Market Report — Lego Still One of the Hottest Collectibles

Most of us are familiar with Lego, whether it’s from building sets ourselves, buying them for kids—or recognizing them as one of today’s hottest collectibles. There is an estimate that seven Lego sets are sold by retailers every second. The market for vintage and used sets is impressive, too. Recent research focused on online sales […]

Market Report — Jigsaw Puzzles

The first “dissecting” puzzle was created in 1762 by map engraver John Spilsbury. He mounted his maps onto wood and cut around the countries in order to help children learn geography. Soon more educational puzzles were being made with other maps, as well as farms and religious scenes. The term jigsaw comes from the saw, […]

How to Buy or Sell — Toys

Don’t discard any old toys. Even a tiny Barbie doll’s girdle has value to a collector. The best-selling toys are antique dolls, teddy bears, nineteenth-century iron toys, robot and space toys, pedal cars, and scale model autos and trains. Dollhouses and dollhouse furnishings, dolls front the 1930s to the 1960s, including Barbie and her accessories, […]

How to Buy or Sell — Dolls

Dolls are easy to sell, but hard to price. Rare old French and German dolls from the nineteenth century bring thousands of dollars and should be sold to a top doll dealer or through an auction gallery. Several galleries have sales devoted just to dolls. The major collectors, with the most money and the best […]

How to Buy or Sell — Miniatures and Dollhouses

There are many collectors of dollhouses and miniature dollhouse furniture. The older and more complete the dollhouse, the more valuable. There is also extra demand for wooden houses with lithographed paper exteriors made by BLISS. The name is often included on the dollhouse. Other important names are McLOUGHLIN BROTHERS, SCHOENHUT, TOOTSIE-TOY and some modern plastic […]