ABSTRACT
The London Toy Museum is a classic example of the independent museum, which more often than not tends to focus on singlethemed collections. In this case, the collection returned to the private collecting sec tor as the museum's contents were sold off. Allen Levy's justification of the museum's importance, 'More people have played with toy trains and cars than have looked at a Rembrandt', epitomises the contemporary collecting ethos of the last two decades. At one time tin toys and teddy bears were exactly that, toys; they are now regarded as valuable antiques, and antiques, what is more, of every man or woman. The 'people's collectables' are therefore seen differently from conventionally accepted high culture material. The mass produce of our childhood is increasingly assuming the aura ofthe sacred. New collecting lines such as film tie-in toys are worth immensely more entombed in their original packaging.
