Action Figure collection expected to be sold for £130,000

By John Freeman on August 6, 2020

A collection of modern, plastic toys to be sold at Vectis Auction House this month is expected to sell in excess of £130,000.

Vectis Action Figure Auction - August 2020 — Image: Vectis

The extensive collection is the best of its type ever to be sold in the UK, if not the world. Mainly made up of small-scale action figures many people will remember from the 1980s – 1990s including Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Tron, Buck Rogers, Clash of the Titans, Flash Gordon and many more. The majority of the collection are graded and display sealed (to prevent wear or deterioration).

“Vectis has recently experienced an increasing demand for more modern toys,” says Nick Dykes, TV & Film Specialist at Vectis, “especially in excellent condition. These are toys that typically would not have cost a fortune to buy originally but are now commanding high prices.

“Star Wars collectables, particularly vintage, has always attracted large figures, but now Vectis are regularly achieving four figure sums for He-Man, Masters of the Universe and similar.

“We recently sold a He-Man pack for £12,000 against a £800 estimate. We expect this sale to be particularly popular.”

Included are rare Lord of the Rings carded figures produced to tie in with Ralph Bakshi‘s animated 1978 film, estimated up to £500 per figure, plus more unusual TigerSharks and Blackstar 1980s LOTR action figures.

The Action Figure Sale is the first of a two-day TV & Film sale, taking place Wednesday 19th August.

Knickerbocker Lord of the Rings 1979 Aragorn figure
Knickerbocker Lord of the Rings 1979 Frodo figure
Knickerbocker Lord of the Rings 1979 Gollum figure
LJN Toys 1983 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Perlay Good Fighter Mage Elf figure
Mattel 1983 Masters of the Universe Battle Armour He-Man figure
Mattel Princess of Power 1984 She-Ra figure
Tonka 1987 Super Naturals Burnheart 6″ figure
Mattel Princess of Power 1984 Glimmer figure
Galoob The A-Team 1983 B.A Baracus Mr T figure
LJN Dune 1984 Paul Atreides figure
Mego Buck Rogers In The 25th Century 1979 Buck Rogers figure
TOMY Tron 1982 Flynn figure
Mattel Clash of the Titans 1980 Charon figure

The second day, comprising the TV & Film Sale follows on Thursday 20th August, with more rarities such as a Meccano Star Wars IG-88 Bounty Hunter figure estimated at £6,000. It is not just figures, either as there’s a POCH PBP (Spanish) card only (no figure) with a pre-sale estimate of £700. If you have the toy for this packaging you would be looking at figures in excess of £30,000.

Doctor Who, Gerry Anderson memorabilia from Fireball XL5 and Thunderbirds, film posters and much more, make up other lots.

POCH PBP Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back vintage Imperial Hoth
Meccano Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back IG-88 vintage 3 3/4″
Kenner Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back R2-D2 vintage 3 3/4″
Palitoy Star Wars vintage Darth Vader TIE Fighter
Palitoy Star Wars Return of the Jedi vintage Millennium Falcon
Palitoy Bradgate Doctor Who BBC vintage Talking Dalek
Doctor Who Board Games
Kenner M.A.S.K DYNAMO vehicle
Hasbro Transformers G1 1984 Dinobot GRIMLOCK
Quercetti Fireball XL5
Matchbox Thunderbirds Tracy Island play-set
IMAI Thunderbirds Model Kits

The sale will be live online as Vectis continues to focus on its online sales even in a post-Covid era. The auction house has experienced extremely strong prices across all areas of toy collecting, particularly in the past two months as people are choosing to invest in other, none traditional, areas.

Mattel Hot Wheels B6046 "Batman" - Batmobile - matt black Gothic style from the 1989 movie — *Mattel Hot Wheels B6046 “Batman” – Batmobile – matt black Gothic style from the 1989 movie*

This auction is preceded by a Specialist Sale of vintage toy cars next week (Thursday 13th August 2020), which includes many classic Dinky and Corgi cars, including some very rare pre-war and wartime models. This is followed on Friday 14th August by a Specialist and Tinplate Toy Sale, which includes a number of Chinese, East European and Japanese models and items such as a 1989 Mattel Batmobile.

A General Toy Auction will also be taking place on Tuesday 18th August that includes Dinky toys, model kits, computer games and gaming systems, and more. Much of this auction includes large job lots of items.

• Vectis Action Figure Sale – Wednesday 19th August 2020

• Vectis TV & Film Sale Sale – Thursday 20th August 2020

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.