Light-hearted look at how we look at toys nowadays

The Value of a Toy

by

Ellen Hatcher



I read an interesting article about die cast cars and other collectibles, today. It seems that often times a car will get in the wrong box at the manufacturer’s and some people find that that increases its value. I would have to differ. One real drawback to that would be the resident criminal types who would go around mixing up cars and boxes trying to increase value, but that’s just my opinion.



Another thing that caught my interest was how truly valuable the actual “old” toy cars, that are still is good shape, can be. The fact that a truly old toy car would have been manufactured, let’s say, 50 years ago would put it circa 1955.



I don’t know about you, but I was born in 1953, and in the fifties, if you got a toy car, or doll, or puzzle, you didn’t leave it in the box, put it on a shelf, and just let people look at it. We valued our toys, because we didn’t get many, but we showed our love for the toy by playing with it everyday until it fell apart.

I don’t have her anymore, but if I still had my Barbie, she would have hair sticking out everywhere, rips in her clothes, missing shoes, etc. The sign of true love. Of course, in those days, we didn’t have replica cars, but I would surmise they would be pretty beaten up.



I have three children, born in the seventies and early eighties. One day, I looked around the family room floor, absolutely covered with toys. We had toy boxes, but they were overflowing. My son had so many matchbox cars, I couldn’t begin to tell you which ones. I asked my brother where we kept all our toys when we were growing up. I didn’t remember toys all over the floor.



Do you know what he said?



“Ellen, you had one doll, and I had a baseball glove. We kept our toys right by our side so our sister wouldn’t take your doll and our brother wouldn’t take my glove.”



Now, we knew the value of a toy.



Don’t get me wrong. We are more sophisticated nowadays. We treasure our collectibles. However, I’m about to become a grandma, so if my grandson wants to play with our die cast cars, I’m gonna let him! … that is … unless it’s my ’68 Pontiac Firebird by Lane … or … or … my ’53 Polar White Corvette … or my ’65 Mustang … or …