When you order and receive your catalogue from the most prestigious company in the antique collectible toy market you would expect it to be exceptional, and with the Mint & Boxed catalogue you would not be disappointed. In fact, you will be highly delighted and have in your hands several hours of pure pleasure in just browsing through the pages.
The catalogue in itself is a collector’s piece ad will, no doubt, turn out to be in the future a valuable addition to a collector’s reference library, and destined to be the market’s reference work.
When you open the pages of a catalogue, you tend to skip from page to page, choosing those pages which appeal to you. Not so with the Mint & Boxed catalogue. Every half-year, from glossy page to glossy page, the book is a compelling study of toys of all ages, almost as if history was opening in front of your eyes. From decade to decade, from country to country, from manufacture to manufacture, the pages open to a colourful and dazzling assortment which Aladdin’s cave would have been proud to have housed.
The Mint & Boxed catalogue is no ordinary catalogue. For a start, it is beautifully produced on the highest quality paper and has over six hundred clear color photographs covering a small selection of the vast range of stock carried in their equally impressive showrooms at London.
Jeffrey Levy is a dedicated and knowledgeable toy man who has built his business, Mint & Boxed, into the leading company specializing in antique and collectible toys. The company have among their clients many eminent investors, museums and institutions. Operating internationally, Mint & Boxed has a multi-million-dollar turnover and is the largest dealer of antique and collectible toys in the world.
The Mint & Boxed catalogue informs and entertains the client with the background and history of antique toys, starting with the very early toys from the turn of the century, regarded by collectors as the golden era of toy collecting. Exceptional pieces, such as the Marklin London Double-decker Bus, featured on the front cover of the current edition, takes you right back to London streets of 1906. A superb example of a highly collectible piece, this sold for the asking price of £165,000 to a collector so fast off the mark that it was in his possession within days of receipt of the catalogue.
Prices range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to the affordable and widely diverse range of Dinky Toys. Anyone can start his or her collection for a mere $40. For the connoisseur car collector, a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud Convertible for around $3,500, but this Rolls Royce you have to pedal, and is over four feet long.
This is an important fine art maker with increases upwards of twenty percent in value during the last twelve months, and all signs point to this trend continuing throughout the ‘90s. There have always been collectors of antique toys, but the market is now attracting the serious investor who wishes to purchase– as in any fine art market– the best and most rare pieces. Mint & Boxed experience and expertise can be seen in the number of exceptional and unusual toys which are found in the firm’s catalogue, and it is no wonder that the famous Ottenheimer collection of tinplate toys recently passed through their capable hands.
On the inside front cover of the latest catalogue are photographs of their gallery and showrooms which house the largest and most comprehensive collection of toys. These bright and spacious galleries give the collector the opportunity to see and examine the toy in quiet surroundings and take the advice of the team of experts in attendance.
Jeffrey Levy is not reticent to share his knowledge with his clients; there are articles in the current catalogue on European and Japanese tinplate toys, trains and diecast toys. To increase one’s knowledge, there is a complete range of books, such as the excellent American Antique Toys by the leading authorities Bernard Barenholtz and Inez McClintock. Every item is available by mail order by simply telephoning or faxing your requirements through to the company. But, remember, you are investing in unusual and scarce toys, and all toys are sold on a “first come, first served” basis.
For an annual subscription of $35 you can receive a catalogue which will transport you twice a year into the rich and growing world of investor’s toyland. Finally, the Mint & Boxed calendar is a decorative and entertaining way of keeping track of the days.
