A life-size Steiff grizzly bear is among 400 toys up for auction on Saturday, at Armitage Auctions at 10am.
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The items were collected over 40 years by a Launceston woman, who has decided to farewell her acquisitions as she downsizes.
Auctioneer Andrew Snooks said it was remarkably rare to see a themed, private collection of this size.
"It would be one of the biggest collections that we've ever come across," he said.
"She's got some very rare tin toys in the original boxes - that makes them very collectable, when they're in their own boxes.
"There's a very early French rocking horse. Some of the toys are amazing because they're quite early toys.
"Some of the bears are very good as well."
One of the items is the 'Scotty dog' that would be recognisable to anyone who went into Birchalls book store before it closed.
The dog was built by a Launceston Jeweller-Watchmaker in the 1930s or '40s, and was designed to sit inside a window and tap his paws to attract attention, according to a member of the family who owned the former business, Phillip Tilley.
"The person who built Scotty was a very talented - to make him so lifelike, and also to automate him in the day was extraordinary," he said.
"There were no computers then, and Scotty is made from paper mache and covered in fur.
"He has been given a motion sensor as due to his age we didn't want him to continually tap all day, and he has also been put into his perspex case to keep him away from being touched."
Scotty was purchased by the collector after Birchalls closed, and can now be purchased again by a member of the public at auction.
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