‘Globally significant’ toy collection to go under the hammer
A world-renowned collection from the golden age of toys housed at a museum in the Blue Mountains is to be broken up at the weekend with an auction in the grand ballroom of the Hydro Majestic Hotel that is attracting international interest.
Think of a childhood toy and it is likely represented among items from the Leuralla Toy and Railway Museum amassed by collectors barrister the late Clive Evatt and his wife, Elizabeth.
Last night at the museum: Elizabeth Evatt at the Leuralla Toy and Railway Museum, which closed in May.Credit:Rhett Wyman
The pair worked tirelessly over 35 years, scouring the globe for rare and collectible toy and railway memorabilia to create what was considered to be the most important collection of 20th century toys under one roof.
Think Barbie in various guises including “Barbie Blonde Ponytail Graduation” complete with diploma in a good box (collectors like an original box), estimate $300. There’s a life-size limited edition of Tintin and Snowy (est $5000), a Steiff teddy bear (stitch repair to left paw, est $2000), 1930s felt dolls, model locomotives (including the Flying Scotsman) and original illustrations from Enid Blyton’s Noddy books from an era when it was OK to call someone Big Ears.
Hitler Youth propaganda toy not included in the auction because it is too offensive.Credit:Rhett Wyman
On a final tour of the museum, the Herald photographed wartime propaganda dolls – the Mussolini “black shirt” doll and “Hitler youth” dolls. A sign stated: “These historical toys are examples of pernicious Nazi propaganda aimed at indoctrinating German children. Ultimately, they contributed to war crimes and atrocities.” The dolls are not included in the auction due to sensitivities surrounding such material.
Staying on a germanic theme there is the precursor of Barbie – a German doll from the 1950s known as the Bild Lilli doll with an impossible figure, red fingernails, stilettos, white cotton polo and mustard shorts. The catalogue states: “She was supposedly based on the hugely popular Marlene Dietrich. The founder and director of Mattel, Ruth Handler purchased several of the dolls at a toy fair in Hamburg and went on to produce from 1958, the hugely successful Barbie, the highest-grossing toy ever made. Estimate: Up to $3000.
There’s Chad Valley Dolls of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, Buck Rogers’ “disintegrator” ray gun and a tinplate clockwork battleship of HMS Terrible (est $5000). Toy cupboard favourites include Popeye, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Noddy, Rupert the Bear, James Bond and Star Wars.
Two live auctions at the weekend feature more than 500 premium auction lots. An additional 1000 lots will be sold via a series of online auctions in the following three days.
Following the museum’s closure in May of this year, a team of four Davidson Auctions experts has been on site at Leuralla full-time, cataloguing the museum’s contents and preparing them for auction. According to Davidson Auctions director and auctioneer, Robert Davidson, the collection includes pieces that have become extremely rare and difficult to source by collectors.
“The sheer breadth of this collection, and the quality and importance of the items represented within it, make this a globally significant auction,” he said. “We are unlikely to see, again in our lifetime, such an astonishing and diverse collection offered for sale.
Bild Lilli, the German precursor on which Barbie was modelled.Credit:Richard Bulley
“We anticipate strong interest not just from serious collectors and institutions here and overseas, but also from toy lovers and enthusiasts near and far, each keen to secure their own piece of history.”
Elizabeth Evatt, who acted as Leuralla’s director for the entirety of its operation, will attend the auction.
Of the Hitler youth dolls she said: “I think it is very provocative and vexatious and we are not including any Nazi toys in sale at all.”
She said she was surprised that the Blue Mountains council and tourism association hadn’t done anything to save the museum at a time when visitor numbers had been devastated by COVID-19 and bushfires. “No one has come in to say we would like to keep this going. It is a tremendous loss, I have had people in tears telling me how much it meant to them.”
Original illustration of Noddy by Beek.Credit:Rhett Wyman
“While it will be extremely emotional for me seeing the collection disbanded, my great hope is that these toys will find homes where they can be displayed and enjoyed for many more years to come.”
The fully illustrated catalogue is online along with auction details and how to bid.
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