New York, NY, June 25, 1990. “Mint & Boxed,” the London-based leading authority on collectible antique toys, today disclosed their purchase of what is believed to be the largest single collection of antique toys ever acquired in one transaction.
Comprising over 1,000 pieces with a retail value in excess of $15 million, the high-quality collection was the combined property of the Alexander Gallery in New York and its owner, Alexander Acevedo.
According to Jeffrey Levy, chairman of Mint & Boxed, which he founded in 1982, many of the individual items are not only “uniquely rare,” but the range is so vast that we can categorically say, “many have never been for public sale before.”
The collection will be offered by Mint & Boxed in London as well as the new three-story gallery that Mint & Boxed will open in New York early this autumn. The forthcoming facility will, according to Vernon E. Chamberlain, Mr. Levy’s Manager of choice for Mint & Boxed in North America, “bring the burgeoning field of antique toy collecting to broad new audiences that will not only include collectors, curators, as well as others reflective of individual and institutional constituencies.”
Roughly two-thirds of the market for the new pieced is comprised of American works created from 1855 through the 1930s. Featured are tin toys including those of George Brown, Althof. Bergmann and Merriam Toys. A vast number of fire engines of cast iron and tin plate by Marklin, Bing and Caretter are also included. Another collection highlight is the Lionel trains of 2 ⅞ gauge.
To permanently showcase and enhance the value of the collection, Mr. Levy further disclosed plans to publish a hardcover art book “The World of Antique Toys” for worldwide distribution. The majority of the 1,000 items are expected to be illustrated in full color.
Mr. Chamberlain, prior to recently joining Mint & Boxed, functioned from his base in Toronto, Ontario and is well known throughout the world of antique toy collecting, particularly in the United States.
The site of the new Mint & Boxed gallery is in direct proximity to New York’s famed “Museum Mile.” It is in the heart of New York’s arts center, regularly visited by collectors, buyers, tourists, professionals and students from around the globe.
