The Specialist sale held on the 8^th of February started with The Dorset Collection, a selection of boxed and unboxed models including Tekno, Politoys, Mercury, Solido, Corgi, and Dinky, plus 1/43^rd scale racing cars from Minichamps, Vitesse and others.  The sale continued with TV & Film Related items including Star Wars, Gerry Anderson, Star Trek, Dr Who, Marvel and DC figures, plus books, Lego, robots and space and novelty toys. There was also a large selection of James Bond vehicles, figures, gift sets, magazine issues, accessories, DVD sets and autographs. 

The Doll and Teddy Bear sale held on the 2^nd of February included teddy bears from Steiff, Charlie bears, Merrythought, Deans Rag book and artist bears. Dolls included Sindy, Pippa, and Polly Pocket, plus wax and composition antique dolls, bisque and porcelain dolls and dolls houses. There was a lovely collection of miniature/children?s vintage and antique sewing machines, plus more modern versions. The sale also included a large collection of Sylvanian Families figures, sets, games, houses and stores, including Japanese variations.  Further items included Disney related collectables, Pelham Puppets and Gollys.

In March of 1985, Japanese toy and game company Epoch introduced a group of new, cuddly residents to the wide and wonderful world of dollhouses who will be a star feature in our upcoming Doll & Teddy Bear Sale on the 2nd February 2023.

Sylvanian Families are anthropomorphic animal figurines made of flocked plastic. They certainly aren?t traditional dolls, but their endless amounts of charm and unique concept found them success not just in their home country of Japan, but across the world! 

Interestingly, the initial name of these critters was a long winded ?Pleasant Friends of the Forest System Collection Animal Toy Sylvanian Families?, but the name was soon cut down to ?Sylvanian Families?. The finalized name took influence from Silvanus, the Roman ?God of the Woods?. 

Another initial stage of the brand was that the dollhouses and playsets were originally made of wood. This material was shortly after swapped for plastic and metal, making these first sets quite easily recognisable. 

The next part of the journey started two years after the initial release, in 1987. This saw the animals entering Western markets, starting in North America and the UK. Tomy was behind the initial distribution in both of these countries, finding wide success in the UK especially. Dating these lots in particular to at latest the 90's!

While the toys have since been an endless success in the UK, distribution changed a few times. First, the Spanish company Flair picked up the brand after Tomy discontinued publishing it in the late 90?s. In the upcoming auction, we have a number of the Sylvanian Families that were actually distributed by Flair, marking their eras between the 90?s to around 2013. Leaping through time to 2013, Epoch UK was established. As such, Epoch was able to reclaim their line in their new UK branch for their own distribution.  

There have been exclusive releases in a few places, notably America and Japan. 

We have a number of Japanese exclusives in the sale, some of which we?ve never even seen before! Some excellent examples include this Sweet Buffet and Lunch Set and a number of figurines from the Small Shop set!

The North American release made some unique alterations. Not only were the characters, thus the toys themselves, designed slightly differently, but so was the packaging. But the changes didn?t stop here.

In 1993, Tomy had lost the rights to the original ?Sylvanian Families? name in both Canada and America. This didn?t mean the end of the line, as Tomy simply changed the name to ?Calico Critters?. The line is still going strong today, just under its new name.

Some of Japan?s exclusives come from anniversary celebrations and some of the grand things the Japanese branch did to celebrate it. 

For the Sylvanian Families? 15th anniversary, a restaurant themed on the series was opened in Japan. Epoch oversaw the endeavor completely, managing and staffing it themselves. While the food was certainly themed on the world and characters, it wasn?t the only draw for fans of the toys.

The restaurant sold toys. These toys likely exclusive to this location. 

This trend continues into the 20th and 25th anniversaries. 

For the 20th anniversary, Epoch announced that a theme park attraction based on their ever popular IP was being built in Grinpa. The attraction took a timely five years to complete, which meant it was officially opened in time for the 25th anniversary! This attraction was a real-life recreation of some of the buildings found within the Sylvanian Families? world, scaled up for our enjoyment. Within this attraction is also a museum which details and celebrates the history of Sylvanian Families. 

The museum didn?t just show the history of Sylvanian Families, it also sold more exclusive toys and sets that couldn?t be found anywhere else. 

Quite a number of anniversary sets are present in the sale, such as this mixture of 15th and 25th anniversary sets.

The last significant anniversary celebration as of now was the celebration of the 35th anniversary, in which Epoch issued a survey to ask fans who their favourite family happened to be. 

Results revealed the duck family as the winners, and they were issued a modern re-release as a result! We are happy to say we have the Darling Duck?s babies set in the sale as well!

Make sure you?re part of the sale on the 2nd February to see these sweet families on auction!

The Specialist Matchbox sale held on the 26th of January featured Matchbox models of Yesteryear, including Code 2 and 3 models, Giftware, Collectables, Motorcycles and sidecars, plus Colour trial and hard to find models. The sale also included books, calendars, a shop display and unused factory components. The Derek Dytham Collection featured further Code 2 issues, including German and Matchbox Dinky