Field Trip: Vintage Airship Toys
HOST: For several decades now, ballooning has been a favorite activity in New Mexico. Especially here in Albuquerque, where an annual international balloon festival draws hundreds of thousands of people every year. ROADSHOW was fired up to check out the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, the perfect place to take a look at some vintage airship toys with appraiser Noel Barrett.
APPRAISER: Well, here we are, we're in a balloon museum. And, of course, balloons are also airships, but they're non-rigid. The first rigid airships really came to the fore as weapons of war during World War I. This toy sort of bridges the gap between warship and passenger travel, and what we see here is an airship circling, getting ready perhaps to bomb this town, and we see the gun emplacement trying to shoot it down.
HOST: And it still works, huh?
APPRAISER: It has great little action, let's see, put it to work here. (wind up chattering) This was made in the late '20s and into the '30s.
HOST: And who made it?
APPRAISER: Louis Marx who was one of the great tin toy makers of the 20th century. So it's an American-made toy.
HOST: American-made.
APPRAISER: In today's world, at auction, a toy in this condition, with this condition box, which is pretty good, I would expect it to bring $1,000 to $1,200.
HOST: Let's take a look at this next toy, tell me about this.
APPRAISER: Well, this is a toy version of the Graf Zeppelin, which was the most successful passenger airship of all time. This was made by Ferdinand Strauss, an American toy maker. It's made out of aluminum. You wound it up, you hung it from the ceiling and it spun around in a circle.
HOST: What year was it made?
APPRAISER: Late '20s, early '30s, and into the '30s. In this condition, I would say in the $400 to $600 range.
HOST: Now finally, I'm dying to find out about this big toy here. Tell me about this one.
APPRAISER: Well, this was made by the Erector Company, and I'm sure you've heard of Erector sets.
HOST: Sure, I remember Erector sets.
APPRAISER: They were the best and most popular metal construction toys of all time, perfect thing to make a zeppelin out of. And then after it's all constructed, you put this cloth bag on it. And they're quite rare, of course, obviously because cloth wasn't a very sturdy material. I think in 1929 when this first came out. One like this example, built up, without the box, would sell for around $600 to $800.
HOST: And if we were to find one not put together, all the pieces intact in the box, what would that value be?
APPRAISER: Well, a few years ago, I know one sold for $5,500. Now, today's market is a little softer, and I would say in the range of $3,500. But curiously, when they're sold, they're sold constructed with the box, because you don't wanna... you don't wanna try and build it yourself.
HOST: I see, so the market has come back down to earth a little bit in recent years.
APPRAISER: A little bit.
HOST: Thanks so much for sharing this, these great toys.
APPRAISER: My pleasure.
$5,500 - $6,100 Auction
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Understanding Our Appraisals
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
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