Is this the world's rarest comic character collectable?

One of the world's rarest comic character collectables is set to be the highlight during Morphy Auctions' upcoming sale on 19th-20th April. The Gunthermann (Germany) Felix Carousel wind-up toy is believed to be one of only two or three examples in existence. It was pictured in a toy catalogue from the 1920s/early '30s but for many years it was assumed the toy had never reached the production stage. Then, two subsequent discoveries were made (a third may exist but many believe it's hearsay, according to Morphy's). It is expected to make between $20,000 and $40,000.

“This toy is one of only a couple of known examples and may have been made for a very narrowly focused regional market. I’ve seen only two of them in 35 years as a toy dealer. One was found in New Jersey and the other in Pennsylvania,” said Morphy Auctions’ Chief Operating Officer Tommy Sage Jr. “Collectors have been looking for this toy forever. It’s like hen’s teeth. It appeared in a toy catalog, but until the first one actually turned up, many collectors thought that maybe it didn’t really exist.”

Doing double duty, two outstanding Retro pressed-steel Flash Gordon spacecraft transcend collecting genres and appeal to both space toy and pressed steel collectors. One example is of silver steel and depicts Gordon’s spaceship, while the other is a toy replica of the destroyer employed by Gordon’s archenemy Emperor Ming the Merciless. Fifty lots of ever-popular robots and superhero toys will follow, with highlights including boxed examples of a Chime Trooper, X-27 Explorer, TN battery-operated walking Batman, and W-3 wind-up superhero.