Auction of Hubley Toys & Company Ephemera

Bob & Sallie Connelly will conduct an Auction of Hubley Collection Toys & Company Ephemera at the Showplace in Binghamton on Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 11:00 am with a preview at 9:00 am. The auction includes over 500 lots and several hundred non-cataloged items from the Estate of Jan McComsey. Mr. McComsey went to work for the Hubley Manufacturing Company in Lancaster Pennsylvania at 15, and throughout his tenure, took home many items discarded by the Company, including mockups, color separations, correspondence, court documents, catalogs, notes and letters.

Slideshow preview of selected items:

All of the items in this auction can be previewed in the auction slideshow.

Selling without reserve AS IS at a 12% buyers premium are toys, including a grasshopper, specially built for Jan McComsey by Hubley designer Bill Gigl, a gold presentation 961 Ford Powermaster tractor (1 of 4 made), 35 mint cap pistols, over 50 puzzles, 500 comic books, Mickey Mouse magazines from 1933, hand blown and other marbles, Tonka and Hess trucks, and boxed games; and dolls and accessories, including a 22" Karl Hastman, 23" Kestner, 28" Simon & Halbig, two early large composition dolls, an A&J bake set, doll dishes and furniture.

Ephemera in the auction include original artwork for Hubley's Indian motorcycle with rider and other toys, the earliest dated January 17, 1888, There are price lists, brochures, flyers and toy catalogs, as well as catalogs for door stops, paperweights, lamps, furniture and metal castings -- and drawings, color separations, and proofs for the catalogs. There are many pieces of correspondence between Hubley and other companies, including Harley Davidson, Indian Motorcycle Company, Lionel, Schoenhut, Arcadia, Murphy, Owens-Kreiser, and Maytag, and photographs of motorcycle toy displays. In all, there are over 200 pieces of ephemera and drawings of prototype toys that were never produced.

Additional details, selected photos, and directions are available in the auction brochure (PDF: 1195 KB). A slim (106 KB) version without photos is also available. Description of the cataloged items and the order of sale is available in the auction listing (PDF: 138 KB). Photos of each cataloged lot are also available.

Absentee and phone bids for this auction can be submitted using the online bidform. First-time NYS tax exempt buyers must complete and submit NYS Resale Certificate ST-120.