But this was no ordinary toy collection. The late publishing tycoon Malcolm Forbes and his sons spent 40 years building it up, and some of it was displayed up until recently at the Forbes Gallery on Fifth Avenue.
The collection consisted of hundreds, possibly thousands, of toy boats, small sailboats, huge ocean liners, and battleships. There’s an interesting story there. Forbes bought his first toy boat in 1970 at FAO Schwartz after his sons had already grown up.
David Redden, vice chairman of Sotheby’s, tells a National Public Radio (NPR) reporter the story of “a young Malcolm Forbes traveling on an ocean liner with his family to Scotland.” He reportedly tied his favorite toy boat to a long string and innocently threw it into the turbulent ocean to be pulled along behind the big liner.
“And needless to say, the boat was never seen again, and he was devastated. So, there really is a Rosebud sense to all of this; he was trying to bring back that lost toy of his childhood,” says Redden in the NPR report.
A 3-foot-long replica of the 1915 ocean liner Lusitania sold for $194,500, which is a record amount for a toy boat (c. 1909–1913). The luxury ocean liner was sunk by a German submarine in 1915. The event helped hasten the entry of the United States into World War I.
The toy had previously held the record when Forbes purchased it at Sotheby’s in New York in 1983 for $28,600. A handful of other boats also by the celebrated German maker Märklin dominated the top prices in the sale. These boats are not really toys but intricate models with working parts. Most date from between the mid-19th century and just before World War I.
Then there are the board games, most notably, an original, one-of-a-kind round Monopoly set, including a rulebook. It was handmade by Charles Darrow, probably in 1933, and passed on in his family. It’s said he made the gameboard round to fit the dining table.
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