THE FORBES MAGAZINE GALLERIES  

by Paul Walker, Northern California/Lake Tahoe Chapter

 

 

 

            I love museums! I love the Metropolitan, I love the British Museum, I love the Frick and I love the Mariners Museum. I love the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton and I love the Maritime Museum in San Francisco. But most of all I love the Forbes Magazine Galleries in New York because of their unequaled collection of toy boats.

 

            The story goes that Malcolm Forbes walked into his Forbes Publishing Building in the financial district of New York City one day and gave the word to clear out the ground floor to make way for his collections. Malcom Forbes loved collecting, and his children share that passion. Collectibles are not inanimate objects but stimuli for the imagination. When Mr. Forbes saw a toy boat or a toy soldier, for example, he saw rolling seas and past battles. That is what makes these galleries unique; they bring things to life.

 

These collections include the finest group of Imperial Faberge Easter Eggs (more than the Kremlin), a wonderful autograph collection, several versions of the Monopoly game, the largest collection of toy soldiers in the world as well as a collection of Victoriana. But the surprise, delight and highlight of the Forbes Magazine Gallery is a vast collection of wonderful antique "toy" boats.  Eight gold leaf panels designed by Jean Dupas, and executed in reverse painting on glass for the Grand Salon of the Normandie are among the Art Deco fittings recapturing the golden age of ocean liners. Beyond the ship's rails are models of the five Highlanders, yachts owned by Forbes over the past three decades. Popular fascination with liners, warships and smaller craft is reflected in the thousands of toy boats made from the 1870's through the 1950's. Representing all the great makers, more than 500 boats are "at sea" in the gallery.

 

            In the days before World War II, toy boats were different than anything made today. Great pains were taken by the companies of Marklin, Bing, and Fleischmann among others to make the toy boats realistic yet have a sense of grand delusion. And they were bigger than toys of today. Some of these superb toys were 4 feet in length and powered by twenty-minute clockwork motors, one-hour steam engines or a six-hour electric motor.

 

            Alas, today these toy boats, when they can be found, cost in the tens of thousands of dollars so very few of us can "play" with them in our back yard pool. But the next best thing-with no investment required-even the admission is free-is to plan to spend a few hours at the Forbes Magazine Gallery the next time you are in New York. I tell all my friends that are traveling to New York City to be sure not to miss two things: the Circle Line boat tour around Manhattan (which is cheap) and the Forbes toy boat collection which is free!

 

            The Forbes Magazine Gallery is located at 60 5th Ave, New York, NY 10011. Their hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, and are closed Sundays, Mondays and legal holidays. For information telephone (212) 206-5548. Thursdays are reserved exclusively for guided tours offered by the curatorial department for groups of 15 to 30 people. For reservations, which are required, telephone (212) 206-5549. Children under sixteen must be accompanied by an adult and no more than 4 children per adult.

 

Back to Rudder Winter 2000