Andy Gump Toy Car with Box, ca. 1928
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GUEST:
This was my dad's, and he was born in 1915. This was his favorite toy as a kid. He just liked it, he took care of things, and he left it to me.
APPRAISER:
Now, this is Andy Gump. Andy Gump was a very famous comic strip character in the 1920s, drawn by a man named Sidney Smith. He was one of my favorite comic characters. This is the best Andy Gump toy. There was a bank, and then this made by Arcade Manufacturing Company in Freeport, Illinois.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
It's cast-iron. It's called a 348 car. Sidney Smith's first comic character was Doc Yak. Doc Yak had a car that he bought at a junkyard for $3.48, and that's what it was called. So this was originally Doc Yak's car; it became Andy Gump's. I've never seen one in a box.
GUEST:
You've never seen one in a box?
APPRAISER:
Never, ever seen one in the original box.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh, okay.
APPRAISER:
Boxes for iron toys are very, very uncommon. He could be in a touch better condition--he has a few paint chips--but he has great paint on him, and he has the original box. You've had it for a while. Did you ever have a value, or did anybody ever offer you...?
GUEST:
A salesman offered, in '92, I think, offered, I think, $2,000 or something for it to Daddy. And then... but he just kept it aside for me.
APPRAISER:
That would have been a big mistake. This toy in 1992 would have been worth every bit of $6,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh, yeah.
APPRAISER:
The same thing it's worth today.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
Yes.
GUEST:
It is worth $6,000 now? I actually thought it'd probably gone down.
APPRAISER:
No, no, it's still worth easily $6,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The highest price I know of recently was $5,000 without the box. So I'm saying easily $6,000, maybe as much as $7,000 at auction.
GUEST:
Well, my dad took good care of things. He'd be really, really happy to know this.
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