NEW YORK — Toy motorcycles certainly get collectors’ hearts revving. Several prominent toymakers produced a range of choices in the early 20th century, in tin or cast iron and from friction action to key windup to clockwork models. The diversity of appearance and the level of attention to detail makes toy motorcycles a prime collectible for both toy collectors and those who fill their garages with full-size motorcycles.
Toy motorcycles are typically outfitted with detachable or built-on riders that take the forms of policemen, postmen, military figures and delivery men. Pop culture figures such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Evel Knievel and Popeye were also popular as toy motorcycle riders, with America’s favorite mouse being one of the most desirable.
Tippco made toys in Nuremberg, Germany from 1912 to 1971, with an emphasis on tin friction vehicles. Fan favorites that bring big bucks today are the Mickey and Minnie Mouse motorcycles it produced in the 1930s. Not licensed by Disney, the iconic characters have a decidedly non-Disney-like appearance. A circa-1932 example that brought $42,500 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2017 at Bertoia Auctions shows Mickey and Minnie sitting atop the motorcycle, and both have big teeth and five fingers instead of the usual four. Indeed, their hands resemble bunches of bananas, a peculiarity cited by Walt Disney himself as an aesthetic reason for the official cartoon characters having fewer fingers. Slightly more than 10 years ago, a boxed example of the Tippco Mickey and Minnie motorcycle sold for in excess of $60,000. The 9½in long toy is “certainly the most desirable of the German automotive toys from this period because of its crossover appeal to motorcycle collectors, its robust size and edgy design,” according to Bertoia Auctions.
By the time Tippco was making toys, the Guntherman company, founded in 1826 by Siegfried Gunthermann, already had a foothold and began producing mechanical toy cars and vehicles in 1898. A 1914 toy motorcycle by Gunthermann sold for $10,000 plus the buyer’s premium in August 2021 at The RSL Auction Company. Its driver is dressed in a brown uniform and is ornately detailed with lithographed striping on his pockets, goggles on his hat and buckles around his waist and pant legs. The clockwork mechanism is concealed inside the cycle’s body.
Manufacturers in the United States also earned their share of the toy motorcycle market, and Hubley was perhaps the best known. Its little vehicles were so realistic that it easily secured the license to make toys replicating Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles. Begun in 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the Hubley Manufacturing Company released its first toys in 1909 with motorcycles as a fixture of its toy catalog. Boasting working parts and opening doors, they frequently had sidecars or pulled a delivery van, such as with its famous Say It with Flowers van. That particular toy motorcycle had the Indian logo over its gas tank.
A notable early bike by Hubley is a cast iron Hill Climber motorcycle with nickel wheels in a desirable green color variation and its original Harley-Davidson driver. The Hill Climbers were made to replicate racing motorcycles used in the sport of hill climbing. An example of the toy that was offered complete with its original pull string and ball made $27,000 plus the buyer’s premium in December 2017 at Dan Morphy Auctions. It retained its original tag showing it sold for 50 cents, and was for the Waverly (New York) Motorcycle Club.
Another highly sought-after Hubley toy is a circa-1932 clockwork motorcycle with sidecar that earned $11,000 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2021 at Bertoia Auctions. The 8½in-long vehicle retained the Hubley decal and its enclosed passenger sidecar hid the clockwork mechanism underneath.
Milestone Auctions’s January 2022 sale saw several toy motorcycles perform well. The auction’s top lot was a prototype Marx Speedboy 4 with a soldier driver and accessories such as a branded “AMMO” box and a movable spring-loaded cannon for shooting projectiles. The toy, featuring hand-painted details, sold for $14,000 plus the buyer’s premium.
Motorcycling has continued to grow in popularity, ensuring a ready appetite for vintage toy motorcycles. They appeal to those who live to ride as well as those too young to mount a machine, those who have had to give it up and those who would never consider sitting astride one. Be they fanciful or impressively accurate, collectors will continue to make space for toy motorcycles.
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