The Rarest of them all (Donald Kaufman Collection)

Monday,January 22, 2018
Overcast with Snow
-5 C  23 F

The Rarest of Them All

(The Donald Kaufman Collection)

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions on Liveauctioneers

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions

From March of 2009 to April 2011, this timespan was set for the Donald Kaufman Collection to be auctioned off. There were other collections being sold off, but Mr. Kaufman's collection was the premier one. Mr. Donald Kaufman, a famous collector of old and antique toys was selling his vast collection of toys. He was one of the best toy collectors both in the USA and the world. There would be 5 sessions spanned over a period of almost a week's time to auction off the exceptional collection of toys. 

Sadly, Mr. Kaufman would pass away at the age of 79 several years later. 

If you google "Donald Kaufman toy collector" or even "Donald Kaufman", there will plenty of search results on this famous person and his toy collection.

Description:

Germany, c. 1912, considered by every book catalog the finest in Marklin's range of toy perfection. It is a stunning masterpiece in overall detail, from bright hand painted open frame with exposed boiler, to its many added appointments; it is a pleasure to present this museum quality example from Don's shelves. Powered by live steam and produces pressure to release water from valves, the intricate gear work in open frame is a marvel of ingenuity, side hose reel frame repaired, one small door handle replaced, an all original piece. It has been noted that less than five are known of to date. Figures added to truck. Length: 18" 457 mm

I'll leave it up to you to find the final bid on this toy. Suffice to say, the result was more than was expected at this auction. I would highly recommend that you visit Bertoia Auctions on their website or  Bertoia Auctions on Liveauctioneers. This was one of the finest toy collections ever to be auctioned off, and Bertoia Auctions was granted the collection for this famous auction!

Some of Bing's 1920's Limousines

Monday, June 23, 2014
    Sunny and seasonally cooler

Some of Bing's 1920's Limousines

  I'd written about Bing toys in the past. One of my favourite Bing post was when I was able to match up actual catalogue drawings and written descriptions with the original toys. The Bing toy company (Germany) was one of the most successful toy companies in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. The company had a huge catalogue of toys, and made all kinds of toys. German engineering teamed up with excellent skilled workers helped in the success of the company.

   I decided to simply select 5 limousines of the 1920's and present them to you. Several of these toys came from the Bertoia Auction of the celebrated toy collector - the late Donald Kaufman. If you ever want to see superb toy collections, then you must venture over to the Bertoia website. Over a period of 3 sessions, the collection was sold, and garnered praise, as well as final auction bids.

Please click here to visit this fine website

I always an enraptured (amazed) by the fact that such old toys nearing the century mark could be kept for so long in such great shape. If only these toys could talk! I'm sure the stories that they could tell would be even more wonderful to listen to than the toys themselves.

I haven't been posting as much lately since I've been busy. My sister and brother-in-law came in from Toronto for a wedding here in Montreal.  I've also started to cycle again and teamed up with a fellow retired phys-ed teacher from Dawson College. He's in great shape,and we cycled about 50 kilometres this past Sunday - I'm still recovering! 

I also signed up with my city to use a lot of land 8' x 16'  ( 2.44 M x 4.88M) for growing vegetables.

It's a daily minor chore to check out the vegetables and water. It's also a learning experience. So far, my lettuce are having trouble. I think a groundhog decided to eat some of the long-leafed purple lettuce variety, and some of the other purple lettuce varieties are suffering from heat stroke. Everything else, including the green lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs are all doing fine. It's too bad the growing season up here is so short, but it's enjoying. 

I'll kep you informed as to how the garden is growing.

Thanks for dropping by

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey 

toysearcher@gmail.com