A lifetime of collected toys
Alan Preston might have the second-best job in the world, right after being a professional chocolate taster.
The toy collector is living out his dream by spending his days surrounded by childhood relics, with more than 30,000 mementos on display in his Christchurch museum.
The museum is set to triple in size when he moves into an enormous warehouse in Manchester St next year but Preston said even that would not be big enough to house his ballooning collection, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
‘‘We get someone every day wanting to work here, it is a pretty great job.’’
Preston, 63, a former mechanic, began collecting diecast model cars when he was young; he now has more than 15,000.
When he opened The Toy Collector store in Falsgrave St in 2016, he had about 2000 cars and hundreds of miscellaneous toys, ranging from Lego to Barbie memorabilia, Harry Potter merchandise, stuffed toys, dolls and battle miniatures.
With Matchbox his first love as a youngster in Dunedin, Preston would join queues outside toy stores when new models were released, often dragging his sister along if the store restricted customers to a maximum of toys.
When many of his friends were discarding their childhood toys, the schoolboy carefully packed his away for safekeeping.
Spotting original items was a huge part of
Alan Preston is moving his museum, The Toy Collector, to new premises in Manchester St.
the job, such as a 1960s Matchbox car number
41. The car, with red wheels, could sell for about $800 compared with the yellow-wheeled option which was worth less than $100.
‘‘We have had a few little old ladies crying because it really takes them back.’’
Last week, he was gifted the McDonald’s
40th anniversary children’s combo collection to add to his almost 4000-strong box of goodies from the fast food giant. The toys include classic McDonald’s characters like the McNugget Buddies from 1988, Grimace from
1990, and the Hamburglar from 1995. Since opening, collectors from around the country had asked to show their items in the space but 80 per cent of the goodies on show belong to Preston and his wife, Ruth Fisher.
Many were purchased from auctions, antique shops and garage sales, with ‘‘almost anything’’ available for the right price, he said.
They have travelled the world buying toys from places including the United States, London, Paris, Australia and Singapore.
On a recent trip to the US, Preston returned with four extra suitcases of sporting goods for the new space.
He planned to include a dedicated Harry Potter and Star Wars area in the new 900-square-metre museum, opening in March.
‘‘It will be great to have a place with more foot traffic but it is not big enough. Nothing will ever be big enough.’’