Tag Archives: vintage toys

FRONT, Toys, Vintage

Treasure Trove of Vintage Toys go Under the Hammer

Princess Leia, R5-D4 and Klaatu carded figures sold for £260
Princess Leia, R5-D4 and Klaatu carded figures sold for £260

It’s literally ever vintage toy collectors dream….busting into an old abandoned building and finding a gold mine of untouched goods, and that’s literally what happened back in May this year when the old, abandoned and boarded up building that once contained the Frank Beech Toy Shop in North Wales was opened up to find literally thousands of vintage collectible star wars, barbies, action man and GI Joe toys from brands like Hasbro and Palitoy.

The toy shop, which opened 70 years ago (the 1940’s), closed it’s doors in 1999, was boarded up and remained as such, filled with thousands of dollars worth of stock, until earlier this year when discovered by Vectis Auction House who went in to pack up whatever had been left behind when the store closed it’s doors 16 years prior.  Vectis were able to recover 120 pallets of boxed collectible figures, toys, cars, board games and dolls that would make every collector wish they had been the ones to find it.

The auctions, which have been split over a total of nine auctions, are continuing (part four ran last Wednesday October 21st) and are seeing collectors from all over the world from London to USA and to Australia, take part and bid on hard to find and elusive vintage items, most of which are still mint on card or still sealed in original shipper boxes.

Check out some of the items below from parts 3 and 4 actions.

Set of four carded Palitoy 70’s Charlie’s Angels figures sold for £50
min carded 80’s Polly Pockets sold for £140
Assorted boxed Galoob Golden Girl Accessories Sold for £90
Carded Boba Fett Star Wars Figure sold for £460
Box lot of 13 Topper Dawn Dolls sold for £320
Carded DC and Marvel Heroes box – Sold For £150

The first auction back in April 2015 only represented about 10% of the items available and raked in over £58,500 pounds with auctions two through four hitting the same amount leaving most expecting the total sale to hit nearly half a million pounds.  One collector paid £200 for four empty cardboard boxes covered in pigeon droppings because they had labels on from manufacturer Palitoy indicating they once contained Star Wars toys.  Speaking with The Daily Post, John Cathrall, a cataloguer with Stockton-on-Tees auctioneers Vectis Auctions, said  “They used to have Star Wars (toys) in them so people wanted them but they were absolutely awful!  The highlight was that we got someone who came all the way from Holywell just to buy two or three lots because it was his childhood Christmas shop.  He wanted to take some back, that’s what we want to see happen with the toys – we want to see them go back to good homes.”

boxes
The empty cardboard boxes that fetched £200 in the Frank Beech Toy Shop auction

The auction house says many of the Frank Beech Toy Shop’s most collectible items were brought back first and are “buried deep” in their warehouse and are most likely to feature in the final auctions.  Mr Cathrall added: “There was a heck of a lot of Star Wars grabbed on that (first) trip!

Dates are yet to be announced for the rest of the remaining five auctions.

Toys, Vintage

Vintage Toy Talk; Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones

Just some of the released Golden Girls figures.
Just some of the released Golden Girls figures.

In an era when girls toys were pink and feminine and boys toys were guns and trucks, this classic line of action figures tried to break the mold and aim for both target markets.

Easily one of the best and well made action figure lines of the 1980’s to hit the toy stores without the aid of an in-production cartoon series to boost sales, Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones by Galoob was, in reality, a step up in quality to that of Mattel’s She-Ra line – yet failed miserably in comparison of sales.

With both lines aimed at the young female market, Golden Girl and She-ra were created to counteract the dominance of the girly Barbie line and offer girls a chance to play with their brothers when He-Man and Greyskull Castle were brought out to play. Both featured strong, blonde, caped women in charge, a bevvy of sidekicks and a desire to kick some evil guy butt.

But…when comparing the two lines, especially in this day and age, Golden Girl easily beats out the Princess of Power.

Golden Girl tells the tale of ‘Golden Girl’ and her gemstone guardians, whose main aim was to protect the citizens of Argonia from the evil Dragon Queen.

Each Golden Girl figure came displayed in a windowed box with stunning artwork, a reversible cape, an awesome and heavy die-cast metal shield, a weapon with belt, headdress piece and of course, a comb so you can re-set Golden Girls do’ after a nasty battle in the sandpit.

In all, there were 11 figures released in the line – Golden Girl and her cohort of do-gooders including Jade, Onyx, Rubee, Saphire, and Prince Korma while Dragon Queen brought along Moth Lady, Ogra, Vultura and Wild One.

Even a Golden Girl board game existed!
Golden Girl, guardian on the gemstones.

The figures themselves were taller than She-Ra, more body proportionate, had bendable legs and actually seemed more in-place, aesthetically, with he-man than his sister ever did.  The paint aps on each figure were impressive for the market, especially that of Dragon Queen and Vultura who both featured an impressively evil face-up and made the line feel a bit more edgier.  Even with the addition of a castle playset, two horses, a chariot, coloring books, board game and three series of fashions, Galoob and Golden Girl lost in the battle of female heroines and the line was sadly pulled from shelves only after a year.

What seemed to be one of Galoob and Golden Girls biggest problems was it’s lack of direction in target market when in the 80’s boys played with He-man and girls played with Barbies and there was no grey area.  While it was clear She-Ra – with all her pinkness and femininity was aimed at girls, Golden Girl’s look was (as noted above) edgier and somewhat more masculine and it alienated the female market while the figures rooted hair and toy combs was passed on by the boys (you’ll remember while He-Man characters Teela and Evil-Lyn was given figures, both featured basic screenings and molded hair)

Check out the original Golden Girl announcement advert here

Before the line’s cancellation, there was talk of a second series of figures which included some amazing designs and playset concepts including Dymonda, Spidra, Turquoise, Dragon Queen’s Throne,  and Centura.

The figures, which were sold for a few bucks back in the 80’s, can today, fetch well over $50 for a carded figure, more for the horse and chariot and even more for a boxed play set.  For a line that was some-what confusing as to which gender it was aimed at and that lasted only a year (1984-85), it has now found itself a market with adult collectors who appreciate the grittier design of these vintage action figures.

Check out some very old adverts below!