Buying Antique Toys Online

If you are new to buying antique or vintage toys online its a good idea to spend some time deciding on your budget and the area of interest that appeals to you, and then to spend some time watching online auctions without bidding, mainly to get an idea of the closing prices for the antique or vintage toys you like best. Demand for certain categories of antique or vintage toys fluctuates and like any vintage or antique item, it is the market that determines the value. Rarity and condition are major factors also. The wise collector will go for the best quality item that fits their budget.
Currently there are quantities of well priced values available when purchasing Antique and Vintage Toys so we present here for you the very best deals. Please see the the antique and vintage collectibles beneath and click any items through to for additional information, photographs and also details. If you don’t find what you are looking for using this site, make use of the searches service at the top of this page. eBay regularly lists the top and cheapest Antique Toys pieces as well as being the biggest as well as definitely one of the very most widely used on-line buying web sites. We make an effort to bring you the finest prices of products so you can supplement your collection, get started purchasing vintage toys or simply just get the most for your money.

What people are watching on eBay

ONE Wind Up Toy Android Robot,Kids,Party Favours,WUT149

eBay Watchers: 104
Price: $2.2

10 - Windup Toy Keys "For Windup Toys" - L@@K!!

eBay Watchers: 98
Price: $16.49

Vintage Arnold A 560 Wind Up Tin Litho Toy Motorcycle U.S. Zone Germany

eBay Watchers: 79
Price: $449.44

VINTAGE KING KONG GORILLA-WIND UP A MARX TOY

eBay Watchers: 54
Price: $45.0

Vintage German 1900s Lehmann Nina Cat With Mouse Wind Up Tin Toy No Reserve

eBay Watchers: 53
Price: $405.0

Marx Toys

	FANTASTIC LOUIS MARX MECHANICAL LOCOMOTIVE TRAIN SET UNION PACIFIC WIND-UP TIN $156.49 (12 Bids) Time Left: 30m
	VINTAGE MARX TIN WORLD WAR I FIGHTING SQUADRON HELMET $19.95 (0 Bids) Time Left: 42m
	Marx Vintage 1950s Lot of 25 (size 60mm) Army GI playset figures $11.00 (2 Bids) Time Left: 1h 7m
	ANTIQUE MARX TOYS YELLOW RACE CAR $0.99 (1 Bids) Time Left: 1h 12m
	MINTY MARX TIN WIND UP ALL ORIGINAL OLD JALOPY CLEAN AND SHINEY LITTLE PLAY WEAR $115.00 (1 Bids) Time Left: 1h 43m
	VINTAGE 1950'sLOUIS MARX & CO WHITE HOUSE PLAY SET MODEL WITH PRESIDENTS $19.51 (2 Bids) Time Left: 2h 12m
	Vintage 1953 Marx Merchandise Service Train Car $4.99 (1 Bids) Time Left: 2h 24m
	tin louis marx co. airplane $20.00 (1 Bids) Time Left: 3h 8m
	NEW1990 GREENBERG'S GUIDE TO MARX TOYS, VOLUME II, PINSKY $159.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 4h 6m
	MARX, King Arthurs Castle Front !! FREE SHIPPING !! $21.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 4h 38m
	Original Marx 54mm Knights Foot and Mounted $24.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 5h 58m
	Vintage Marx 1963 Blue and Gray Miniature Play Set in Original Box EUC w manual $283.00 (6 Bids) Time Left: 6h 29m
	ES053 Vtg Marx Lazy Day Farms Silo Tin Litho Toy $14.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 7h 30m
	ES085 Vtg Marx Toys Gas Station Attendant $14.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 7h 31m
	VINTAGE 1962 WILMA on TRICYCLE by MARX THE FLINTSTONES WORKING MADE in JAPAN $299.95 (0 Bids) Time Left: 7h 48m
	VINTAGE 1962 DINO on TRICYCLE by MARX THE FLINTSTONES WORKING MADE in JAPAN $324.95 (0 Bids) Time Left: 7h 52m
	Vintage Marx #5 Tractor for Parts or Restoration $3.99 (1 Bids) Time Left: 7h 54m
	VERY COOL OUTLAW AND HORSE MARX TOYS VINTAGE FUN TOYS $29.99 $59.99 Time Left: 8h 29m
	888 Vintage Marx ZING-A-POP Tabletop Game Unused Condition Free Shipping $29.95 (0 Bids) Time Left: 8h 38m
	Marx original 1 32nd scale armored knights and horse $17.95 (0 Bids) Time Left: 9h
	Vintage MARX Dodge City Express Wind-up Train $48.95 (0 Bids) Time Left: 9h 45m
	Incredible banner? marx? tootsie? vintage plastic toy 1950's? Horse and carriage $4.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 9h 47m
	MARX VINTAGE ARMY MEDICAL NURSE $9.99 (1 Bids) Time Left: 9h 49m
	Antique Marx Tin Camo Wind Up Tank #5 Camoflage $14.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 9h 53m
	VINTAGE MARX BIXBY +BUNNY WORKING REMOTE TOY IN ORG BOX $129.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 10h 5m
	LOT OF 6 VINTAGE MARX FIGURES * 5 BLUE 1 GRAY * 5 MILITARY & 1 FRONTIERSMAN $1.99 (1 Bids) Time Left: 10h 28m
	Warriors of the World Marx "Red Miller" Blue CARD ONLY $4.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 10h 53m
	MAMMY'S BOY ARMS WITH CANE MARX TOY PARTS $190.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 10h 53m
	VINTAGE ORIGINAL MARX PLAY SET TOOLS + ON SPRUE PIT CREW SERVICE GAS STATION + $27.66 (7 Bids) Time Left: 10h 54m
	Warriors of World Marx "Richard Travis III" CARD ONLY $2.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 11h 1m
	Vintage Marx Toys Cattle Dump Truck Grt Cond $0.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 11h 2m
	Warriors of the World Marx "George Markstone" CARD ONLY $2.25 (0 Bids) Time Left: 11h 4m
	Warriors of the World Marx "Wm. Morris" CARD ONLY $1.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 11h 8m
	GOOFY DONALD DUCK DUET ARMS FOR MARX TOY PARTS $150.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 11h 9m
	VINTAGE MARX TOY SLOT RACE CAR LOT + CONTROLLERS & EXTRA TIRES $16.09 (3 Bids) Time Left: 11h 10m
	POPEYE PUNCHER ARMS FOR MARX TOY PARTS $150.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 11h 25m

Louis Marx and Company

Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer from 1919 to 1978. Its boxes were imprinted with the slogan, "One of the many Marx toys, have you all of them?"

The Marx logo was the letters "MAR" in a circle with a large X through it, resembling a railroad crossing sign. Because of this, Marx toys are sometimes misidentified as "Mar" toys.

Marx's toys included tinplate buildings, tin toys, toy soldiers, playsets, toy dinosaurs, mechanical toys, toy guns, action figures, dolls, dollhouses, toy cars, and HO scale and O scale toy trains. Marx's less-expensive toys were extremely common in dime stores, and its larger, costlier toys were staples for catalog retailers such as Sears and Montgomery Ward, especially around Christmas. Although the company is now largely forgotten except by toy collectors, several of its toys remain well known. Rock'em Sock'em Robots, introduced in the 1960s, remained popular for years and has been reintroduced by several different companies. Its last hurrah was the Big Wheel ride-on pedal toy, which was introduced in 1969 and became one of the most popular toys of the 1970s.

Founded in 1919 in New York City by Louis Marx and his brother David Marx, the company's basic policies were "Give the customer more toy for less money," and "Quality is not negotiable," which made the company highly successful. Initially the company had no product designs and no manufacturing capacity, so Marx raised money by positioning itself as a middle man, studying available products, finding ways to make them cheaper, and then closing a sale. Funds raised from these effort proved sufficient to purchase tooling for two obsolete tin toys—called the Alabama Minstrel Dancer and Zippo the Climbing Monkey—from toymaker Ferdinand Strauss, one of Louis Marx's former employers. With subtle changes, Marx was able to turn these toys into hits, selling more than 8 million of each within two years. Marx then bought the company it had subcontracted to manufacture the toys.

By 1922, both Louis and David Marx were millionaires. Initially Marx produced few original toys, but was able to predict what toys would be hits and manufacture them less expensively than the competition. The yo-yo is an example: Although Marx is sometimes wrongly credited with inventing the toy, Marx was quick to market its own version, and during the 1920s sold an estimated 100 million of them.

In the 1960s Marx capitalized on the space toy and robot craze. It produced the Big Loo "Your friend from the Moon" in 1964 and originated the popular Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.

In 1963, they began making a series of plastic figurines called the Nutty Mads which included some almost psychedelic creations such as Donald the Demon: a half duck half madman, driving a miniature car.

The Company slowly lost its preeminence from the 1950s on, perhaps due to not aggressively advertising on television as its rivals did. In 1955, with sales of US$50 million, Marx only spent $312.00 on advertising for the entire year. By contrast, Mattel Toys in the same year had sales of $6 Million but spent $500,000 for advertising, sponsoring shows like The Mickey Mouse Club.

In 1972, Marx sold his company to the Quaker Oats Company for $54 million ($246 Mil. in 2005 dollars) and retired at the age of 76. Quaker owned the Fisher-Price brand, but struggled with Marx. Quaker had hoped Marx and Fisher-Price would have synergy, but the companies' sales patterns were too different. Marx has also been faulted for largely ignoring the trend towards electronic toys in the early 1970s. In late 1975, Quaker closed the plants in Erie and Girard, and in early 1976, Quaker sold its struggling Marx division to the British conglomerate Dunbee-Combex-Marx, who had bought the former Marx UK subsidiary in 1967.

A downturn in the British economy in conjunction with high interest rates caused Dunbee-Combex-Marx to struggle, and these unfavorable market conditions caused a number of British toy manufacturers, including Dunbee-Combex-Marx, to collapse. By 1978 the Marx brand disappeared, and Dunbee-Combex-Marx filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated in 1980. The Marx assets were then liquidated, with many of the patents and molds going to Mego Corporation, another famous maker of dime store toys, and a large number of them going to Canadian toy maker Aurora.

The rights to some of Marx's toys are now owned by other companies, and some of its former products are still in production. Marx Toys, Inc., was sold and transformed into 'Marx Toys & Entertainment, Inc.' Marx Trains, Inc. produces lithographed tin trains, both of original design and based on former Louis Marx designs. K-Line produced plastic O scale train cars and scenery using former Marx molds, which are now marketed under the 'K-Line by Lionel' brand name. Model Power produces HO scale trains from old Marx molds. Rights to the original Marx Big Wheel, an all plastic three wheeled tricycle for kids, are owned by KidsWheels, Inc. and still sold in the U.S., and Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots is claimed by Mattel. Marx's toy soldiers and other plastic figures are in production today in China for the North American market and are mostly targeted at collectors, although they sometimes appear on the general consumer market, particularly at dollar stores.

The Marx name itself has changed hands several times as well. Despite the similar names, neither of the Marx-branded companies of today have any connection to the original Louis Marx and Company.

The original Marx toys are highly regarded by collectors.

Ref: p.220 Clark, Eric The Real Toy Story Transworld 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Marx_and_Company