Monday 20 December 2010

Lots of fun: Tycoon's toy collection brings in $2.3m in Sotheby's New York auction

Scene setter: Part of the Malcolm Forbes toy collection which has been on display for the past 25 years in the lobby of the Forbes Magazine headquarters in New York

A collection of toys amassed over almost 40 years by the publishing tycoon Malcolm Forbes and his sons sold for $2.3million (£1.4million) at auction in New York.

It included toy boats, soldiers, motorcycles and board games.

One of the most expensive items sold was a 3ft-long replica of the 1915 ocean liner Lusitania, which was sold for $194,500 - a record amount for a toy boat.

Expensive gifts: The Forbes collection of miniature antique toy boats, luxury ships, soldiers, cowboys and American Indians, and games brought $2.3million at auction

Forbes had paid $28,600 for the Lusitania at Sotheby's in 1983.

Also drawing interest from several bidders was an Exotic Clockwork Gunboat Attributed to Märklin /Rock and Graner which achieved $134,500.

Another major highlight from today’s sale was an original Monopoly game-set of circular design, handmade by Charles Darrow, probably in 1933, and handed down his family.

On guard: A medieval mounted knight was one of the many lots in the Forbes auction

The game set sold for $146,500, well-above the $80,000 high estimate.

It is the earliest Darrow set known to survive, the only one of circular shape, and the earliest to include the rules.

Two rare sets of finely detailed medieval knights made in the 1930s sold for $15,000.
Some of the most valuable pieces date back to what collectors call the 'golden age' of toy making, from the 1850s until after the First World War.

Forbes, who died aged 71 in 1990, was the founder of Forbes business magazine and was a close friend of actress Elizabeth Taylor.

The collection had been expected to sell for up to $5 million.

Round the board: A highlight of the sale was a circular Monopoly set (circa 1933), which reached $146,500

Va va vroom: Also included was a large collection of vintage motor toys, which sold for $15,000

Record-breaker ahoy: One of the most expensive items sold was a 3ft-long replica of the 1915 ocean liner Lusitania, which was sold for $194,500 - a record amount for a toy boat

For his 70th birthday, he threw himself a $2.5million party in Morocco.

He only seriously started collecting toys when his children had grown up, buying an antique boat at FAO Schwartz during the 1970s.

Many of the early editions of Monopoly - a popular game in the Forbes household - were purchased by his sons, partly in homage to their father's love of capitalism.

Playing politics: Malcolm Forbes and his family meet President Eisenhower in 1957. Forbes ran for the candidacy of governor of New Jersey before devoting himself to Forbes magazine

Fast forward: Malcolm with his family in 1987. It was when his sons were grown up that he seriously began collecting toys

source: dailymail