Stepping inside dealer Jean Pol Ventugol’s gallery The Antique Toy Shop [Gallery 1] is like walking into Santa’s workshop. If you ask Jean Pol about any one of the cool vintage toys lining his display cases, he is guaranteed to have an even cooler story to tell you about it. Watch the video and see below for just a few of his incredible toys, but visit in person to feel like a kid in a vintage play land. Jean Pol once told us, “The best vintage toy is about what you like.” You’ll probably like everything but you’re guaranteed to fall in love with something. Contact him at theantiquetoyshop@yahoo.com.
Meet The Dealer
Hello, welcome to The Antique Toy Shop, Gallery #1 at The Manhattan Art & Antiques Center. My name is Jean Pol…I am a French guy from Nice. There are lots of toys…lots of very interesting things, I can show you.
What’s Your Favorite Kind of Toy?
So I am a big fan of sci-fi, and I like very much robots, space toys. I have a lot in my shop, mostly in perfect condition, sometimes with original boxes. I like especially Robbie of Forbidden Planet…she’s for me an icon.
 Limited edition set of Robbie Robots each with certificate and original box. Sold only as a set. Tin, Japan, 1980-82. Click image for detail views. |
 White Robbie robot is extremely rare with only 25 produced. Click image for detail views. |
Can You Tell Us About Your Other Toys?
Of course, I have lots of different toys. Cars, motorcycles, games, Santa Claus items, Mickey Mouse…lots of things here for every kind of collector.
 Large wooden “passe-boule” game, one of the first toys featuring Mickey Mouse and Pluto. Wood, France, 1930. |
 Large Santa Claus, with articulated arms, made by Petitcolon. Celluloid, France, 1925. |
Here is something very interesting. It’s a Lincoln Futura (below). It was the original model car for the Batmobile. And here is another very interesting thing, it is a Cadillac. The color is very difficult to find but this one is very special: it has a Louis Vuitton tag on the underside. It was sold [only] in Louis Vuitton shop.
 Battery-operated tin car. The Batmobile was designed from this Lincoln with only small changes by Georges Barris in 1966 to make the first Batmobile. Tin, Japan, 1957. |
 Battery operated tin Cadillac with “Louis Vuitton” tag, with original box. Sold only in Louis Vuitton stores. Tin, Germany, 1965. |
And this car (below) is named “Diamond Finger,” made in the 60s, but people don’t want to pay the royalties to James Bond so they put only the number 001 on the hood and the sides!
 Battery operated Corvette Stingray by Daiya, hood flaps open with pop out lighted machine guns. 1965. |
 Licensed Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Faiencerie D’Onnaing tea set. Bisque, France, 1930s. |
Here we have a lot of items from the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s (above, right). Mickey Mouse was very popular in France in the 40s because the comics come out then and lots of people buy them.
How Did You Start Collecting Toys?
I start collecting as a hobby 20 years ago. It’s the first time I bought something old, vintage…maybe not very interesting but it was the first one, the very first one.
What Was the Toy?
It was a flying saucer [laughs]…and one day I decided to start my job to be a toy dealer all the time [laughs].
 Sonicon Rocket by Masudaya With Original Box. Tin battery operated remote control rocket advances and antenna moves. Tin litho, Japan, 1960. |
 Large seaplane designed by Manlio Stiavelli at the CMASA of Marina di Pisa. Silver plated brass, Italy, 1939. |
About the Gallery
A time capsule to childhood memories, from 1880 to 1970s. You will find antique toys in original condition, mostly with their original boxes. Cars, trucks, planes, motorcycles, robots and flying saucers, pedal cars, steam engines, optical and cinema games, toy soldiers, trains, diecast models, automata Disneyana, and more.
Owner, Jean-Pol Ventugol buys single items as well as complate collections. Don’t hesitate to ask for an appointment!
Gallery #: 1
Email: theantiquetoyshop@yahoo.com
Website: theantiquetoyshop-newyork.com
