Find a million on the mezzanine: Soviet toys worth a fortune are named

One often hears from someone who loves Christmas balls and figurines of his childhood that they (toys) are very, very old. These toys are German, but those are even pre-revolutionary. You see how big their loops are, and the toys themselves are slightly clumsy, and their tops are all rusty, hardened …

– I have to disappoint you – these are not pre-revolutionary toys, – says Yevgeny Gorshenin, a collector of Christmas decorations, a lover of antiques. – The oldest of those that can be seen in people’s houses on Christmas trees are cardboard toys. Crinkled cardboard, sometimes flat, less often embossed. And this, as a rule, is also not the Russian Empire, but 1920-30. Such toys are quite rare, but not very expensive. Depending on the type, they can cost from 700 to 2-3 thousand rubles.

And the real toys of the sample before 1917 are wadded or wadded-porcelain. Sometimes cotton-wax still.

“They are in collections, in museums, practically no one has them left,” says Gorshenin.

The rarest pre-revolutionary Christmas tree decorations are glass toys that were blown in Klin after 1914. It is believed that it was the captured Germans who advised our glassblowers to also produce toys – before that, only vials, flasks, retorts and other pharmacy equipment were made at the factory. Klin toys now for the Russian collector are a kind of “black penny” for the philatelist. The Holy Grail and the greatest rarity.

– I know only two or three colleagues who have them, and they were bought not in Russia, but from emigrants for sure, – says Evgeny. – The price of such a find today, if it happens, I can’t even name. Perhaps that same million, perhaps more. Every collector dreams of a Klin toy, of course.

Well, for consolation, I have a Dresden toy made before 1900, catalog, bought at an auction. Blown, with hand-painted Christmas. I didn’t even tell my wife how much it cost.

All other “vintage” toys are cute vintage. The Soviet industry began the production of mass series of Christmas decorations after the war, and on a large scale after the 1960s. They were made according to the shape, that is, they were poured into two halves, then they were connected and painted. Christmas decorations as an additional production began to be made in many factories according to the model. Therefore, for example, different raspberries, fungi or astronauts on a clothespin are similar, but still differ from each other.

The paws-holders of hanging toys or the bows for the thread also do not say anything. The most rare and valuable are toys made in 1930-50. glass or glass beads. By and large, it is possible for a non-specialist to determine the issue only by the catalog.

– Well, if you look at the type of product, then for the production of the period 1935-45. such forms as a basket of flowers, a kerosene lamp, a large “red star” (or “hammer and sickle”), a clock with a dial, an airship, a traffic light, and so on were characteristic,” says Evgeny. – But the same baskets, stars and traffic lights were produced later, all this must be looked at. If you really have a military and pre-war period, then this is almost a full-fledged antique. Not a museum level, but also quite rare. Accordingly, such toys will grow in price over time.

Also, a toy collector advises paying attention to blown balls – those that do not consist of two halves, that is, do not have a groove in the middle, and the same figures. They can be both on tucks and on a loop. Blown ones were made in small batches, therefore, rare. The strips of phosphorus on the toy also “give out age”, most likely, these are the 1930-50s. It is easy to check, the phosphor contours and drawings on the toy glow in the dark.

On the other hand, while the price of even an almost antique toy of the mass series of the USSR is low, from 500-1500 rubles to 5000 thousand for a real rarity.

The collector of toys also dispelled the misconception about German trophy Christmas decorations.

“These are not trophies, at least 99% of them,” says Gorshenin. – After the Victory, they brought from Germany, of course, various items, including porcelain. But can you imagine that they were dragging fragile and voluminous Christmas tree decorations at the same time: balls, garlands, stars? .. Therefore, if grandmothers or parents tell you about German toys, then we are talking about toys made in the GDR. They were more colorful, more diverse, more interesting than ours, so they were “chased” in 1970-80. But even a comparative old copy of the GDR costs less than a thousand rubles.

– So it turns out that only mythical pre-revolutionary balloons and the earliest Soviet ones are worth real money?

– Why not. Vintage sets are worth a good price, especially if they are intact. Yes, even in the native box, it happens.

For example, all the characters in The Tale of Tsar Saltan, there are 12 of them, in my opinion. Or the heroes of “Turnip”, or “Tales of the Fisherman and the Fish” … A similar set can be sold for 20, and for 50 or more thousand.

Or, for example, you have an old man Hottabych rare, you can bargain for him.

Of the fabulous “loners”, except for Hottabych, the toys “Geese-Swans” and “Humpbacked Horse” are valued, from 20 to 50 thousand rubles per copy. And the rarest and most valuable such sets, I’m talking about mass series, are the heroes of Chukovsky’s fairy tale “Doctor Aibolit”, 5 figures on clothespins. They are matte, enamel in bright colors. The price of a complete set is about 200 thousand rubles or more … I still have only one owl from it.

And, probably, the most valuable sets are the heroes of “Cipollino”. A small set, if it is old, will pull up to 200 thousand. A large set of more than 20 shiny multi-colored figures of the heroes of the fairy tale Rodari is also a great collectible rarity. It can cost more than a million rubles. Last year I saw a similar set – it was offered for 800 thousand, but it went for 1.2 million …

“But in general, if you have any old toys, it’s better to save them,” the collector concludes. – This is not only a memory of the brightest childhood years and a favorite holiday. But also a good investment for the future.