Vintage Toy Roadshow Expected To Attact Hundreds

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Remember those favorite toys that you or your children played with years ago? Wonder what they're worth today? The Vintage Toy Roadshow may have the answer.

Marlene and Ken Denk of Baldwin have boxes of toys left behind from when a family-owned store shut down.

"Most of this stuff was from her uncle's place, Joes' Place, on Brownsville Road," Ken says. "We've had it around. The kids keep saying, 'Dad, you'd better get rid of this stuff.'"

Getting rid of that stuff, for a price, is the goal of hundreds of toy owners expected at the Crowne Plaza in Mount Lebanon between now and Monday.

Penn Hills native Mark Leinberger takes his Vintage Toy Roadshow all across the country.

"Anything from the 1960s or before we'd love to look at," the appraiser says. "Anything newer than that, it has to be character related. Anything like Star Wars or Batman or Spiderman."

"Most of the toys he buys were given as birthday gifts, Christmas, or whatever. Rule of thumb: if a company makes a toy as a collector's item, don't collect it.

Leinberger explains why.

"The reason these are collectible today is because 40 years ago some little 8-year-old boy or 8-year-old girl played with this toy and loved it," he says. "So they have this collectible now that reminds them of the good old days."

The Roadshow pays 60 percent of a toy's appraised value. Early Barbies are winners, but what about GI Joes?

"The market on Joe this year is real soft," the appraiser warns Dale Hager.

The North Huntingdon man gets less than he had hoped for, but says, "I have some duplicates and other stuff."

Indicating his collection, he adds, "This is more surplus."

As for Ken and Marlene Denk, their kids should be happy. Mom and Dad got rid of all that "junk."

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