Models, Toys, Dolls & Games

Described as a ‘homage to all things teddy bear’, the second Teddy Bear Festival runs in the Sculpture Gallery and grounds at Woburn Abbey.

Three sessions devoted to antique and vintage toys over two days take place at RSL Auctions in New Jersey on June 2-3.

The belief that porcelain dolls are somehow sinister has taken hold in recent years – and doubtless the appearance of the rare bebe pictured below rather reinforced the bias of some who viewed the Heliers (18% buyer’s premium) sale at Blackburn.

In answer to the question “why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” mountaineer George Mallory, who died on it in 1924, famously replied “because it’s there”.

Ephemera Society member Robertino Poposki has been awarded the silver prize in the ephemera class at the Spring Stampex 2018, organised by the Association of British Philatelic Societies.

A single-owner collection of Tri-ang and other British toys will go under the hammer in what has been described as the largest of its type to come to auction.

German-made painted wood Noah’s arks, appealing to folk art and toy collectors alike, don’t get much better than the mid- 19th century example sold at Bonhams Knightsbridge.

Antiques dealer and fair organiser Marcus Potts is an Art Deco and early 20th century ceramics man, but he is an absolute mine of information on vintage toys.

Must-have Christmas presents in the Sixties and Seventies, Sasha dolls have remarkable appeal today.

Whatever chaos faces hundreds of thousands of commuters on the railways as we enter the New Year, the better-ordered world of model trains steams on to continued success.

A two-day sale to be staged by Morphy auctions in Denver, Pennsylvania on December 16-17 offers almost 1000 lots of antique and vintage toys, juvenilia and ephemera.

Barry Potter is surely the king of toy fairs: he and his sons Ellis and Simon run toy, train and model collectors’ fairs in seven venues across the country – in Surrey, Bolton, Coventry, Doncaster, Birmingham, Stafford and Rugby.

What expert James Opie described as “the most intriguing collection I have ever come across” provided Rochester auction house C&T (18% buyer’s premium) with its biggest statement yet in the toy soldiers market.

London is thick with antiques events this weekend and here we pick two specialist fairs in Kensington.

“A very niche but hugely vibrant market,” said specialist auctioneer John Morgan of the hobby of live-steam modelling.