Back in 1990 I set up an old toy store-room in my cellar to house a growing pile of spare vintage toys, which were not part of my own collection.
These were amassed from the fabulous Car Boot Sales in our area at the time, where Ghostbusters, Batman, Thundercats, Star Wars and He-Man toys were in plentiful supply.
My cellar doubled up as a 'shop' as well with the odd collector visiting, trading and buying. I also began to stand at local evening and weekend toy fairs, but largely sold via mail-order through the UK's Model Mart magazine.
It was really great fun for me: I was a newbie, my knowledge of the hobby grew and grew, I met some super people and it was a golden period of great finds, prolific bargains and pre-internet sales.
Times changed in the world of selling in the late 1990's and from 2000 I began selling my old toys online.
I'm still amazed by how much time I used to devote to this side of our hobby. In 2005 I gave up a 'good' job to do it full time - I had an office, an online 'shop', business cards, even a T-shirt! I was the quintessential old toy dealer living the 'dream' but really still a collector at heart.
As I didn't have the capital to buy mint rare boxed stock. I settled on loose cheap toys from car boot sales, charity shops and flea markets. Any good stuff I acquired went onto my toy stand I took to toy fairs and swap meets in the North of England, where I occasionally sold the odd project SWORD item as well.
Despite selling literally thousands of collectables since 1990 I couldn't keep the dream alive and make it pay - I'm not really a businessman at all - and again I had to return to conventional paid jobs around 2006. Doh!
My zeal for the 'toy dealer' way of life waned around 2009, slowly dwindling each year after that to the point now where I sell maybe a few things online every few months.
I don't regret putting so much time and effort into this side of the hobby. It was a busy and fascinating time and I was twenty five years younger when I started.
I still have photographs of sold goods from 2009 onwards, so, as its Friday night and time to kick back and chill after a week's hard toil, I thought I'd begin a few posts showing some of these pictures. There are no Captain Lasers or James Bond attache cases I'm afraid, just common or garden used toys of varying ages I used to buy in bulk and sell cheap, with the odd exception when luck was on my side and my coffers re-filled, sadly a very rare occasion!
What has been your experience been of buying and selling old toys readers?
NB: the game in the second row, 4oD, proved to be of interest as the first time I showed it on the blog the game's actual designer got in touch!
Wonderful to see Woodsy. I wonder if you could give an account of those most pleasant surprises, end-price or otherwise? Love the Matchbox MAC, got one loose with the figure but never had one boxed. Lesney made some wonderful plastic toys as well, like the Matchbox Live-n-Learn line.
ReplyDeleteCheers Arto. Alas, all my pre-2008 Ebay photo's were lost when my old laptop died. I have but a few from the 1990's of what sold. I don't know that Live n Learn series but I do like the MAC line. I have a MAC Rescue Set boxed somewhere. I also had about 30 boxed Action Jack figures at one time. Lovely figures and part of the MAC family. There's a cool website here http://mobile-action-command.de/eng/index.php?seite=startseite
DeleteThe first MAC sets I got were 2 of the firetrucks for 50 cents apiece at a Montgomery Wards in Indiana. They were in baggies, no name on them so I had no idea what they were but cheap, firetrucks and figures = pure delight to a young lad. All the ones I had were the flat chested ones and not the muscled ones most seem to have pics of. I ended up with a helicopter, ambulance, boat. The only thing I know for certain I still have besides the odd first aid kit and oxygen bottles off with my surviving Micronauts, is the Rescue Mobile Van Headquarters that held up pretty well. The cherry picker is rather loose so the bucket slips out and 1 if not both of the pieces on the bucket (light, water cannon) are broken off.
ReplyDeleteGreat memories Lance. Its weird how branded toys ended up sold off in unmarked bags isn't it. It happened here too. I've had loads of Action Jack figures go through my 'hands' over the years: there's something really quaint about them. I once got hold of about twenty figures and accessories and empty boxes. What fun I had putting them all together in the right boxes. There were countless accessories in the series! I know I didn't have any as a kid but then again I was born in 1960 so I think they came later. Oddly enough, MAC is the sign-ff of Project SWORD personnel in the strip in SOLO comics. Like FAB in Thunderbirds. No idea what it meant. As for the toy line I like the way everything sounds similar: MAC, Action Jacks! I think the globe logo is one of my fave toy logos.
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