Toys Become a Staple at Bodnar’s Auction

In the past few years, Bodnar’s Auction, a local auction in NJ, has grown in both size and quality. Nowhere else is this as apparent as in the toy sale. It has grown from a few tables at each sale to over 20 tables at each sale filled with comic books, early transformers in the original box, and early GI Joe figures taking up row after row.

The toy sale spans all generations and types of toys. Each sale can consist of early tin-type and wind up toys, the first few original Barbies and all of the accessories, the Barbie dream home from the 1970’s, pre-WWII trains all the way up to the newest trains just released from the major companies and all the accessories that come with it, pop-culture toys still in the original packaging and mint on card, original movie posters, and newer toys such as Furbies and Pokemon. “It has become a phenomenon” states Joseph Bodnar, owner of Bodnar’s Auctions. “Each sale just gets better than the last.”

A Collector’s Paradise

Bodnar’s Auctions specializes in bringing entire collections to the market for sale. In the past year, he and his company have put multiple collections up for sale for collectors who are selling for many different reasons.

A collection titled: the History of Gaming was one of many put up on the auction block this year. It consisted of almost every gaming system, game, and computer ever sold in the gaming industry. From early Commodores, Apples, and every Atari system made to hundreds of games to go with each system. Even the modifications to the systems were included in the sale, as well as special controllers and accessories for each one. The collection took up an entire 10,000 square foot room and brought in buyers from all over the country who flew in just to bid! There was online bidding included in this sale as well.

Another collection brought up for sale was an extremely large comic book and pop-culture collection. Mr. Bodnar was called by a woman who had her brother’s collection of comics. She told him it would be a few boxes of comics. When he arrived, it was an entire storage unit full of thousands of comics as well as pop-culture toys, movie posters, and more. Once it was unpacked, it turned out there were more full runs of comic series than he had ever seen (including a complete run of Vampirella that brought $1000), and toys for almost every relevant pop-culture show and movie made in the last 30 years. It too took up every inch of space in a 50,000 square foot room. This sale drew in more than 500 buyers at the in-house auction.

There are a few notable sales in the past year that come from Bodnar’s Auctions toy sale. There was a great copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 that sold for $17,250.00. There are more comics that brought great prices including Hulk #181 that realized $4,800, a giant size X-Men #1 brought $600, and Spiderman #129 that realized over $800. There are more toys that bring in the serious buyers. For instance, a signed Star Wars Trilogy movie poster sold for $2000, Marvel Comics Green Goblin original in package brought $350, a Fantastic Four Human Torch original in the box brought $350, Fantastic Four Thing original in the box realized $250, and an original Star Wars Luke in Jedi outfit mint on the card brought over $350. This is just a sampling of what the toy sale at the Edison auction house has begun to see on a regular basis.

Growing Trends

With auctions every month at the NJ Convention and Expo Center, this trend does not look like it is going anywhere but up. The large location offered by the center provides ample room to properly display the collections as well as for the over 500 people that attend each auction. That, coupled with the fact that according to what Bodnar’s Auctions sees trending in the market, the toys from the 70’s, 80’s, and even the early 90’s are what everyone is looking for at the moment. “People buy back their memories” according to Joe, and it seems that he is right. People in their 30’s and 40’s are settled into their homes and are at a point where they are now shopping for things they want. For a good portion of this population, that happens to be the toys they played with as children.

Bodnar’s Auction in NJ holds auctions once a month on a Thursday at the NJ Convention and Expo Center at 97 Sunfield Ave, Edison, NJ. They open the doors on sale day at 9 am, and the sale begins at 11 am. Continue browsing the website for photos and details about upcoming items.