DECEMBER 22, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 50 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK

Asiaweek Pictures. Clockwise, from below: 1950s Japanese space toys such as the Space Cruiser X 300, Mego Man, Jupiter Robot and Astro-Scout are fetching record prices.

Space Boom
A growing buzz over retro-cool toy robots
By ALEXANDRA A. SENO

Space, the final frontier? Maybe not. But space, specifically space toys and robots, is certainly one of the fastest growing areas in the world of collectibles. And early post-war Japanese models are setting the outer limits in price. Consider the Sotheby's auction in New York this month. Fierce bidding for one mint-condition space toy drove the price to twice its pre-sale estimate. By the time the gavel fell, the successful Swiss collector was preparing to transfer $45,600 to the auctioneers. A 1955 Kanto television robot went to a Japanese connoisseur for a more humble $24,900. Even so, that's still quite sizeable appreciation for an item that cost less than $3 when it was first exported to the U.S. in the 1950s.

Asiaweek Pictures.

So what makes the Japanese tin men so special? Many of the robots and toys were put together from scrap metal. And just after World War II, the Made-In-Japan label was still a synonym for cheap imitation. But that's just the stereotype. "The Japanese designs were outstanding, partly because of the local comics tradition," says Ambrose Lee, the owner of a collectibles shop in Hong Kong. "At the time, robot makers had to be very imaginative about outer space, which people knew very little about."

Japan, a major toy producer after the war, created more and better robots than anywhere else in the world during the 1950s and 1960s. Its space toys have the edge in many ways, says Eric Alberta, a vice-president in Sotheby's collectibles department. They are sculpturally appealing, have eye-catching colors and great graphics on the packaging. Fitted with whirring wheels, gears and other devices, the old mechanical toys have acquired retro-cool status among many affluent young collectors. That so few survive the pommeling of playful children makes the toys even more sought after.

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Interest in space toys has grown particularly quickly over the past five years, experts say. No wonder a dozen museums have already sprung up across the U.S. and Japan to house the most valuable collections. A current exhibition of 250 mostly Japanese-made robots at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York underscores the fascination. In these technology-driven times, says Alberta, more and more people will be drawn to the toys which capture a futuristic vision. And, no, an R2D2 action figure doesn't count.

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