This train – a rare Marklin gauge “III” made in 1905 and presented by the French government to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia at a state visit – could be bought for Christmas by anyone prepared to gazump a Japanese offer of £1.5m. Toys are a market which “certainly has not declined,” according to Jeffrey Levy, owner of Mint & Boxed specialist toy shops in London and New York’s Madison Avenue, who is offering the train in his latest catalogue.
In just seven years his turnover has grown from £200,000 to £25m.
