'Antiques Roadshow' seller gets an astounding appraisal for his $400 box of toy soldiers
From Lego sets to action figures, things that used to be all fun and games have become part of serious business, as they're fetching massive valuations as collectibles. One such item was a box of toy soldiers that a guest brought to "Antiques Roadshow," and while he got it for $400, the expert appraised it at $20,000. The man himself picked it up on a whim at an auction, and told the expert, Noel Barrett, that he intended to keep the Heydes Buffalo Wild West collection forever.
During an "Extraordinary Finds" special episode, Barrett recalled the time he came across a unique collection, which he referred to as his favorite item on the show in 24 years. "I guess it was the Buffalo Bill Wild West cowboy show. I bought it at an auction locally here about 21 years ago," the guest said, explaining how he got the toys. He added that he paid $400, which at the time seemed like a lot of money. "I had it in my pocket and I said, 'I like it. I'll just buy it and let the devil take the hindmost.' And then that was that," he concluded.
Barrett then took over to explain the provenance of the item. "It's made by the Heyde company. Heyde was the preeminent German manufacturer, and this is something they made around 1903. What's extraordinary is the large set, what's doubly extraordinary is no one played with it. It was almost untouched by human hands," he noted.
The appraiser claimed that he had never seen such a large collection in an original box. "When you see it tied in with the little original red string and it had these little paper cushions under each piece, it was just unbelievable," Barrett added. Coming to the appraisal, the expert noted that he and his colleagues did some research and talked to a dealer who had sold a similar set, which wasn't in such good condition, for $14,000. "This set on today's market I think, at auction, could bring in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000," he told the guest.
The owner of the collection was pleasantly surprised as he couldn't stop laughing. "Well when my father-in-law came in for a visit and looked at it he looked at it and said, "What did you pay for it?" when I told him he made one of those faces. So, now maybe it's going to be different," he said. In the update, the guest shared that he had never taken the collection out of his house since the appraisal, and he took pictures of it with him to conventions. "To this day it's the first thing I ever bought and it is also the best!" he said.
To add to the guest's delight, Barrett had an update to share as well. The expert upped his appraisal to the range of $30,000 to $40,000 and claimed it could even bring more. "Under the right circumstances, it could go to $50,000," he said in the end.
