Toy Alfa Romeo P2 smashes pre-sale estimate

A toy Alfa Romeo P2 racer achieved an extraordinary result at Martin & Pole in Wokingham, UK on Wednesday.

It realised £14,000 ($18,649), a 366% increase on its £3,000 ($3,996) valuation.  

Toy P2 racer

You don't see many of these around

The exquisite die cast model was made by French company Compagnie Industrielle du Jouet (CIJ), which held contracts with a number of major European car manufacturers from its founding in 1920.

CIJ traded until the mid-1960s, when it was acquired by competitor JID.

The present specimen dates to 1925.

The car it depicts, the P2, was one of the most successful racing cars of the 1920s. It achieved a sterling victory in the 1925 Automobile World Championships.

Auctioneer Matthew Coles told Bracknell News: “We were very pleased with the result, and [it] is probably a world record at auction for this model car.

"The condition was exceptional, even down to some of the original straw packing in the box, but clearly the yellow colour was exceptionally rare, as it was causing a lot of questions.

"So to have a rare car with its box and key must have been a collector’s dream.”

The result came close to upsetting the £19,975 ($26,614) world record for a toy car, set for a Dinky “W.E. Boyce” delivery van in 2008.

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