Pricing them was no easy task, either; since there were no hard and fast values. "I based my prices on what I had had to pay for them and what other collectors thought they might be worth. I was selling them really cheaply, but still making a good profit. For instance, I'd buy a 'Mr. Atomic' for $800 and sell it for $1400 or $1500, and robots now worth $5000 -$10,000 were selling for $800 -900. After the Davidson auction results got around, though, the prices started to go up.

Click for larger view of this collage

A lucky find that came to him early on was a 'Machine Man', which he found in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. "It was a little rusty, but it was all there, and it worked. I had had a 'Radicon' and a 'Lavender' before, which were the same size and style, and in the case of the 'Lavender', had similar lithography; so I felt confident the 'Machine Man' had to have been put out by Masudaya as part of their 'Gang' series. Before finding that one, Johnson had never seen or heard of another."

Robert Johnson's business did not proceed along orthodox lines, in that his client base is, and always has been, predominantly private and, until the last few years, was located almost exclusively in Japan. "I never advertised here until around 1993, and that was mostly to make my name familiar to beginning collectors. I had this philosophy that I thought was fairly logical: if the toys originally came from there, I should concentrate on selling them back to customers who were there, too. I've always sold to Japanese collectors, which is the opposite of how most robot dealers do it. I guess I kind of lucked out, the way things developed, and I owe it all to that one Japanese friend."

Japan - Impressions of Another World

Shoppers scurry around "Number One Room" at the Yokohama Toy Show, which is comparable to the Main Building at the Chicago Toy Show. There are two other rooms at the show

Six years ago, Robert made his first trip to Japan. It was an eye opener, in that it dispelled any preconceived notions he might have had about mountains of robots sitting idly in shop windows, waiting to be purchased and whisked away to the States. "I learned rather quickly that old toys are difficult to obtain in Japan. Historically, Japanese kids would play with toys, but not save them, as storage space is at such a premium there. Most of the antique shops I saw had old tapestries, swords, block prints, that sort of thing, but no toys. Toys found in shops invariably were in poor condition."

"Cities seemed very congested. Everything was crammed together, especially the streets. And everything there looked different to me, even the sun, and I remember being amused by the plastic food in restaurant windows. The whole ambience and character of Japan felt different - it still does, even after all the trips I've taken over there. You'd think just the opposite, but I find the busy atmosphere in Japan to be a real stress reliever."

Toys images on this page
Top left: Yonezawa Eightman, circa 1966
Bottom left: Masudaya Non-Stop (Lavender) Robot, circa 1956

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