Just been to my fourth large Car Boot sale of the summer as the season turns to Autumn here in Northern England. Having been I pose the question: are car boot sales dead with regards to vintage space toys? I haven't found a single thing all summer and I've walked by hundreds of stalls. Now don't get me wrong, there's lots of vintage toys - dinky and corgi die-cast, plastic vehicles, Airfix soldiers etc - and tons of second-generation Gerry Anderson like 1990's/2000's Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. There was even a loose Matchbox Tracy Island. But as for space toys from the Golden Age of the 1960's and 70's, not a cosmic sausage! Is Ebay to blame for this?
I haven't frequented any toy fairs or antique markets this year but wonder if this apparent dearth of space toys is repeated there as well?
Is this a purely a UK malaise?
PS. mystery modern vehicle seen in a box of modern Thunderbirds toys. Matchbox sized, die-cast. Like a flat space car with stripes. Any clue? Apologies for the artwork!
i think that ebay and the prevalence of tv programmes promoting 'cash in the attic' etc has wiped out any chance of finding anything remotely interesting at a public venue. I used to love selling at car boots, but the attendees clawing at the back of the car as we pulled up, trying to unload the stock before I can even stop and then being swamped by neighbouring stallholders to pillage the table for anything remotely saleable, put me off. In recent years you could see standard dinky toys such as the MSV and SPV being sold off the end of a wallpaper table for silly money. Anything remotely recognisable as 'collectable' is immediately hiked up and any item that attracts more than a passing interest is subsequently 'reappraised' and doubled in price. The blog itself has had an effect on ebay sales and is often cited in auctions or 'quoted' in the listings such as the 'Project Sword Badge made by Wotan' that popped up to my particular amusement some while ago.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. I rarely frequent garage/yard/patio/deck sales at people's residence sales anymore here in the US, but it's rare to see collectibles at these events unless the seller doesn't know them as being collectible. Typically I would see things that are within 10 years old---that would have belonged to kids who lived there but have now outgrown them, perhaps moved out or gone to college. I can find more interesting, and collectible items, at some estate sales or at antique and collectible shows. But because of the widespread presence of television shows such as Antique Roadshow, and on the Internet eBay and collector websites and blogs and club groups on Yahoo or other providers... people in general have an awareness of potentially valuable items. So, they've migrated from the garage or boot sale towards an environment where the seller can charge, and expect to receive, more money. It is not just in space toys, but in action figures and dolls, too. I can attend a doll show here in Portland, Oregon, with my wife 3-6 times a year and expect to see at least a couple of vendors selling boxed Star Trek, Star Wars, or GI Joe/Action Man figures (typically the larger 8-12 inch sizes). That's how I picked up my boxed Classic Series GI Joe Mercury and Apollo Moon Landing and soldier figures, a generic boxed 'Astronaut Doll' from Dakin, a Hasbro Planet of the Apes Signature collection Astronaut Taylor, and so forth. Even the used toy stores are drying up. There used to be a couple of used toy stores in the Portland area, but two are gone and only one is left, and they sell a lot on eBay. I can find older comics or books at comic ships and used book stores, but not older toys.
ReplyDeleteGordon Long