Guys ‘n dolls at Hartley's Auctioneers

For the guys? An Action Man Armoured Car, boxed, along with two Action Man electronic figures, also boxed realised £40 at the recent sale, while an Action Man Astronaut with space capsule raised £60. Kenner’s Ghost Busters range also proved popular: a Fire Station Headquarters in its original unopened box with packing made £380 and a Kenner Ghost Busters ECTO-1 vehicle, again boxed with original packing, was fought to £230. A number of carded bubbles containing Ghostbusters figures and ghosts ranged from £35 to £160, showing perhaps, the next collectable area?

Some 133 lots of dolls and dolls’ accessories went under the hammer. An unmarked German bisque socket head doll with blue glass sleeping eyes and four moulded upper teeth, with nylon wig and an articulated composition body, sported a fur trimmed blue coat and bonnet: she made £100. More sought after was the Simon & Halbig bisque socket head doll, with blue glass sleeping eyes and a bent limb composition body, in blue velvet dress and bonnet: standing 14" high, she realised £140.

A Kammer & Reinhardt bisque socket head flirty doll, with blue glass flirty eyes (!) and a jointed composition and wood body, also sold, as did a lovely Tete Jumeau size 12 bisque socket head doll. She had blue paperweight glass eyes, an open mouth with six moulded top teeth, pierced ears, a brown wig and a jointed composition and wood body. Her red jacket with velvet trim, red velvet bonnet and red leather shoes singled her out, and someone was happy to pay £720. A couple of dozen teddy bears also featured in the sale.

On the cheaper front, a child's building brick set contained stone parts in three colours, all in a wooden box, marked G. Watther. Very similar to Richter’s Anchor Bricks, this lot made £24.
Lots of kits were sold:  15 mint bagged series 3 Airfix kits (comprising aviation and military vehicles) made £100 while Airfix factory samples for the new blister packs, comprising a brown card box containing a dozen undecorated Messerschmitt BF109 kits made £28; a similar affair with Boomerang aircraft also made £28: real historic bargains, in my book.
Elsewhere an unusual Meccano Circuit 24 Go-Kart set with two controllers and transformer made £50. Working steam engines, railways and diecasts also received plenty of attention but the star performer had to be a US Marvel comic: originally 9d (4.5p), a Spiderman issue was knocked down for a cool £13,500…