MAC Forum

What do you find to be the "top" vintage toy planes that you have seen at flea markets, toy shows and auctions?

Category I: Those that show up most frequently;

Category II: Those that are popular with buyers, i.e. they sell quickly;

Category III: Those that are the best-looking;

Category IV: The rarest - we have touched upon this category before.

Strictly unscientific, subjective, opinions only! We don't have to go into this too deeply.

The one I think is the most popular of all, because it sold well and it had a long life span, is the Louis Marx pressed steel DC-4 with 27" wing span.

I would like your article which are mostly use to purchase plane.Thanks for sharing this article.

Tone wrote:What do you find to be the "top" vintage toy planes that you have seen at flea markets, toy shows and auctions?

Category I: Those that show up most frequently;

Category II: Those that are popular with buyers, i.e. they sell quickly;

Category III: Those that are the best-looking;

Category IV: The rarest - we have touched upon this category before.

Strictly unscientific, subjective, opinions only! We don't have to go into this too deeply.

The one I think is the most popular of all, because it sold well and it had a long life span, is the Louis Marx pressed steel DC-4 with 27" wing span.

Cat I-I would agree with the Marx DC-4 as it also came in a bunch of flavors (combos) but a close contender would be the Hubley 495 Fighter-Bomber (2nd) as it too had a long production life and many flavors. From there it probably would be the Tootsietoy/Midge toy families of jets from 1950-1970. They sell fast as they are an inexpensixe entry into collecting.
Cat II- Hubley Airacuda (4th), the Marx large DC-4(3rd), Metalcraft (?) Northrop "Pure" markings(2nd), Steelcraft Sirus in that order (1st)(also in cost magnitude).
Cat III- Dinkys though small were nicely detailed (2nd), that Northrop Alpha(1st) (Pure Oil) is pretty convincing for pressed steel
Cat IV- Erie diecast (3rd) Hubley cast iron Sirus (2nd)and Fokker yellow seaplane (1st)

I would be interested in a category for just pressed steel airplanes as they have survived in quanity and have many choices.

Tom

I am now in the middle of drastically reducing the size of my collection and have had to address some of the issues Tone raised.

I am selecting out of a massive collection the rarest, finest, most valuable, most interesting to end up with a far smaller and tighter collection {hopefully, a permanent one that would fit in a large bookcase, instead of the current one displayed and filling a room the size of a 3 car garage}.

From each collecting field, I am keeping out a few examples, and from each die cast maker 2 or 3 of the best I have collected.

The only exception to that rule is the 1/200 scale toys and models of which I have a very large grouping, both British 'cottage industry' made ones, wartime German Wiking IDs and their post war ones, and a series of HBM- Ron Crawford's series of 1/200 resin models. I think 1/200 scale is ideal for my collecting needs and it is quite an awesome sight to see an Airbus 380 next to a DC-4 and a piper cub- all in the same scale. The new issues coming out of China by Herpa etc are probably the finest models in any scale I have ever seen.

Interesting that Tom mentioned Erie, as I had a good collection of these - all types- and a boxed set. So to select one to keep took some thought. In the end I settled on a red Northrup Alpha in 9 condition out of 10. Not that is is a very valuable piece, mind you, but I haven't ever seen another like it. The rest have gone.

In the cast iron area, I kept some Hubleys - the massive and rare Friendship float plane, the entire series of the 4 sizes of the DO-Xs, and the two sizes of their smaller pursuit plane - not the pursuit plane is that rare or valuable - $70-110- all day long-but the examples I am keeping are in excellent, original finish. My America, Sirius, Fokker Sea Gull and all the others have gone. That, too, took some reflection as the Sirius was a 15 year search for a near mint, original example that had good examples of Charles and Ann Lindbergh in the cockpits.

I haven't nearly finished with the Dinky Toys selection yet but so far a few mint examples of the 1940-41 camouflaged planes {some 3 or 4} are selected.

From the Solido, Tekno, Aero Mini, Tootsietoy and the Mercury ranges, which were mostly complete with all variants, most in boxes, I under went a similar selection process, and while I am saddened to see all the non selected ones go, I have retained some of the superb boxed examples of the ultra rarest.

I will have more to say on this when I have finished the process, perhaps by August. Deadline is next fall in any case as the room will be transformed into a master bedroom suite hopefully by Christmas.