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Auction of Toys from the Old Salem Toy Museum of Winston Salem, NC

On November 19 & 20 Noel Barrett will auction will be one of the most important sales of 2010. It will feature toys from the Tom Gray Collection along with those of the Old Salem Toy Museum of Winston Salem, NC

The museum’s holdings were primarily gifts from Tom and his mother Anne Pepper Gray who were both on hand for the gala opening in November 2002. Sadly, after less than 10 years the museum has closed its doors.

The Old Salem Toy Museum presented a unique survey of American, British, and European toys with strngth primarily in those toys from the 19th century. The sale will certainly offer greater variety than any sale of recent times. The museum housed the most complete Schoenhut Circus ever on public view as well as one of the most extensive collections of 19th century German painted wood toy sets in any United State museum.

The dollhouse and miniature collections were a major component of the museum as doll houses were among Tom’s mother’s first love. The sale includes 10 dollhouses, 13 shops and room boxes, along with 175 lots of doll house dolls and rare miniatures by Rock & Graner, Marklin, Erhard & Sohne, and Evans & Cartwright among others.

Other highlights include Marklin trains and boats and a possibly unique Marklin piece – a child-size hand fire pumper wagon. Christmas, Halloween, and Easter toys as well as an extensive Valentine collection will be offered. American tin toys by such makers as George Brown and Althof Bergmann were well represented in the collection – a highlight being the famed clockwork Monitor which will be sold along with the relevent original page from the George Brown Sketchbook.

The sale will be two sessions – one starting at 5:00 PM on Friday November 19 and the other at 10:00 AM on Saturday November 20. Preview times will be 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Friday and 8:00 to 10:00 AM on Saturday.

www.noelbarrett.com

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