This week on exhibit
at Sotheby's N.Y. is the phenomenal
Toy collection of Malcolm Forbes. It consists of a vast
"armada" of toy boats which range from 6" to over 3 ft. in
length. They consist of 1920's jazz age speed boats,
schooners, submarines, battleships,
ocean liners and yachts. It is truly breathtaking - the
collection of a lifetime. "I could play for hours on the
rug, dreaming I was sailing the oceans of the world."
(Malcolm Forbes).
There is also a glorious array of toy soldier armies
from Egyptian to the Greeks to the Medieval to the American
Revolutionary Army, to Prussia's Frederick the Great, to the
French Revolution, to the British Empire. The collection is
astonishing .
There is also a large collection of motorcycle toys as
well as a 1933 handmade MONOPOLY game-set by Charles B.
Darrow, containing 200 pieces on off-white oilcloth.
One can see that Malcolm was a man who loved to dream
and to dream "avec grandeur" as his entrepreneur ships
show. "It is truly with the heart that one can see
rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."
(Antoine de St. Exupery).
Special thanks to Eric Arbenta, curator, and his
executive assistant Brendan Walsh. The exhibit is on
display through Friday (Monday through Thursday 10AM to 5PM
and Friday 10-1PM) with the auction Friday at 2PM, 12/17/10.
*** (2 photos: Sotheby catalog ... NY 17th Dec. 2010).
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