Robots, advertising and toys, toys, toys at Morphy’s, Dec. 6-8

DENVER, Pa. – Morphy’s big December Premier Auction is many a toy collector’s favorite way to usher in the holiday season. This year’s event, slated for Dec. 6-8, is brimming with 2,800 lots of toys, banks and other choice pieces that would put a Christmas-morning gleam in any bidder’s eye. The three-day offering also features several top-notch collections, including the late Tom Winge’s cowboy and Western toy collection, Part II of the Jack Matthews toy soldier collection, and Dave DiMartino’s collections of robots, space toys, and vintage advertising figures. Internet live bidding will be available on all three days through LiveAuctioneers.com.

The Thursday, Dec. 6 session will open with 150+ occupational shaving mugs. Estimates range from $500-$3,000. A crane operator mug is expected to fetch $2,000-$3,000.

Approximately 60 lots of upright coin-operated machines will follow. Leading the category is a Gabel’s Double Dewey 5/25-cent machine, which is estimated at $100,000-$125,000. Other upright coin-op highlights include a Mills Lone Star 5-cent machine, est. $90,000-$110,000; and a Caille Bullfrog 5-cent model, $40,000-$60,000.

Next to cross the block will be Dave DiMartino’s figural advertising collection. The figures in this collection – many made in the 1940s/’50s – promote automobiles, clothing, alcoholic beverages, health care products and other goods. Among DiMartino’s favorites are figures pitching Dr. Scholl’s, Bostonian Shoes, Martell Cognac and Keen’s Korn Kure, which is a mechanical window display, est. $1,500-$2,000.

A small but well-refined collection of vintage Planters Peanut collectibles includes an elusive electrical display of Mr. Peanut tapping his cane, $10,000-$15,000; and a Mr. Peanut figure with red blinking eye, $3,000-$5,000. A scarce 1-lb. Mr. Peanut tin in near-mint condition could make $5,000-$7,000.

Approximately 300 general advertising items will cross the auction block. An extensive collection of petroliana advertising for Oilzum motor oil boasts many very rare items, such as a one-of-a-kind Reinhold Studios show display believed to have been created for the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. Morphy Auctions CEO Dan Morphy described the automotive diorama as “a showstopper.” Estimate: $30,000-$50,000.

More than 60 lots of Coca-Cola will be auctioned. Top lots include a near-mint 1957 Coke standing policeman, $4,000-$6,000; an early 20th-century celluloid-over-cardboard sign, $2,500-$5,000; and a Coca-Cola salesman’s sample cooler, $2,500-$4,500.

The Thursday session will conclude with approximately 100 lots of autographed sports memorabilia and athletes’ signatures. The signed items include bats, balls, jerseys and other articles of apparel and equipment from popular professional sports.

Friday will start off with a procession of 160+ robot and space toy lots from the Dave DiMartino collection – all graded and cataloged by robot specialist Mark Bergin. The DiMartino collection includes such rarities as a complete Masudaya Gang of Five (including a coveted Machine Man), a boxed silver Mechanized Robot, a mint/boxed Thunder Robot, a Hook Robot and a Lilliput. The inventory also includes ultra-desirable non-export Superheroes from Japan.

Over 50 cast-iron mechanical banks will be available to bidders. A Lion Hunter described in the catalog as “perhaps the nicest known example” could command $40,000-$50,000. Other fine banks include a near-mint Hen and Chick, Wimbledon, Tommy Gunner, and Boys Stealing Watermelon – each estimated at $6,000-$8,000.

Holiday antiques fill the next 70 lots, with the majority being Christmas or Halloween pieces. An early 30-inch Santa belsnickel candy container in blue coat, est. $10,000-$15,000, is “as fine an example as you’ll ever see,” Dan Morphy said.

A variety of German tinplate wind-ups will be ready to perform. They include Lehmann productions: Miss Blondin tightrope walker, $1,500-$3,000; a boxed Tut-Tut, $1,500-$2,000; and a boxed Alabama Coon Jigger, $1,500-$2,000.

More than 50 lots of trains will be waiting on the track, with representations from Ives, Lionel and Marklin. Among them are an Ives clockwork O gauge passenger train set, $1,500-$2,000; and a Lionel standard gauge 384 freight train set, $800-$1,000.

Friday’s auction activities will conclude with a number of very nice pressed-steel toys and Part II of the Jack Matthews toy soldier collection. Most of the figures are Elastolins, a perfect fit to ride in any of the collection’s Hausser tinplate vehicles.

The Saturday, Dec. 8 session will begin with 160 Western cowboy character lots from the collection of the late Tom Winge, who spent more than 20 years amassing scarce cast-iron cap guns and toy cowboy collectibles. Winge was very particular about condition and continually upgraded the items in his collection. The rarest cap gun in the Winge collection is emblazoned “Fargo Express” and is estimated at $2,000-$4,000.

Tom Mix, Lone Ranger, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy were among the cowboys whose endorsed items were favorites with Winge. His toys and other products associated with radio and television’s legendary masked man include a Lone Ranger Pilot radio, $800-$1,000; and a pair of boxed Lone Ranger and Tonto dolls, $800-$1,000 each.

Over 400 comic character and premium items will be offered, including an original die-cut standee from “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” possibly the only extant example. Estimate: $25,000-$50,000. An Orphan Annie Secret Guard Altascope radio premium ring in near-mint-plus condition is expected to realize $10,000-$15,000; while a ring related to the pulp fiction character “Spider” carries a $6,000-$8,000 estimate.

More than 80 Big Little Books, all file copies in near-mint condition, and 115 comic books will close the sale. The comics include: 1940 Batman #2, $2,000-$3,000; 1942 Green Lantern #3, $1,000-$2,000; and 1941 Captain America #21, $1,000-$2,000.

Start time is 9 a.m. Eastern. For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 717-335-3435 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.