Sandbox Summers
3/5/18 – This week I am gearing up for the March 24th toy sale in collaboration with Noel Barrett. The sale covers a wide array of different toy fields including a large volume of Elastolin and Lineol painted composition soldiers and accessories, cast iron, and some great Marklin pieces, just to name a few. Having all of that at my choosing, I went with one of the rarer toys in the sale for this week’s pick of the week. Lot 342 came to us from the legendary collection of Bill and Stevie Weart. Many of you have had the pleasure of soaking in this collection over the years, so you certainly can understand our delight in handling some of these cherished pieces. The Niederst Company Good Roads Machinery Toys steam shovel was made in Chicago, Illinois and has only a few known examples in existence. Fortunately for me this is the second of these elusive toys I have personally sold. The other selling at Pook and Pook Auction in September of 2013. This one is in better condition and is estimated at $5,000-8,000 and retains the original orange paint with black trim. As a young child I had a large sandbox in the backyard where I spent many summer hours with my Tonka dump trucks, graders, back-hoes and cranes moving and excavating sand, bulldozing makeshift roads and driveways and just doing what kids in that day and age did. Imagine what I could have created if I had owned one of these heavy-duty steam shovels. I could have created a massive quarry, scooping out loads of sand, into the dirt and probably would have gotten half way to China. Oh, those were the days!
by: Jamie Shearer
