German Toy Fort with Soldiers, ca. 1900
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GUEST:
I brought you a fort, some soldiers, some cannons. It was given to me by my father. He got it from his grandfather, so it was my great-grandfather.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
He brought it over from Germany, where he worked in a toy factory. My dad and my uncle, they played with this. They shot the cannons, they knocked down the fort. I got it about 20 years ago when my, uh, parents moved out of, uh, my childhood home and they, uh, gave it to me.
APPRAISER:
These are German and made for the German market. Both of these date from around 1890 to 1910. There are three major high- quality German manufacturers represented here. This is made by Gottschalk. Gottschalk was mostly famous for its dollhouses, but they also made a large number of forts. Very seldom to see one this ornate. These guns were made by Marklin. They're one of the greatest toy makers of Germany. And the soldiers were made by a company called Heyde. Dresden was the home of Heyde. They were in business right up until World War II.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And when Dresden was leveled, Heyde was over.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
You have here two different sizes. One of things Heyde did, they made all kinds of different soldiers. They made them different uniforms for different countries. These are pretty much German figures. This would be your heavy cavalry. And these are, these little guys, slightly smaller, the hussars. And of course, your foot soldiers over there. They're hand-painted, solid-cast lead. They're mixed conditions. It was a toy to be played with, and obviously, they played with it.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
All these cannons function, and you pull back this and with a, some sort of a bullet in there, and lead, it would shoot. It would knock all the paints off the figures, which is why a lot of these are, the paint is distressed, which hurts the value somewhat. And sometimes, it would knock the castle down. All these various components are hinged to go back down. Great toy, great manufacturers. The dollhouses are really, really strong, and, um, and much more desired, but when you get into the castle like this, which is so beautifully constructed, all painted wood, with this wonderful tree bark here. In an auction setting, my sense of this would be in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.
GUEST:
Just the fort.
APPRAISER:
Just the fort.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Now, I've analyzed the soldiers. They're different sizes, and the wagons, and the cannons—three different makers. I think when you analyze all these in terms of condition, I would say about $5,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Slightly better condition, a little better paint, I could see another $2,000, maybe a little more. Really great paint, it's almost hard to say.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It's, it's just unheard-of.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
When you find something really great, the sky's the limit.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
So, we're looking at $8,000 to $10,000.
GUEST:
Okay. That's terrific. I don't think, uh, you know, I'd be ever interested in selling it. It's just been in the family too long, and, you know, keep passing it down.
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