VINELAND, N.J. – Prices realized went off the rails at Bertoia’s $1.2 million auction of the Jerry and Nina Greene toy train collection. The select grouping of railroad toys had been amassed by the Philadelphia couple over several decades of global travel and shopping. The April 9th sale included 700 lots of European and American trains and accessories, with a special focus on Marklin, Bing and early US productions in the rare 2-inch gauge. Absentee and live online bidding was facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.

To give you an idea of the level of quality in the sale, take a look at this Marklin (German) train tunnel with mountain chalets and castle turret. It had been entered with an $18,000-$22,000 estimate, which was not at all out of line. Rare and in pristine condition, it came with blue-chip provenance from the famed Ward Kimball collection. Train enthusiasts battled tooth and nail over the Alpine beauty, with the winner paying a staggering $84,000 (inclusive of 18% buyer’s premium). How many tickets on the Orient-Express could you buy for that amount of money? Quite a few.

A full auction report will appear soon on ACN. In the meantime, click here to visit Bertoia’s fully illustrated catalog from the April 9th sale, complete with prices realized.

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