Donald Kaufman (collector)

Donald Lewis Kaufman (8 October 1930 – 12 October 2009) was an American toy collector amassing millions of dollars worth of antique items in his country home in western Massachusetts.

Early life

Kaufman born and raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and was educated at the North Adams State College. He then did national service in the Army in the early 1950s. Afterwards he joined the family business, Kaufman Brothers, started by his father and uncle in 1922 and which sold general goods.^[1]

K·B Toys

The Kaufman Brothers' business expanded into retail that included Kaufman Brothers Toys, or Kay Bee Toys, in 1960 and was fully established in 1972 in nearly every state in shopping malls. Donald Kaufman was vice president at this time. Nine years later, the business was sold to Melville Corporation and eventually dissolved in 2008 when the decline in the retail business started affecting the shopping malls.^[1]

Personal life

Kaufman married Faith Dichter and they had three daughters. The marriage was eventually dissolved. He then married Sally Golden, who had two children from her previous marriage. Throughout his adult life he spent vacations touring toy fairs in the Northeast and in Europe and amassed a huge collection of antique toy cars and trucks.^[1]

The Collection

Kaufman's important collection of antique toys included his first item, International Harvester Red Baby truck, purchased for $4 from a collector friend in 1950. The collection also included a working 1912 Märklin live-steam fire engine and he had more than 700 cars and trucks arranged on shelves in a four-level annex to his property.^[1] Other larger items included 40 pedal and oversized pressed-steel cars.^[2] The total size of the collection was estimated at 7,000 items, which he amassed with the help of his wife, Sally. "It was a team effort...It was one of my lifelong pleasures but when she came into my life 20 some years ago she partnered in it and enjoyed what we did just as much as I did. I couldn’t have done this without her."^[3]

As of March 2009, about a fifth of his collection had been sold at auction by Bertoia Auctions for $4.2 million. In September a further 1,100 toys brought in an estimated $3 million. At the time of the first sale, Jeanne Bertoia stated it would take a series of 4-6 sales to sell the entire collection.^[4]

Death

Kaufman died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on October 12, 2009 from a heart attack.^[1]

References