Dan Adamson Enjoys All Aspects of the Hobby

Dan Adamson's Basement Full of Toys

Wed Feb 01, 2012

by Debbie Behne

"Dad would give us $20," said Dan of those early toy shows. "Toys cost $2 a piece so we would try to get as much as we could" with bargaining skills quickly learned.

"I would spend a couple of hours searching for the right tractors to buy," he said. "I would dicker to get two tractors for $3 so I could buy more." There was always a search not only for as many toys as possible, but also new pieces: "Back then, I could remember what I had in my collection."

That was about 30 years ago. Now the business name has been shortened to DDR Toys, and Dan carries a black binder with all his tractors systematically entered to keep track of the 3,400 pieces in his collection, most in 1/64 scale. These days, DDR Toys is primarily Dan running the business with occasional help from his father.

That's much different from when Dan, now 39, first became involved with farm toys. "When we started out, Dad did everything," such as buying, selling and handing out $20 bills for his sons to make a few purchases. Business cards were made, and the Adamsons began setting up at shows, both to display toys and to buy and sell.

Typically, they would set up at eight shows per year. Most of those are within a day's drive of Dan's home, at Macedon, N.Y., although an overnight stay is required for Dyersville, Iowa, and Lancaster, Pa. Both those shows, however, are traditional for the family.

Dan's Boy Scout troop started the Geneseo toy show, and Dan continues to work at that show's auction to help support it.

The average amount made from show sales is $150, said Dan, adding Geneseo is an exception to that figure. Given the relatively small profit margin, "I check prices before I buy." said Dan.

Dan's first farm toys was an IH 1466 in 1/64 scale, a tractor received as a gift when he was young. At that time, toy tractors, were not just to be collected - they were to be played with: "I spent lots of time plowing and disking fields in the sandbox," said Dan, who grew up where his grandfather once farmed with IH. As a youngster, Dan enjoyed tractor rides on John Deere with a neighbor working the fields. [Subscribe to Toy Farmer and read the rest of this article.]