The full-color, all-digital March 2008 issue of Toy Collector Magazine is available to view or download now at www.toycollectormagazine.com. The new issue is packed with exciting articles, plus up to the minute auction information of interest to collectors and dealers.

Cover Story: Mattel’s new Hot Wheels Commemoratives line celebrating the 4-billionth Hot Wheels car. TCM takes you to the unveiling in New York of the specially commissioned, diamond-covered Redline car that commemorates the release of the 4-billionth Hot Wheels car. Reporter Chuck Miller speaks to Hot Wheels supercollectors, a Mattel designer, and even Jason of Beverly Hills, the jeweler to the stars whose team undertook the project of decorating the $140,000 Hot Wheels diamond car. What will become of the high-priced bling-rod? It’s headed to auction – read about it in this article.

Looking back in time, Alan Jaffe explores the wonderful designs of turn of the 20th-century train stations, by Marklin, Ives and other prestigious makers of that era. Find out which train station holds the world record for highest auction price ever and view a big, colorful picture of it.

Also in the March issue, read about the history of Wyandotte toys – they owe their existence to scrap metal from the Detroit automotive industry – plus farm toys, colorful tin gameboards of the 1940s-1960s, and toy airplanes based on America’s mammoth postwar atomic bomber, the B-36.

All-digital Toy Collector Magazine is brought to you each month by QM4G Media, an associate company of LiveAuctioneers.com. Access either the flash version with a “page-turning” feature, which you can open instantly in your browser; or the downloadable PDF version, online at www.toycollectormagazine.com. And don’t forget to sign up for e-mail alerts advising you each month when the new issue is ready for you to download.

Toy Collector Magazine – written by collectors, for collectors of antique, vintage and contemporary toys. www.toycollectormagazine.com

Santa Fe, Feb. 29, 2008–It was the greatest trunk mystery the world had ever seen. That’s what the advertising handbill called it.

“The Houdini’s Original Introducers of Metamorphosis. Exchanging Places in 3 Seconds,” the poster said.

At the top Harry Houdini’s vignette could be seen with the words “Harry the King of Handcuffs” underneath. In the bottom right was a vignette of his assistant and wife Bess and the words “Beatrice Queen of Mystery.”

Metamorphosis was its name.

Onstage Houdini climbed into a sack that was placed inside a large wooden traveler’s trunk. Audience members tied Houdini’s hands behind his back as he crouched inside close to the row of air holes along the bottom.

The sack was shut and tied securely with ropes. Finally, the lid to the trunk was also closed along with the stage curtain.

“Now then, I shall clap my hands three times and at the third and last time I ask you to watch closely for the effect,” Bess said.

She quickly closed the curtain and vanished from sight. Instantly the curtain was reopened not by Bess but by Houdini himself.

Bess was now gone. Houdini turned toward the trunk. He reopened the lid and inside knelt Bess with her hands tied behind her back.

The switch was made. But how?

Just seeing a Houdini advertising poster in 1895 was often enough to coax people to buy a ticket to the show. These posters were the mainstay of promotion at the turn-of-the-century.

On Oct. 25, Swann Galleries, New York, featured the poster described in The Christian Fechner Collection of American & European Magic, Part III. The 28 by 20 ¾ inch poster sold for ,000.

Read the entire article at www.LiveAuctionTalk.com.

RSS: http://www.liveauctiontalk.com/rss/lat.rss

Photo courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries.

SAN FRANCISCO – With two laptops, one server and no venture capital, Tom Johnson, founder of www.rubylane.com, used his kitchen table as his office to begin a simple e-commerce website. Today, celebrating its 10 year anniversary, Ruby Lane is the premier online site for antiques, art, vintage collectables and jewelry.

“It’s been an amazing decade,” says Johnson. “It’s hard to imagine it all started in my kitchen. We’ve come a long way, increasing the number of vendors we support from 1 to 1,750, and the number of items sold on the site each week has increased from 27 to 3,600. But our proudest accomplishment is that we have been able to build a reputation as the premier online venue for antiques, art, vintage collectables and jewelry.”

In just one year, Ruby Lane rapidly grew in popularity and was named one of the top 20 fastest growing sites in 1999 by Media Matrix, with a visit growth of 38% per week. Over the site’s 10 year history buyers and sellers around the world have come to rely on Ruby Lane to maintain a secure and user-friendly one-stop venue that not only includes a great selection, but offers exceptional customer service and support that has helped over a half million registered users.

Throughout the past 10 years numerous features and services have been added to the site to enhance the user’s experience and assist the rapidly growing number of vendors utilizing the site to sell their one-of-a-kind collectables and antiques. Features included Monthly Finds, where vendors can profile single items sent to subscribers, Participatory Print Ad Campaigns, where vendors can take part in advertising their goods, Exclusive Programs that feature vendors who exclusively use Ruby Lane to sell their items, and the Quality Assurance Program, that assures consumers that each item sold on Ruby Lane is authentic and of high quality. In addition, Ruby Lane incorporated a Return Policy to ensure customer satisfaction, Live Help for users to chat directly with a member of Ruby Lane’s Customer Service team and receive on-line assistance, and the addition of their blog, Notes from The Lane (http://blog.rubylane.com). Notes from The Lane is the most recent addition offering a wide range of articles on topics relating to antiques & art, vintage collectibles and jewelry, as well as loads of tips on how to succeed as a seller in the online marketplace. It serves as a participatory venue for all visitors, both Ruby Lane sellers and shoppers.

“We have worked diligently with our vendors and visitors to create a user-friendly shopping experience, similar to actually strolling within a romantic European shopping district in an exclusive neighborhood of an old-world city,” says Johnson. “Our commitment to all our users remains seated in quality items and customer service.”

Additional milestones include:

Going from just 7 vendors to more than 1,700
Starting with 366 collectibles listed on the site to more than 300,000 today
1 registrant to over 1/2 million registrants
The number of employees has grown from 2 to 15 professionals
In the first week of business an average of 27 items were sold each week, now roughly 3,600 items are sold weekly
Initially roughly 100 items were added daily, now 750,000 are projected to be added in 2008

About Ruby Lane

Founder Tom Johnson combined his passion for collecting with enterprise technological know-how to create Ruby Lane, the world’s premier online shopping destination for antiques, collectibles, fine art, and jewelry. Named after his mother, Ruby, and bringing together over 1,700 individually-owned shops offering unique items from around the world, Ruby Lane offers more than 300,000 items in inventory ranging from antique furniture to depression glass, fine china, vintage jewelry, heirloom linens, books, stamps, paintings, sculpture, hand-blown glass, ceramics, and more. Ruby Lane goes beyond a typical e-commerce website and offers a user-friendly shopping experience, similar to actually strolling within a romantic European shopping district in an exclusive neighborhood of an old-world city. This year marks Ruby Lane’s 10 year anniversary. For more information please visit www.rubylane.com and http://blog.rubylane.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – Ruby Lane (www.rubylane.com), the premier online venue for antiques and art, vintage collectibles, and jewelry from around the world today launched Notes from The Lane, (http://blog.rubylane.com), a content-rich blog with topics relating to antiques and art, collectibles, jewelry and everything vintage. Notes from The Lane offers educational articles on buying and selling antiques and collectibles and offers ongoing tips on how to succeed as a seller in the online marketplace. In addition, the site features specialized vendors, events and resources to find everything from appraisers to museums, historical societies to salvaged architectural structures, and everything in between.

Ruby Lane has become the premier online shopping site for antiques, collectibles, fine art and jewelry, since its launch in 1998. The site features over 1,700 vendors from around the world offering museum quality pieces by artists such as Salvador Dali to fine Limoges porcelain, rare sports memorabilia and vintage, estate and handcrafted jewelry and adds thousands of new items daily.

“Over the past 10 years we’ve been able to offer a one-of-a-kind experience to buy and sell high quality and rare antiques and collectibles through Ruby Lane,” explains Ruby Lane founder, CEO and president, Tom Johnson. “Notes from The Lane blog is an evolutionary step for us, our vendors and our customers, providing a more interactive and personal experience with expert commentary, educational advice and active participation to discuss everything from antiquing to buying and selling unique pieces.”

Notes from The Lane featured sections:

Educational articles – offering content relating to the all-important Lanes found on Ruby Lane, as well as tips for those who want to attain online sales success, regardless of what type of product offered. Blog visitors are also invited to contribute content to share experiences, tips and tricks with fellow shoppers, sellers and collectors.
Expert columnists – Ruby Lane shop owners will regularly contribute content on topics such as collecting and/or selling online, personal experiences in the field, tips for e-commerce success, tips for shoppers to help find what they’re looking for and much more.
The Buzz – featured news from the Ruby Lane staff and founder, Tom Johnson, reviewing the state of the online and collecting markets, trends, and other newsworthy insight.
Shop spotlight – showcasing featured Ruby Lane shops.
Resources – offering hundreds of links to resources relating to antiques and art, collectibles, jewelry, everything vintage, online sales, and hundreds of variations of these topics. This section includes links to appraisers, suppliers, museums, business councils, industry organizations and historical societies, clubs, and much, much more.
Events – featuring upcoming events including exhibitions, sales, showcases and more.
Advertising – Appraisers, restorers, shippers and all professionals in the trade are invited to advertise their specialized services on the blog for maximum exposure to a specifically targeted audience.

For more information please visit www.rubylane.com and http://blog.rubylane.com.

Stephen O’Brien Jr., broker of the most famous duck and goose decoys in the world and CEO of Copley Fine Arts Auctions (www.copleyart.com), will be conducting free appraisals and exhibiting the works of Elmer Crowell at The Ohio Decoy and Wildlife Show at the Holiday Inn in Westlake, Ohio, March 13th and 14th.

O’Brien, who brokered the world-record sale of duck and goose decoys for $1.1 million each said, “The Midwest is a hot spot for quality decoys with terrific makers like Perdew, Elliston, and Graves.” O’Brien is no stranger to the region, having authored the decoy books “The Masterworks of the Illinois River,” in 2005.

O’Brien said, “We’re looking forward to our auction this summer which boasts a superb selection of waterfowl carvings including a wonderful pair of geese by famed carver Joselph Lincoln, as well as a superb standing black duck by A. Elmer Crowell. At the Ohio show, we’ll be conducting free appraisals and accepting consignments from 10:00 am – 4:00 p.m. on March 13th and 14th. We invite anyone interested to take advantage of this free service.

Stephen B. O’Brien Jr. Fine Arts is one of the leading private dealers of decoys in the world (www.copleyart.com)