Toys & Prices [Paperback]

It's difficult for any one Toy price guide to be the definitive, sole source of pricing and listing information for every toy. There are simply so many toys out there that you'll always find something that may be in one guide and not in the other. But if you want to start somewhere, or if you're content to choose only one guide, then Toys & Prices 2006 is the best choice. First, it comes from a great source, Krause Publications, who have been putting out excellent price guides for many years as well as publications like Toy Shop, Toy Cars & Models, etc...Second it's written by people who are knowledgeable in the field and in the various types of toys in the book.

The latest edition is 824 pages with over 31,000 toy listings with multiple prices. The book is sectioned by toy types from Action figures, Games, and Lunch boxes to Pez, Robots, Space Toys, and Vehicles, 23 different sections in all. Specific brands such as Barbie, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, and View Master get sections all to their own. The toys can overlap from section to section so if you don't find it in one be sure to check another. Each section starts with an introduction by an expert in the particular type of toy and includes notes on recent market trends. The Barbie section includes information on various resources, publications, websites, books, and clubs for the collector. The G.I. Joe section has a short, but concise history of each of the various Joe action figure lines. The book averages 3 - 4 black & white pictures per page with some 2,100 plus pictures in all. There is also a 16 page color photo section.

Testing the book out I didn't find many things that were not in the guide. One interesting omission was the Lord of the Rings action figures from Toy Biz based upon the recent films. Interesting because the book DID contain the older lines from Toy Vault and Knickerbocker toys. My only real disappointment was that in eight pages of Transformer toys listings there were only five photographs included. Heck you can easily find MIB pictures off the internet of most, if not every Transformer toy. OK, I guess that may be nit-picking just a bit. As will all Krause books the layout is very clean and well laid out. They don't sacrifice readability by making the type so small you can't read it like some other guides do. This is one book I always take along with me when I go out to flea markets or garage sales. Great as usual!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  5.0 out of 5 stars