RONALD TOBY: Rivals between other collectors?
There is no rival, I’m number one! Top dog, bring it if you got it. You can’t mess with me.
RONALD TOBY: My collection is like living in a toy store.
COMM: Ronald Toby has an incredible collection
of vintage toys which he’s been slowly building on since his childhood.
RONALD TOBY: My collection was appraised by
the Philadelphia Daily News at $1.4m in 2011.
RONALD TOBY: Today I think my collection probably is worth about $1.9m maybe.
RONALD TOBY: As a kid there wasn’t a lot
of toys, but I had relatives who would, I’d do a little chore for them and they would
always get me what I’d asked for.
FLORENCE BALLARD: Everyone else would be out playing or whatever, not Ronald. He would
be in the house playing or working with what he had. And then he was a good kid doing that,
no jail time, no policeman, so that was really good. Don’t you think?
RONALD TOBY: The way that I financed my collection
is number 1, I had a job for 30 years. Number 2, I had boys, that was a reason always going
to the toy store and acting like I’m going for the boys but I was going for myself.
One for them, three for me! That was my philosophy of going into this.
RONALD TOBY: 2D batteries and you could do that and the propeller spins. Just don’t chop yourself in the head with it.
I don’t know who makes these but I have never seen them and these are the only two I’ve ever seen.
BETTY NAYLOR: Me and Ronald we go back about
20-25 years. He’s my buddy. I think his collection is like out of this world. Every
time I come in here, I see something new.
RONALD TOBY: Here is the 1941, original Howdy Doody puppet.
RONALD TOBY: I try to have a different theme in each room.
RONALD TOBY: I have a swatch room.
RONALD TOBY: I have an African room.
RONALD TOBY: If you have a coral reef on the wall, then you got to have, you got to have
a flying shark! Swing it up, no bring it down, bring it down, wiggle that tail. Get him,
get him, finish him off!
RONALD TOBY: I have an ice house room which is frozen icycles.
RONALD TOBY: From there I have a boxing room.
RONALD TOBY: From there I have a 1941 room.
RONALD TOBY: Favorite room!
RONALD TOBY: From there, I have a doll room, which is a Florida room.
RONALD TOBY: “Hey! I’m Snoopy.” When I moved from my last house, I bought a bigger
house so that it could hold my collection and I’ve been at this house for while now,
I need a bigger house to hold my collection. So apparently, it’s growing at a fanatical
rate that it’s time to put the brakes on that’s for sure!
RONALD TOBY: Oh here is something you've never seen.
RONALD TOBY: Dick Tracy G-Man gun and guess what…
RONALD TOBY: Still works!
RONALD TOBY: Dick Tracy G-Man. Now this is
one of my proudest collections. There is a cliché about collecting toys. The cliché
is this. He who dies with the most toys wins and I know quite a few winners, I’m not
trying to be one yet but I know quite a few winners and it’s true. You never want to
sell your toys, you hold them to the end.
BETTY NAYLOR: Toby is a bright, imaginative gentleman. I hope to see his collection go to a museum.
RONALD TOBY: Now let’s get back to the music, I’m going to clean that up later.
Who knows that could have been Frank Sinatra on that call. Here we go, let them hear it. Let’s get some doo-wop.
RONALD TOBY: One thing about toy collecting is you leave a legacy, to show that you did
something when you were here.