Antique Board Games

For many families, playing board games is one activity that can be enjoyed by all members of the family, whether young or old.  The first board games to ever hit the market were created during the Victorian era and were quite simple in design.  At the time, a  company named McLoughlin Bros. was one of the first companies to get into building board games.   Early in the companies history they developed advanced color printing techniques for the day that were used to print books.  Soon the company started to build board games but by 1920 the company was bought by Milton Bradley & Company, which is of course the maker of some of the most famous board games ever developed including the Game of Life.  The first version of the Game of Life was actually called The Checkered Game of Life and was released by Milton Bradley in 1861.  Other famous board game makers include Parker Brothers, which is the maker of the highly successful Monopoly game, which ironically was released during the Great Depression of the 1930′s.

For collectible purposes, a valuable antique board game has a number of attributes including a board that is in excellent condition,  a box also in good condition, a manual or directions as well as all game pieces.

Antique & Vintage Toy Price Guides

Keeping track of the value of the antique and vintage toys on your list can be difficult.  While you may know a lot about the subject, it’s still best to purchase a good antique toy price guide to give you a basis for negotiating a price, whether it’s through an online auction, flea market, garage sale or antique toy show.

Here are a few good antique and vintage toy price guides that can help you determine the right price for an antique for vintage toy that you’re considering for purchase.

Vintage Gunthermann Toy Cars

In the 1800′s in Germany it was common for Tin or Tinplate toys to be built and often they were shipped to the United States and beyond because they were light at the cost to ship them was far less than heavier cast iron toys.  As time progressed and automobiles were eventually developed, one company emerged as a leader in building tin toy cars; Gunthermann.

Although this company dissolved in the 1960′s, some of their tin cars are still in great shape today.  Collectors are eager to get their hands on a tin Gunthermann car and prices can exceed $1000 for certain models.

Popular Antique Character Toys

Once considered a toy suitable for a child to play with and abuse, antique character toys that date back many years have gained popularity antique collectors all over the world  Antique toys are one of the hottest antiques to collect and their value has increased in recent years to new heights.

Some of the most popular antique toys that have a high collectible value and demand include toys based on television, film and comics.  From lovable cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, Popeye and Snoopy to movie cowboys like Hoss Cartwright and the Lone Ranger, antique character toys are in demand.

Take this Antique Mickey Mouse toy for instance.  Dating back to the late 1920′s, this simple toy could sell for as much as $3000 if the proper buyer was found.   No matter what you are looking for, one thing is for sure – collecting antique and vintage toys is perhaps the most fascinating of all collectibles.  For some it brings back fond memories, while for others it gives them a glimpse into the past.

History of Matchbox Cars

For most young boys, having a large collection of what we called “dinky cars” was a right of passage.  I had quite a large collection of them, not all actual Matchbox cars, with my favourite being my A-Team van, but I had others as well.  The earliest Matchbox cars can be traced back to 1953 when a company called Lesney Products created a small model of the Queen’s Coronation Coach.  Although this wasn’t as small as an official Matchbox car, it gave the company the needed resources to move forward with other models.

Soon after this, one of the owners of the company was presented with a unique opportunity.  His daughter’s school only allowed toys small enough to fit into a match box to be taken to school and played with.  Seeing opportunity in this problem, the company started to produce a scaled down version of the companies very first dinky car, a 1948 road roller.  The cars were indeed small enough to fit inside a matchbox and two other models were built during this first phase, a cement truck and a dump truck.  To prove that the cars were small enough to fit into a match box, they were actually shipped with replica matchboxes and thus the Matcbbox car was born.

For many years up until 1982 Lesney continued to market the Matchbox brand until  the company’s bankruptcy.  Unforuntately competition from larger brands like Hot Wheels hat cut into it’s profitability, leaving Lesney in a poor financial situation.  The Matchbox name and facilities were sold to Universal Toys who reorganized the company and formed Matchbox International Ltd.  Eventually Universal sought to sell the successful Matchbox brand and Tyco Toys became the new owner.  In an interesting twist, the Tyco Toys division that purchaed the Matchbox name was itself purchased by toy giant Mattel, who was also the owner of the popular Hot Wheels brand.

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