The late publisher Malcolm Forbes was a man of many passions and one of them, it turns out, was toys. Over four decades, Forbes and his sons assembled an extraordinary collection of boats. soldiers, motorcycles, art, and board games, which Sotheby’s will sell on December 17th in New York. Among the many valuable lots is a 47″ long cast iron model of a 19th century gunboat with a gas powered engine, estimated to sell for $200-$300,000.
Update: The sale brought in $2,381,006, under the $3-$5 million estimate.
Sotheby’s considers the collection among the finest in the world; the assembly of boats alone would be exceptional. It consists of sports, naval, commercial, and luxury vessels, including a model of the Cunard Line Lusitania ocean liner (est. $100-$200,000), and an exotic clockwork gunboat circa 1880′s ($150-$250,000). For those less nautically minded, there’s a handmade 1933 Monopoly gameset (est. $20-$30,000), and a collection of 29 Courtenay mounted Knights, with moveable arms and visors (est. $15-$25,000).
Read more at Sotheby’s.
