Deceased Father's Collectible Toys - What to do??

coralpm

I hope this is in the right place.

My father died 10 years ago and at the time he had well over 200 collectible fire engines. Many of them are in original boxes and there are Dinky, Corgi, Matchbox etc.

For the last couple of years they've been in a storage container and my Mum, Sister and I have no decided that it's time to find them a new home. They're not bringing any joy to anyone cooped up in a box and we feel it's the right time to let them go.

We're not sure what to do with them. I have experience selling on eBay but it's going to be a huge chore listing them all. I don't know which ones are worth the most and therefore worth excluding from bulk deals etc. I've looked into toy fairs and auctions but it's logistically difficult as the fire engines are in deepest darkest Cornwall and I'm in Norwich.

Basically I was wondering if there's anything I haven't thought of. How can I sell these as easily as possible? How can I be sure I'm getting a fair price? I'm in over my depth as I know nothing about them. Do any of you know anyone who deals in collectible toys? Google searches aren't coming up with a huge amount of information...

Thanks in advance.

queengoth

Perhaps contact a local auction house ? To go in a specific toy sale rather than a general auction. Or maybe look around for an advertised toy Fair, there are bound to be dealer there who would buy them job lot. Have you looked to see if there is a collectors club ? If you wanted the best price then I think you may have to list them individually on eBay or similar sites. I have always done well selling toys like this. Hope this helps

LEJC

Have you thought about a local auction house...they may not be worth thousands but there will be someone there who could advise you about selling them in either a toy sale or a general auction.
Even if the auction house cannot help they may be able to give you details of any local collectors clubs for the items...or indeed you may be able to google such clubs in your area.


model shops are few and far between....but there are a few around and again they are usually run or staffed by quite knowledgable enthusiasts who might also be able to help.
Is there a model type magazine or newspaper which may also be worth looking into.

queengoth

http://www.uniquecollections.co.uk

FatVonD

Do you have a tame teenager around that would photograph and list them for you for a percentage?

janb5

I have had recent experience of this and my advice would be NOT to sell them on eBAY!

We had my ex OH collection and there were about 40. I live in the South East and contacted C @ T auctions. I realized quite quickly that I didn't have enough knowledge of the cars and the man who came arranged for the cars to be photographed, put in an attractive brochure, price estimated and they were included in a specific toy auction.

His estimates were spot on and he also suggested to group the less perfect ones in a group and sell the perfect ones individually.

All the cars ( Dinky, Corgi etc - about 50 years old) sold really well and the remaining car that didn't sell was put in their next auction and sold.

I considered that their commission was well earned and the photos were of a far higher standard than I could have achieved.

Please pm me if you want more information. HTH

coralpm

No tame teenager to do the heavy lifting I'm afraid!

janb5 - thanks for your input. I was wary about eBay so I'll probably avoid that. I'll see if I can get in touch with a suitable auction house in Cornwall as that would be easier logistically.

Will PM you if I hit a wall though as your guy sounds ideal.

janb5

Hi,

I have just found the link. Your father`s collection sounds too valuable to sell on Ebay imo

Here is the link,

http://www.candtauctions.co.uk/contact-us/

It may well be possible to find a similar one in Cornwall or to consider sending some pics to C & T. I promise you I dont get commission! I spoke to a guy called Glen Chapman.

belfastgirl23

Would you consider selling on TV? There's always Four Rooms...

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/four-rooms

carolinabirichina

Hi
My husband died 5 years ago and I found myself in a similar situation only in his case he had a massive collection of plastic toy cars, probably about 1000+, some loose and some boxed..

I had no idea where to start, I had no idea of their value so I searched ebay and found that there was a small market on there for them. I started selling a few at a time and I was very pleased with the response. I got good prices, the cars were quick and easy to sell, very easy to post (I bought a large stock of small cardboard boxes) and they ended up going to other collectors all over the world.

In my case, a local auction house would have been the wrong place to sell because they would have had no idea of the actual market value and the whole lot would have been sold for peanuts. This was because the cars were not as well known as Dinky/Corgi and there was a very specialised, limited market for them which was mainly abroad and I got very good prices from overseas collectors.

I also found that the toy car collectors were a very decent bunch and I had no problems with buyers trying to scam me.

I began by selling the unusual coloured ones first, which turned out to be the most expensive, and then just worked my way through selling the unusual ones individually until they had all gone and then I sold the run of the mill ones in groups of 6 or 10.

What started off as a mammoth task actually ended up as being a very enjoyable and interesting experience and although it was a steep learning curve I was very pleased to have done it. I did feel sad that I hadn't taken much interest in the collection whilst my husband was still alive but to me they were just silly little plastic cars! Little did I know that some of them would fetch nearly £100!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I hope they sell well.
I took photos of my husband's collection as a whole and have kept a set of vehicles just in one colour so we have some keepsakes to remember him by.

Mr_Toad

Another word of caution about eBay.

If you list them all at the same time whatever rarity they may have is diluted by the number available and they won't reach their true value and you'll lose out. One way to prevent this is to put a reserve value on them but you need to know realistically what they are worth to do that.

The alternative is to list them one at a time over several weeks or months but that is time consuming and still no guarantee you'll get what they are worth.