A small fortune

LOOKING through the catalogue for the sale of retired Yorkshire GP Robin Kerr’s astonishing toy collection is like taking a helter-skelter ride back to short trousers, penny-chews and The Lone Ranger.

Memories are revived of rolling Dinkies down a wooden slope to see which one would travel the furthest along the carpet as I flick through images of every conceivable form of road transport: cars, vans, motorbikes, lorries, ambulances, rubbish carts, fire engines, petrol tankers, coaches, breakdown trucks... a seemingly endless list of the miniature vehicles that were most boys’ gifts of choice in simpler, less frenetic days.

Only one of my Dinky toys has survived the test of time: a light-blue late 1950s Austin Atlantic, kept because my father had the real thing, only his was black. Dr Kerr’s model is in excellent nick and worth about £80; mine is chipped and slightly dented and worth, in monetary terms at least, about a tenner.

And therein lies the rub. Most children throw away the box and actually play with toys – which means they end up like my old Austin. If the original box is retained and the toy kept in mint condition then its value is considerably enhanced... especially for pre-war rarities.

Dr Kerr, of Stokesley, started his collection as an adult in the late 60s, thus avoiding the temptation to ram his purchases against skirting boards. Finally he decided to sell – and over the past few days the vast hoard of toys, predominantly Dinky but also many by other British and foreign manufacturers, has been selling in 2,900 lots at auctioneers Vectis, of Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, for about £200,000.

A mint Dinky 1930s red and green sports coupe was included (guide price: £800-£1,000), while a boxed set of 50s commercial vehicles was estimated at up to £2,500. Most single-toy lots were valued at between £50 and £250 – and even some empty boxes were fetching three figures.

Most valuable are the rarities, of course... like the yellow and green Dinky which fetched £12,650 at Christie’s in 1994, still a world record. The Bentalls department store van cost schoolboy John Hemley just sixpence (2.5p) and remained in pristine condition because he varnished it when new and didn’t chip or dent the paintwork. In 2005, a 1960 blue and white Dinky glucose delivery tanker, with “Sweetness for Industry” on the side, made £9,250 and a 50s maroon-coloured Foden lorry went for £12,000, a record for a post-war Dinky.

A final word from Vectis specialist Andy Reed, who provides another explanation for all those mint-condition toys. “Quite a few few grannies bought their grandchildren two of the same toy, telling them: ‘Keep one safe - it could be worth good money in years to come’.” How wise they were.