Master of Toys: Tom Sage Sr.’s Legacy Collection Shines at Morphy

Part one of the well-known toy dealer’s personal collection went to auction, netting more than two million dollars.

Beloved antique dealer and toy expert Tom Sage Sr (1939-2024) spent decades traveling the world to find his customers' best and rarest antique toys and build a personal collection. After his passing, Morphy Auctions, known for their antique toy offerings and expertise, won the right to auction Sage’s private collection. Part one, held on May 29, was a resounding success, closing at $2.6 million, with many lots selling for well over their presale estimate.

The auction offered 295 lots of American and European toys from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Sage’s love of toy boats was well represented, along with an excellent selection of toy cars, airplanes, trains, accessories, and other mechanical metal toys.

The top lot was a Ferris wheel, circa 1904, by German tin toy maker Marklin, which sold for $156,000. In addition to being extremely rare, it is in exceptional condition, with only three or four known examples. Its six gondolas are intact, as are its stained glass panels; it has the original figures; and its music box has been restored.

Part of the Ferris wheel’s appeal comes from its unique, traceable provenance. As Tommy Sage Jr., Tom Sage Sr.’s son and head of the Toys & Trains department at Morphy Auctions, described in a press release, it originally belonged to a relative of a Brooklyn department store employee who received it when the store closed. Tom Sage Sr. bought it at Sotheby’s in 1994. The lot included copies of photos from about 1910 of the original owner and his son with the toy, plus the tag and receipt from the Sotheby’s sale.

On the other side of the seasonal spectrum, a tin lithograph Father Christmas car by German company Fischer, c.1912, sold for $84,000 against a high estimate of $25,000. In this rare example, Father Christmas wears a blue robe and drives a red car. The back of the car is filled with tiny toys, including a miniature Toonerville Trolley.

Another remarkable offering was a Marklin “Boston” clockwork paddlewheel boat, c.1904, that sold for $79,950, nearly doubling its high estimate of $40,000. It had been restored and had its mast and flag replaced, but had its original stand. Adding to its prestige, the boat appeared in David Pressland’s 1995 book, Pressland’s Great Book of Tin Toys.

Several other pieces from Sage’s collection that appeared in the auction had also been photographed for Pressland’s book, including a green clockwork Marklin limousine, c.1909, complete with a chauffeur figure and its original rubber tires and lamps (sold for $72,000), and a hand-painted Bing taxi in mint condition with its original store box from Au Bon Marché in Paris ($50,400).

Even a lamp post, made by Marklin, hand-painted and sporting its three original globes, sold for $24,000, twice its high estimate of $12,000.

Despite Tom Sage Sr.’s familiar presence at toy shows and his reputation among collectors, few knew what he had in his personal collection. Toy collectors eagerly anticipate part two of the auction, which Morphy will hold in October.