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Working the Network
or some, collecting is a solitary pursuit, but a big part of the fun
of all of this is comparing notes and swapping information with
Fothers who are just as obsessed as I am. Vintage toys lend
themselves to such camaraderie and my friend, Marc Star, has been a
loyal brother-in-arms for a long time.
A year or so ago, Marc and I were de-briefing after a toy show. A
retired dentist, he’s an avid collector of 1:24 and 1:32 scale slot racing
cars, as well as model kits, and we were talking about a box I’d just
scored for a 1940s-era 10-inch wind-up plastic convertible made by
Saunders in Illinois. The convertible is brilliant, marketed by Saunders
as the “Nu-Style Sportster.” It has an art deco-ish design and swoopy
lines, and it’s relatively easy to find an original one. But the box is a
different story. I was pleased to have found at least a somewhat battered The police car is about 8 inches in length and is friction-powered,
example to go with my car. and darned if it doesn’t have that terrific mid-century look that takes
“Huh … I think I have an empty box for some Saunders toy,” Marc me back to a time I never knew. It was number 225 in the Saunders toy
mentioned. “For a police car, maybe?” I said yes, Saunders made a lineup, and it goes beautifully with an original ad that I’ve had hanging
police car in the early 1950s, a toy that had been high on my radar in a frame on a wall in the toy room for the last year. The ad appeared
screen for a while as I hunted for an original example. When Marc in the January 1950 issue of the toy industry trade magazine, Playthings,
told me the box was in good condition and that, if I wanted it, he’d and the best part is the retail price: $1. Such beauty, such poetry, and
sell it to me for what he paid for it, I said yes before he’d finished all for just ten dimes.
his sentence.

When the box arrived, the box indeed proved to be in very nice
original condition, complete with its end flaps. (Marc comes through
in the clutch again, thanks Dr. Star.) I immediately started hunting for
a high-grade example of the car, making the task more difficult by
looking for the blue version—as shown on the box—rather than the red
version that, to my eyes, resembled a fire chief’s car more than a police
cruiser. After seeing a number of them for sale online—most missing
the antenna or with the decals damaged or missing—I spotted a
beautiful example sitting on a dealer’s table at the Allentown Antique
Toy Show in November. Close inspection revealed it to be a clean
original, and, after I coughed up $80 (about what a high-grade example
should run), the police car found its way into my bag and eventually
onto a shelf in my toy room, displayed sitting on top of the box that Douglas R. Kelly is the editor of Marine Technology magazine. His byline has
Marc brought to the table. appeared in Antiques Roadshow Insider; Back Issue; Diecast Collector; RetroFan;
and Buildings magazines.

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