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Antique Toys
The most entertaining and enjoyable of all antiquing, has to be toys, they constitute one of the fastest growing fields of collecting. They appeal to people of all ages: For children, toys give countless hours of amusement, and for adults, too, they provide delights, not only because playthings are reminders of youth, but also because they convey glimpses into the values, styles, and technology of earlier times.
Toys have captivated Americans for more than a century from 19th century rocking horses and early 20th century touring cars to rockets of the 1960s. Also included are European toys that were frequently exported to America.
Toy collecting is a relatively new field, and only in the past twenty years has it attracted large numbers of collectors and inspired specialized auctions, collectors, clubs and scholarly research. The first toys collected in the United States were banks and trains. In the 1930s some bankers began to acquire a variety of cast-iron mechanical banks and still banks, primarily for commercial display. Toy trains began to interest collectors in the 1950s, and, even today, antique train collecting is one of the most popular specialties.
Prior to 1850 most toys were one of a kind pieces, with the exception of wooden examples produced in vast quantities by the German cottage industry. Today's toy collectors are most interested in mass produced toys made during the mid 19th century; however, toys manufactured in the 1960s and '70s are also being collected as investments.
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