Milestone Auctions – Elmer’s Toys Premier Auction #2
Saturday, May 11th @ 10 am
38198 Willoughby Parkway Willoughby, Ohio 44094
www.milestoneauctions.com

WILLOUGHBY, OHIO — Last October antique and vintage toy fans added a new chapter to the legend of Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum, which closed its doors in 2022 after 28 years of operation. Stoked by intense media coverage and toy-hobby chatter, bidders worldwide set their sights on rarities from the Wisconsin museum’s archive of 25,000 toys and paid estimate-shattering prices at Milestone’s first of a series of sales. After the event, collectors clamored for more and asked when the next auction of museum treasures would take place. The answer is on May 11 at 10 am ET at Milestone’s suburban Cleveland gallery, with all forms of remote bidding, including live via the internet.

The museum’s collection of American, European and Japanese toys was built over 50-plus years by the late Elmer Duellman. “Everybody knew Elmer, or if they lived overseas, they knew of him. He had an army of pickers from coast to coast, and if necessary, he would drive through the night in a blinding snowstorm just to pick up a toy, motorcycle or car that he wanted. He was the king of all toy networkers, with a reputation for tracking down rare toys that was second to none,” said Miles King, co-owner of Milestone Auctions.

The 774-lot auction traverses scores of categories, such as tin windups, battery-operated toys, pressed steel trucks, Japanese tin cars, gas racers and both automotive and character toys from Germany’s prewar era.

The session will open with European tin, starting with windup double-decker buses, limos and convertibles by Gunthermann, Bing, Carette, Karl Bub, Distler and Fischer; and an array of early Twentieth Century Lehmann clockwork toys. Lehmanns include: Anxious Bride, $1/1,500; Masuyama, $600/800; Zig-Zag, $600/800; Duo (Rooster with Rabbit Cart), $400/600; and Echo motorcycle, $800-$1,200. Other noteworthy tin motorcycles in the auction fleet are an all-original Kico, $1/1,500; and a G&K “Cyclone” bike with a liveried driver and female passenger, $800-$1,200.

Two “Gordon Bennet” tin windup racers pay tribute to an early Twentieth Century New York playboy and sportsman known for his foolhardy adventures in yachting, hot air ballooning, aviation and motor racing. One of the auction entries, a rare Gunthermann tin clockwork production with lithographed vents and a four-leaf clover on its bonnet, retains its two original passenger figures. The 8½-inch toy is estimated at $6/8,000. The other Gordon Bennet racer, made by Issmayer (Germany), has a functional clockwork mechanism and has both of its original passenger figures. It measures 7½ inches long and is estimated at $4/6,000.

Lionel is known for its train sets, but the firm’s production included a number of sidelines. An unusual example from Elmer’s Toy Museum is a rare 1912 #80 Automobile Outfit, which contains an orange race car, both original drivers and metal track. The set is presented in its original cardboard box with Lionel company advertising on the exterior. The auction catalog states, it appears never to have been played with ($1,5/2,000).

The sale also offers a strong selection of post-World War II automotive toys. Some faithfully replicate actual work trucks, taxis, fire trucks, scooters, delivery or transportation vehicles, while others are fueled by out-of-this-world imagination, like Yonezawa’s tin friction #58 Atom Jet Racer. Wildly futuristic, with super graphics, a toothy chrome grille and distinctly 1950s-60s graphics and colors, this car measures 26 inches long ($10/15,000).

All a child of the boomer generation needed in order to feel like a worksite foreman was a junior-size hard hat and a Tonka pressed steel toy. Tonkas were built to last, and many have, but because kids often gave them a workout in dirt mounds of mud puddles, they incurred a few battle scars along the way. Elmer’s collection boasts some examples that managed to avoid rough play, including some hard-to-find boxed sets. A 1955 Tonka #775-5 Road Builder Set that consists of a semi with lowboy trailer, steam shovel, road grader and dump truck comes in its original, correctly partitioned box. ($1,5/2,000). Also, there’s a 1959 Tonka 250-207 Hi-Way Construction Set with a lowboy truck and trailer, dragline, road grader and dump truck in its original box ($800-$1,200).

Four popular Dooling gas-powered tether racers are lined up and ready to take a victory lap around Milestone’s gallery. They include an “Arrow,” a “Mercury” and an “F Car,” ($1/1,500); and a “Pee Wee,” which, in spite of its smaller size, is just as much fun and more modestly estimated at $300/500.

Milestone Auctions is at 38198 Willoughby Parkway. For information, 440-527-8060 or www.milestoneauctions.com.

This Auction includes Many Rare and Desirable Toys from The World-Famous Elmer Duellman Toy Museum Collection.
Pressed Steel Trucks, Japanese Tin Cars, Character Toys, Tin Windups, Battery Ops, German Toys, & Much More!!!
Live Bidding: www.milestoneauctions.com | LiveAuctioneers | Invaluable
MILESTONE AUCTIONS GALLERY
38198 Willoughby Parkway Willoughby, Ohio 44094
(440) 527-8060 | milestoneauctions@yahoo.com | Auctioneer: Miles King
20% Buyers Premium Online | 17% In-House, Phone, & Absentee | Credit Cards Accepted with 3% Charge
MILESTONE AUCTIONS IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR QUALITY CONSIGNMENTS! ONE PIECE OR ENTIRE COLLECTIONS!! CALL 440-527-8060 FOR DETAILS