|
Quilts and Treasures, a downtown Fredericksburg toy shop, |
By CATHY JETT
Cindy Dennis couldn't believe it when a collector dropped off a treasure-trove of unopened Playmobil boxes for her to resell at the downtown Fredericksburg toy store she manages.
She knew the Norfolk man had an extensive collection of the popular castles, pirate ships and dollhouses peopled by tiny plastic figures, because he'd been buying from Quilts and Treasures for nearly a decade.
But 3,000 boxes?
Some of which were rare, special editions?
And a few that are more than 30 years old?
"Never, in my wildest dreams, did I expect this," Dennis said as she stood in the Caroline Street shop's storage room surrounded by stacks and stacks of the boxes she hasn't had time to price.
The collector, a Generation-Xer who doesn't want his name disclosed, discovered Quilts and Treasures about nine years ago while on business in the Fredericksburg area.
"He saw Playmobil in our window and stopped," Dennis said. "He probably bought $1,300 worth that day."
The collector kept in touch, buying both new and, especially, retired Playmobil sets. The German-based company discontinues about 25 to 20 percent of its award-winning line every year so that it can introduce new products. Quilts and Treasures sells both new and discontinued sets.
Eventually, the collector's garage got so stuffed with Playmobil that his wife couldn't park her car there. She put her foot down. The sets had to go.
"It was a passion. I do think it became overwhelming for his wife," Dennis said. "It probably took up a good portion of his life."
The collector called her and asked if Quilts and Treasures would sell them on consignment, something the store had never done. But because he was such a good customer, Dennis agreed.
So last week he drove up in a 17-foot-long U-Haul chock full of Playmobil. Most of the sets were still in their original boxes and had never been opened. Dennis said she started shaking when she realized how many there were, and called Ed Breen, her representative from Playmobil, to help her figure out prices.
"I've had this territory for seven years, and I've never seen anything like this," said Breen, who drove from his Bensalem, Pa., office to the store on Tuesday to see the collection first hand. "There are pieces I've never seen except in catalogs. There are definitely a lot of rare Playmobil products here."
The collection is one of the largest of Playmobil on the East Coast, he said.
Among the more interesting are toys Playmobil made years ago for Sears and trains it teamed up with toy train maker LGB to produce.
"They stopped making them years ago," Dennis said. "He had every train they ever made. There were at least 18 of them."
Adult Playmobil collectors are fanatics for such things, Breen said. They seek out the latest news about Playmobil on Web sites such as collectobil.com, and search the 3,000 to 4,000 pieces available daily on eBay for just the piece or set they're seeking.
"Once the collectors find out about this stuff," he predicted, "it'll go."
Quilts and Treasures already has beefed up security and put the newest third of the collection on its shelves. Many of the packages still had their original stickers, and Dennis simply tacked on 20 percent more.
A pregnant Valerie Saunders of Fredericksburg was excited to find an old airplane set she and her sister used to play with in the 1970s. She bought it for her three young children, and expects it will eventually get passed down to the baby she's expecting.
"They don't become obsolete," she said. "They remain modern. The reason is that children can use them to re-create their own world."
Dennis said she plans to sell all the boxes in the store as soon as she can figure out how much they're worth. The only catalog of vintage Playmobil is two years old, so Breen suggested she check eBay to see what the pieces are selling for now.
"I think it brings a uniqueness to the store," Dennis said of the collection. "You're definitely not going to find this anywhere else. It's almost like a Playmobil museum."
To reach CATHY JETT:
Email: cjett@freelancestar.com
