Rarities Commanded Estimate-Smashing Prices At Milestones Debut Of Elmers Toy Museum Auction Series Postwar Japanese Tin Motorcycles Excelled
Bidders Worldwide Competed For Postwar Japanese Tin Motorcycles, With A “Romance” Bike Leading The Pack At $25,830
December 22, 2023
Elmers Auto and Toy Museum in Fountain City, Wis., achieved legendary status long before its doors closed in 2022, after 28 years of operation. While the rambling rural museum is now history, the late Elmer Duellmans legacy, his mind-blowing assemblage of 25,000 antique and vintage toys, will live on. Bolstered by pop-culture fans of all ages, the fabled collection took its first step into a new era at Milestones Oct. 28 auction, the first in what will be an ongoing series of quarterly events featuring the Duellman toys. With media interest and lively toy-hobby chatter as its catalysts, the single-day auction debut realized $850,000, with upper estimate-beating prices paid by bidders across the globe. Without question, the auctions top spotlight grabbers were the postwar Japanese tin motorcycles, one of Elmers favorite toy categories. A rare, 12-inch-long I Y Japan tin friction Romance motorcycle, known to collectors as the large blue version, depicts a young couple out for a spin, with a boy driver and girl passenger. Bright, colorful and in excellent condition, it out-distanced its formidable pack of two-wheeled challengers to sell for an astonishing $25,830. The pre-sale estimate was $2,000-$3,000. Another distinctive I Y Japan production, a 12-inch-long tin friction Condor Motor Cycle in all-original condition was offered with its rare, original pictorial box. The exciting box graphic shows a helmeted driver on a speeding bike with the striking image of a condor in flight on the gas tank. The coveted toy sold for $9,300 against an estimate of $2,000-$4,000. A rare Marusan Japan tin friction Indian Motor Cycle with the brand name Indian and a graphic of a feather-bonneted Native American chief on the gas tank had visual appeal to spare. Together with its scarce original pictorial box, whose artwork faithfully replicates the toys appearance, it raced past its $2,000-$4,000 estimate to cross the finish line at $19,065. In the 1950s and 60s, visionary Japanese toy manufacturers dreamed up imaginative, futuristic designs that were unrivaled by any from the Western world. Elmer Duellman owned examples of many of the most elusive Japanese toys of that period, including a Yonezawa tin friction #58 Atom Jet Racer with bright colors and graphics and many fine details. The Atom Jet Racer is one of the wildest-looking automotive toys every created, said Miles King. It has a huge, undulating tail fin, bullet-form headlights and tail lights, and an unusual cockpit encasing the driver. In working condition, including the motor sound it makes when activated, the exotic 26-inch-long automobile sold for $18,450 against an estimate of $3,000-$5,000. Another popular entry was an Alps Japan tin friction Lincoln Futura, which sports a low-slung design and prominent fins, both front and back. All original and in excellent condition, the bright-red 11-inch-long bubble-top car changed hands for $6,150 against an estimate of $2,500-$3,500. Mid-century Japanese toy designers were not afraid to combine absurdly dissimilar themes in a single production, with the resulting hybrids falling somewhere between the humorous and the bizarre. Picture a battery-operated toy called American Circus Television Truck that looks like a modified ice cream truck with a circus-clown driver and graphics that include planets, stars, musical notes, and a seal balancing a ball on its nose while riding atop a rocket labeled Space Patrol. Duellman owned just such a toy, which, together with its profusely illustrated original box, sold for more than six times its high estimate, settling at $5,289. A Linemar Japan tin Mechanical Casper (the Friendly) Ghost Tank, all original with a working windup mechanism, was doubly desirable with its amusing original box, which even retained its original 98 price sticker. The box illustrations show not only Casper raising a military tank, but also his cartoon stablemates Baby Huey, Little Audrey, Katnip (of Herman and Katnip fame) and more. Bidders didnt ghost this lot. Estimated at $300-$500, it went for more than five times the high estimate, closing at $3,690. American post-WWII toys were made to be rough, tough and ready to work. A rare Tonka #210 Road Builders set containing a Big Mike dump truck, a second dump truck, lowboy semi truck, steam shovel, road grader and plow appeared never to have been played with. Quite likely it was new/old stock. Retaining its crisp original box with inserts and described by King as possibly the nicest of all surviving sets of its type, it bulldozed its way to $19,800 against an estimate of $6,000-$10,000. Another boxed beauty, a Metalcraft Pure Oil Airmail Toy Airplane showed off wonderful original paint and decals. Designed true to scale and accompanied by its very rare original box, it also ranked as the finest example of its type that Milestones toy experts had ever seen. It landed at $4,305 against a $2,000-$3,000 estimate. From the pre-war era, an original 21-inch-long Cor Cor Graham automobile dealer paint-sample model was intentionally finished in a split blue and green paint scheme to show how a life-size Graham might look in either of the two colors. The model was constructed with wheel discs rather than tires, as was the consistent method for the manufacturers dealer models of that period. It sold for $6,150 against a $1,000-$1,500 estimate. Three of Elmer Duellmans six adult children were present at the live gallery event, including Les, who was there with his wife, Patti; Eric, who arrived with his wife, Chelsea and their two daughters; and Brad. All of the Duellman siblings, including sisters Melissa and Amanda, who were unable to attend, had made the joint decision to entrust their late fathers collection to Milestone Auctions. After the Oct. 28 session concluded, Les Duellman expressed gratitude to co-owners Miles King and Chris Sammet, stating: On behalf of our whole family we would like to thank Miles, Chris, the whole staff at Milestone Auctions, and the myriad of buyers worldwide for a great auction. The end result exceeded what we at Elmers, and Milestone, had expected, and we are looking forward to the next two auctions that are currently in the planning stages for the first half of 2024. We were thrilled that so many members of the Duellman family were able to join us as the first of Elmers toys passed to new owners, said Milestones co-owner Miles King. Quite a few toys are now en route to collectors in other countries as well as throughout the United States. Antique toys know no territorial boundaries, and collectors everywhere wanted to own a piece of toy history from Elmers incomparable museum. Milestones next auction featuring Elmer Duellmans museum toys will take place in early 2024. Watch for details to appear soon on Milestones website at www.milestoneauctions.com. All images courtesy of Milestone Auctions.
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