Unless he’s relocated to rural East Texas, this is not his Santa’s toy workshop, though it’s possible that is the way it appears. It’s an antique toy-collection museum that has been several decades in the making.
“The fun part of collecting is you do it because you enjoy it,” said toy collector Randy Legler. “You don’t do it for investment. You don’t do it with the idea that you’re going to make a big killing on it someday when you sell it off. Markets change, times change, people change. You collect because you enjoy it – you get satisfaction out of it.”
Legler began collecting antique metal toys 42 years ago, and it all started with a flea-market surprise.
“I got out of the Navy, came back to Houston and my wife and I went to a flea market to buy some furniture for a rent house we rented,” Legler said. “I found two very unusual cast-iron toys that I fell in love with. I ended up spending the money we were going to use for furniture on these toys and that started the collection.”
Those cast-iron pieces catapulted Legler into what would transform a hobby to basically a second job.
His toy museum doubles as a workshop, allowing him to tinker away, refurbishing and restoring worn pieces.
“Mostly all my money I spent is a private, separate hobby from my normal income,” he told The Daily Sentinel. “My wife and I had that understanding when I got into this. Everything I have has been wheeling and dealing. If I make money by fixing toys, then that money goes right back into it, I just keep turning it back into it.”
Five thousand was the last known figure Legler had for the number of toy pieces he owns. Though he stopped counting years ago, he believes he now has anywhere from 7,000 to 8,000 adorning the rows of shelves in the toy hut he designed and had built.
“I’ve really only been able to play at this big time more seriously for the last 10 years,” Legler said. “I have more money to work with, but I’m also networking. And being around as long as I have, people know me and I’m able to sell higher dollar toys and acquire better toys.”
A 1926 Franklin American National pedal car is Legler’s most expensive piece. Eighteen months of haggling with the car’s Chicago-based owner is how long it took him to finally acquire the prize.
“It’s one of the best pieces if you want a pre-World War II pedal car,” he said. “It’s very rare and in its original condition. All those factors determine value. If it’s not been restored, there are no replacement parts. Original paint and everything is complete on it (and) it doubles to triples the value.”
Legler blames his infatuation with antique toys on being “toy deprived” as a child, “so I’m making up for it as I got to be an adult and could afford toys.”
To be classified “antique,” a toy must be at least 50 years old. Legler said a majority of his toys are from 1965 or earlier, with potentially a few exceptions.
“My oldest one is probably 1885 French tricycle,” he said. “I bought that at an antique show in downtown Dallas in 1985.”
Legler’s rural toy-collection museum can be toured by appointment, but some of his smaller pieces are set up in a booth at the Antique Market on U.S. 59 South in Nacogdoches.
“My problem is a lot of the stuff I buy I end up getting attached to,” he said. “And I don’t want to sell it. Especially if I’ve never had one or don’t have one in my collection, then I’ll keep it. That’s how my collection grew to what it is today.”
He discourages children from perusing his items, wanting only individuals who understand the pieces’ fragility and history before handling them.
“Usually, it’s those who I think would understand and have an interest in it – who could relate to it from when they were a kid,” Legler said. “I don’t want to show it to someone who doesn’t know what they’re looking at or whose first statement is, ‘Boy, how much money do you have tied up in this junk?’ Right then, you know you don’t need to show it to them because they’re not going to appreciate it.”
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Information from: The Daily Sentinel (TX), http://dailysentinel.com
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-12-10-13 1730GMT
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