EDMONTON – Most farm toy collections start innocently enough, says Tom Waterhouse, a collector and seller of farm toys.
People usually start by buying a miniature version of their first farm tractor. Then they may add their first combine or some other special piece of equipment.
“Over time you start filling in the gaps,” said Waterhouse, who operates Tom’s Toys in Davidson, Sask.
Waterhouse started his collection with a John Deere A, a toy given to him as a child. Soon he too started filling in the gaps. Like other collectors, Waterhouse started by buying case lots of toys to get a specific item and then he would sell the rest.
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“Eventually it got to be a business,” said Waterhouse, who recently set up a booth at the Farm and Ranch show.
Waterhouse and his wife, Audrey, travel to more than a dozen farm and toy shows a year. While no single piece of farm machinery is a big seller, there’s always one piece at the show that catches someone’s attention.
Sheldon Blum of Vega, Alta., knew exactly what he wanted when he made a beeline to Waterhouse’s booth. He bought a 1/64 size 2460 Case four-wheel drive tractor and a grain bin.
Blum plans to add the toys to his model farm set up in his farmhouse basement.
Blum started collecting as a child and hasn’t quit. His model farm features corrals, cattle, tractors, houses, grain bins and other assorted pieces of equipment. A miniature town can be found nearby.
“His whole room in the basement, that is his alternate universe,” said Blum’s wife, Katie.
“I’m sure some stuff that happened on our farmyard actually happened in his toy room. His hobby is the same thing as his living,” said Katie, who estimates they have more than $5,000 worth of miniature toys in their basement.
Blum said his first tractor was a miniature International given to him by his mother’s uncle. He played with it when he was young and hasn’t stopped.
“I wasn’t allowed to drive the real stuff, so I started collecting.”
Waterhouse’s collection fills a four by three metre room in the house. The walls are lined with toys on display and two large cabinets in the centre hold more toys. All the toys are out of the boxes, but the boxes are safely stored away. Sometimes the boxes are worth more than the toys.
He has a 1960 John Deere 630 worth $260. The empty box is worth the same.
