Farm toy collectors from a multi-state area traveled to Jasper on Saturday and Sunday, March 6-7 to attend the Calvin Hemme estate two-day farm toy auction at Memorial Hall.
Hemme was a well-known collector of farm toys and spent many years traveling to toy shows and auctions adding items to his collection. He passed away in 2009 and his wife Kate decided to sell part of his collection.
The sale drew potential buyers from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas and even an online bidder from France.
From custom tractors to implements to collectible cars, and from the small 1/64th scale to the larger 1/32nd scale, the sale offered something for every collector. Calvin’s collecting didn’t just focus on one make of farm toy. His collection included John Deere, International Harvester, Case, Ford, Allis-Chalmers, Case-IH, New Holland and others, both old and new models.
“There were about 85 registered buyers at the sale and 180 registered online buyers,” said Ken Girard of Girard Auction & Land Brokers, Inc. Girard has been doing online auctions since 2001 and the Wakonda, S.D. based auctioneering firm has done about 200 such sales since then.
Using the Internet to take bids during an auction isn’t just for farm toys. According to Girard they have used it for land sales, household sales and even to sell a classic car to a buyer in New Zealand.
Girard says they do probably 30 days of toy auctions. Most of these are two-day sales because of the number of items. For example, this particular sale listed 466 items, some multiples, the first day and about the same number on the second day.
