952 baseball cards, boxed collectible sneakers, and one of the rarest of all Japanese robots. All forms of bidding will be available, including live online through Morphy Live.

Ultra-rare circa-1950s battery-operated tin-litho 'Electro Man' toy robot with original box. Marked 'SY Made in Japan.' One of very few known examples. Provenance: F.H. Griffith collection, appeared as the cover toy on Sotheby's catalog for the Dec. 9, 2000 auction of 'Important Robots and Antique Toys from the Estate of F.H. Griffith.' Estimate $100,000-$150,000

Complete set of 1951 Bowman color baseball cards together with 108 duplicates (Bowman 1951), and 13 cards from Bowman's 1950 series. Includes rookie cards including Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle (Mays rookie card shown here), and 30 Hall of Famers. Fresh out of a house and sold as one lot totaling 446 cards. Estimate $15,000-$30,000

Day 1 starts off with 180+ cast-iron mechanical banks including such favorites as a J & E Stevens Dentist ($3,000-$5,000), near-mint Artillery bank ($6,000-$9,000), a Bad Accident with its original wood box ($4,000-$6,000), and a coveted Girl Skipping Rope ($8,000-$12,000).

The session also features 44 antique cast-iron toys, led by a 28½-inch-long Carpenter Tally-Ho passenger coach with seven hand-painted figures. Estimate $8,000-$12,000. Two fine German productions show characteristics distinctly reminiscent of premium-brand toys of their era. An early-20th-century horse-drawn carriage, possibly by Marklin, measures 19½ inches long and is estimated at $4,000-$6,000. Similarly estimated, a stunning hand-painted carriage possibly by Rock & Graner, features an appealing color palette of scarlet, green and gold highlights on a cream and royal blue chassis.

German automotive tin toys include a 1930s top-of-the-line Karl Bub 20-inch limousine with driver, $3,000-$6,000; and a rare Carette tin-litho windup with driver and woman-passenger figures, $3,000-$5,000.

Day 2 kicks off with nearly 200 antique and vintage marbles, including rare swirls, onionskins, Lutzes, clambroths, sulphides and more. A very rare (overall) 9.3-condition Akro Agate salesman's sample box set contains Akro Agates, Specials, Prize Names, Akro Spirals, Glassies, Akro Aces, Onyxes and Sparklers. Estimate: $6,000-$9,000

What an opportunity collectors of vintage baseball cards will have when Lot 2471 steps up to the plate at Morphy's. Fresh out of a house, it's a complete 325-card set of 1951 Bowman baseball cards with 30 Hall of Famers and rookie cards for Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Nellie Fox, as well as Ted Williams' last official Bowman card. Many consider the 1951 set to be the best set Bowman ever produced. Offered as one lot together with 108 Bowman duplicates from the 1951 release and 13 cards from Bowman's 1950 series, the estimate is $15,000-$30,000.

A very special grouping of 242 antique biscuit and candy tins comes from the collection of the late Jim Challenger. Unrivaled in the hobby, the collection is replete with delivery vans, autos, racers, motorcycles, buses fire trucks, boats, trams, airplanes and more. A circa-1910 Hartwig & Vogel's tinplate delivery truck candy tin is estimated at $5,000-$10,000.

Approximately one dozen pairs of coveted boxed sneakers will stride across the auction block on Day 2. Most are Stock X-authenticated. An eye-catching pair of Air Force 1 / Off White "Lemonade" sneakers in university gold with black metallic and silver comes from a very limited July 2021 release. Estimate: $2,500-$3,500

Day 3 of the auction promises more toys, including Disney and many other comic character favorites, plus vintage holiday collectibles, and robots. An ultra-rare circa-1950s battery-operated tin-litho Electro Man robot with its colorful original box was previously owned by pioneering robot collector F.H. Griffith. The auction's top prize, it is estimated at $100,000-$150,000.

View the full catalog online and sign up to bid at www.morphyauctions.com.

Media Contact:
Sarah Stoltzfus
877-968-8880
[email protected]

SOURCE Morphy Auctions