Feature

COLLECTIBLE MEMORIES FOR SALE

By Judy Normand/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Monday, February 7, 2005 11:51 AM CST

Mary Diden, 80, still has the first doll she ever received as a child, and it is dressed in one of Diden's own baby dresses.

She has also kept her first doll house, a gift at the age of 7, she said. These and hundreds of other treasures are stored away in the house she's lived in since she was 6 months old. It may be time, Diden said, to part with some memories.

"I still have toys my mother played with. That would make them over 120 years old. My generation didn't tear their toys up!" she said.

Diden was one of dozens of people filing into a room at the Holiday Inn Express at Watson Chapel to see just what was going on at the International Toy Collectors Association's Toy Roadshow -- in town recently to ferret out some trash-to-treasure items for collectors all over the nation.

In some cases, the multi-day event was a family affair.

Wendy Hunthrop and her son, Chris, came bearing dolls and soldiers. George McCurley, the association's vice president, walked over for a look.

Mindful of his job to secure "hot" toys and hard-to-find treasures for thousands of collectors across the country, McCurley judged Chris Hunthrop's GI Joes -- two dolls, complete with uniforms, rifles, military equipment and accessories -- worth about $175, a too-low amount in the owner's estimation.

McCurley attempted to explain.

"The uniforms are worth the most -- this one is worth about $50. Joe, himself, is worth about $60. The prices for these items have actually gone down over the years, largely because they're so easy to get over the Internet," he said. Ten years ago, McCurley said, the Hunthrops' collection may have brought at least $800.

He continued with a bit of trivia: The GI Joe without a scar etched on his face is more valuable than those sporting a scar, and boots without a seam on the soles are made in the U.S.; boots with seamed soles are made in Hong Kong.

Wendy Hunthrop also brought in a "flirty-eyed" Shirley Temple doll, circa 1957. The first of the dimpled-darlings was made in 1937, McCurley said, but did not quote a specific price for this collectible. He said that he'd pay as much as $275 for the original Shirley Temple doll box, which was not, unfortunately, available. Original boxes, he said, are highly sought after, as so many are inadvertently destroyed or lost and therefore difficult to find. When a box is found in good condition and holding a vintage toy, big bucks are likely to be shelled out by collectors, he said.

The Hunthrops did not sell their treasures.

Matchbox cars and Hot Wheels were popular items at the roadshow as several people hauled plastic storage bins full of the tiny cars into the room. Janis Coddington, Frank Ratliff and Bill Blankenship all hoped to be owners of some valuable vehicles.

McCurley said that the Matchbox name actually came from the "sliding box" first used to house the little cars. The early ones (1947) were marketed under the name Lesney, which was a combination of the two owner's names -- Leslie and Rodney Smith, McCurley said. Today, Matchbox cars with gray wheels, he said, are the ones collectors get excited about -- especially if they're in the boxes. Blankenship, who said he's trying hard to "break the collecting habit," walked out with $70 for three of his unboxed gray-wheeled vehicles.

McCurley bought four Hot Wheels from Coddington and Ratliff for about $40. The most expensive of these, McCurley said, date from 1966.

"I'm all over the Hot Wheels with shiny bottoms and in weird colors. The collectors love these, especially the pink ones with surfboards out the back windows. They're worth thousands," he said.

Alician Shadle and her son, Brandon, brought in a large and much-played-with doll, along with a whole Fisher-Price village from the 1960s. She walked away disappointed, vowing to visit e-bay's Web site.

McCurley apologized, saying there was simply no market for the toys.

"They're good, but they are also widely available," he said.

The owner of a green Murray pedal car from the 1950s, in so-so condition, received $30. The cars, McCurley said, were designed to resemble, within a year or two, the body styles of the real 1950 vehicles.

Dale Ridgway had a 1984 "transformer" set, which was too new, McCurley said, to be of any value.

"That's OK," Ridgway said. "It's good to check it out, anyway."

Pam Wright was also at the roadshow as a buyer for the association. She visited with Lougene Francis, who brought in boxed Barbies belonging to her now-grown daughter.

"You have to look on their bottoms," Wright said, examining Barbie's boyfriend, Ken. "The better ones are stamped as 'made in Japan.' This one is from Taiwan," she said, comparing one of two "Kens" owned by Francis. Several dolls were scrutinized and $70 was offered for a couple, but Francis was erring on the side of caution, even as she made another trip out to her car.

"You went from $70 to $250 with that trip to the car," McCurley told her as she unveiled other Barbie treasures. "If you had the Barbie MG (a jazzy doll-sized sports car), that would be another $50."

Francis said later that she had decided to hold on to her daughter's dolls -- and Barbie's Dreamhouse -- but did finally sell a small, metal John Deere tractor and "another little truck." She ended up about $40 to the good and a sense of relief she hadn't parted with something she knew she'd regret selling later.

"I've just got to downsize, somehow," Francis said, "but I'm just afraid I'll get rid of something I should have kept. Besides, I think his (McCurley's) prices were a little low."

In the box, Ann Snuggs' 1963 Barbie may have brought as much as $100. As it was -- hollow torso and all -- Snuggs walked out a mere $20 richer.

"There are actually 10 Barbie's out there worth at least a thousand dollars and some up to $10,000," McCurley said of the original 1959 versions of the doll.

Raymond Torres said the dozens of toys he brought in were the result of "an accumulation of impulse-buying. I guess I never grew up," he said.

Torres was forced to take most of his toys back home, but the 1950s Zorro puppet, a 1960s race car set and what was referred to as a "little big book" years ago, with Mickey Mouse on the cover, earned Torres $80.

The association has approximately a dozen staff members who travel the country, branching out from headquarters at Springfield, Ill., McCurley said. All the toys bought at roadshows are earmarked for a particular collector and all are shipped out within two weeks of purchase. Collectors, he said, pay from $129 to $219 a year for membership in the organization, which is basically a fee they are willing to pay to have someone else do their toy-hunting for them.

McCurley said the organization's trip to Pine Bluff was "fair," referring to the type and condition of the toys brought to the show -- nothing, in other words, extremely rare or valuable.

"But, that's how it goes. You never know when or where you'll find something extraordinary," he said.

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