20th July Auction - The Jose Royce Southgate Collection

The Southgate Collection is a final chance to buy from Jose Royce, who ran Rodwins toy shop in Southgate for nearly 60 years.

Jose’s lifelong interest in toys became her career with her first job in Hamleys of Regent Street, where she started working aged 16 in 1951, the year before Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne.  After 2 years at Hamleys, she left to continue learning more about the toy trade, firstly at a toy wholesaler, then in a local toy retailer.  Aged 21, she decided to go on the road as a traveller for various toy companies.  Having shared this ambition with her parents, they showed their support by selling the family car and buying a Morris Traveller that she could use for work, travelling up to 80 miles around her London home.

After 2 years selling Matchbox toys and many others, Jose, aged 23, had the opportunity to take over the local toy shop and became the proprietor of Rodwins in 1959 (named in order to re-use the silver letters of the previous shop – Windsor Toys !!)  Initially selling and repairing toys and bicycles, the range of goods available expanded when Jose took over the shop next door to include crafts, costumes, ballet wear and, latterly, haberdashery.

  Jose in her shop in 1959

Rodwins remained in the same location for nearly sixty years and Jose became a much-loved and active member of the community, selling toys to the children, and even grandchildren, of her early customers.  The shop finally closed its doors just before Christmas 2018 but Jose had retained some of her most treasured toys, including rare Matchbox, Triang and Dinky cars, boats and planes, as well as diecast soldiers and royal carriages, which are now offered for sale.

   Jose receiving the Golden Teddy Award for outstanding achievement in the toy trade in  2015