Sunday, January 14, 2024

Cloudy with sunny periods

-3° Çelsius / 26.6° Fahrenheit

Going Back to Old Auctions

with Dan Morphy Auctions

on LiveAuctioneers

Please click here to visit Morphy Auctions website

I started to blog in 2013, which seems like so long ago. I didn't know where I would be going with writing a blog post on old and antique toys, but having retired from teaching, it was a start. You can visit my first post, to see how I started writing about toys.

Initially. I was buying and selling toys, but that was expensive. Unlike the USA, up here in Canada, and specifically in Montreal (where I live) there are not many old and antique toys to be found. I searched and did find some toys, but not the ones that I had seen in the USA. 

I started buying and selling, with American toy sellers and individuals on ebay,

but with the exchange rate with the Canadian dollar and the US dollar, and shipping, I was losing money! So what I decided to do, is to ask American toy sellers if I might use their photos, and write about their toys. Sure enough, most of the people that I wrote to gave me their permission, and I was on journey to write about toys.

One of the people the I wrote to was Mr. Dan Morphy and his company 

Morphy Auctions.

Even way back in 2013, Dan Morphy was an excellent seller. He had a very good staff, and he sold lots of toys, among other merchandise. I always got the sense that he would do very well in the future, and so he has. 

Bravo, to Dan!

My purpose today wasn't just to write about Dan Morphy and his excellent company, but to write about what I discovered only just yesterday. I was visiting

live Auctioneers© and decided to see if I could find auctions from a long way back (10 years or more). And sure enough, I made that "discovery"!

I was able to find a Dan Morphy Auction from June 24, 2016!

And so, all of the presentations today are in fact from that auction, that is still recorded in a giant computer database at live Auctioneers© headquarters,

and can be accessed by anyone.

 

Length:  24 1/4"  (61.195 cm)

Name on back is "Comet"

Circa late 19th century

Size: 22"/ 55.88 cm

Attributed to W.S.Reed Company, this is a toy

simulating the type of ferry that was utilized between Staten Island 

and lower Manhattan along with several other larger

metropolitan cites. Featured in Antique Toy World Article. July 1991

Page 90 

Size 13 1/2" / 34.29 cm

Circa 1890. Pul toy on wheels.

Marked "Pilgrim" on both sides.

Simulated (Painted) waves on the bottomsides of the boat.

Length:  28" / 71.12 cm

Late 19th century. Unmarked, but probably Bliss or Reed.

Length:  36" / 91.44 cm

Circa 1908

Wind-up motor on the bottom. Has been finished in maroon.

Length:  15 1/2" / 39.37 cm

How to search for past auctions of a seller:

Above:

1. Go to live Auctioneers©  

2. Search for your auctioneer and enter the name and the year

3. You will see results that vary in content and years

4. Among the results, you will see a range of different years

5. Search for the year that you want

Above:

The arrow is pointing to the year 2016

The interesting points that I was making, is that you will find:

1. The prices of auctions from the past.

2. Find toys that may not be selling right now because 

they were very collectible at the time, and now

they are not showing because of their increased value.

So that's all for today.

As always, have a great time of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

(my name is Mr. Stacey Bindman)