French tin toy car drives up bidding to thousands

Rare vintage toy cars proved they weren’t child’s play at Surrey auction house Ewbank’s recent sale, when a French tin toy car of an Alfa Romeo P2 made by French company CIJ (Compagnie Industrielle du Jouet) fetched a hammer of £10,000.

The car smashed through its pre-sale guide price of £1,800 to £2,200.

The toy car measures 53 cm long, is finished in green, and numbered 2 in white, with Pneu Michelin treaded tyres. It was made in the 1930s.

French tin toy car in Ewbank's sale

 

 

Partner and Auctioneer Andrew Ewbank said: “Vintage toys, both preloved and pristine, always evoke a strong emotional response in buyers.”

The car reached its impressive hammer price, despite not having the most careful of previous owners, as its clockwork mechanism doesn’t run, due to it being overwound; the tyres are beginning to perish and the bodywork has various light scratches and loss to the surface decoration.

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