Toys, Model Railways & Dolls
Here at the toys, model railways, and dolls department we are busy researching and cataloguing for our upcoming auctions, providing insurance and other types of valuations for single items and collections throughout Scotland and the north of England and helping clients with identifying unknown items held in their own personal collections or sourcing desired material.
If you have a collection of toys, model railways or dolls that you wish to learn more about, have identified and valued or professionally catalogued and presented for auction then contact our specialist to receive free no obligation professional advice. 
The toy, model railway and doll auctions are held eight to ten times a year at our Edinburgh and Carlisle auction rooms and broadcast worldwide online to an international market. The department record for a single lot is the £5,300 achieved in June 2012 for an early Victorian bow rocking horse. Other stand out results include:
£2,900 at the Edinburgh auction room in December 2013 for another early example of a bow rocking horse;
£1,700 at the Edinburgh auction room in February 2011 for an early German made tinplate station;
£1,700 at the Dumfries auction room in March 2019 for a Continental bisque head doll;
£1,450 at the Edinburgh auction room in October 2013 for a Bing clockwork boat;
£1,400 at the Edinburgh auction room in August 2013 for a Steiff mohair bear;
£1,300 at the Edinburgh auction room in August 2016 for an early Marklin horse carriage of the London & South Western Railway;
£1,200 at the Edinburgh auction room in June 2016 for a Leopold Lambert doll automaton titled 'La Poudreuse';
£1,100 at the Edinburgh auction room in June 2013 for "New Game of Wellington's Victories" linen backed game;
£950 at the Carlisle auction room in November 2019 for a Corgi Lotus Esprit, a press release issue for the James Bond film The Spy That Loved Me;
£900 at the Carlisle auction room in August 2019 for an early Meccano Dinky Toys gift set number 25;
£750 at the Edinburgh auction room in August 2020 for a Merrythought Punkinhead teddy bear made exclusively for Eaton's department store in Toronto;
£600 at the Edinburgh auction room in March 2018 for the Dinky Supertoys 923 Big Bedford van with rare Heinz Tomato Sauce decal.
You may have heard of Thomson Roddick from advertisements in publications including Token Publishing’s Coin Yearbook, Coin News, Stamp & Coin Mart, Spinks’ Coins of Scotland or the Antiques Trade Gazette, The Scotsman or Scottish Field. If you are social media inclined, and don’t follow us yet, then we are on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: you can find our social media icons in the footer of the website to start following us. Perhaps you have seen a member of our team on tv recently? We feature regularly on Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip, Dickinson’s Real Deal, Cash in the Attic and the much missed Flog It, or you may have met one of our valuers presenting a talk on antiques to your local group.
We like jargon, if you do too, then here are some related jargon and terms that you may find in one of our coin and banknote auction catalogues:
Dinky Corgi Matchbox Spot-On Lledo Britains Hornby Dublo 00 Gauge Wrenn Bachmann Märklin Tri-ang 0 Gauge Lines Bros N Gauge Lima Grafar Dapol Jouef Marx Rovex Merrythought Armand Marseille Heubach Köppelsdorf Steiff Norah Wellings Airfix Chad Valley Barbie Action Man Lego Siku Star Wars Gilbow Oxford Schüco Tinplate Clockwork Electric Die-Cast Train Locomotive Car Lorry Truck Aeroplane Tractor
Gavin Durward Tavendale BSc (Hons) is the head of Department and is always happy to conduct free no obligation valuations whether that be in person at the auction room, over email or in the comfort of your own home.
Gavin can be contacted by telephone on 0131 440 2448 or by email edinburgh@thomsonroddick.com.
