Dealership Displays Giant Toy Collection

Dealership Displays Giant Toy Collection AG WORLD Ag World 22-4-23 Dexter Farm Equipment is the largest volume retailer for Agco-Allis and White-New Idea in North America. But many of the people who visit the Wataga, Ill., implement dealership are not in the market for farm equipment. They come to see owner Dan Dexter's gigantic collection of farm toys. Thousands of toy tractors, balers, harrows, combines, and other implements fill a series of glass display cases in the main showroom, while about 100 toy pedal tractors are exhibited on shelves up on the walls. Old ag-related advertising signs and tools line the walls, and other farm antiques are displayed throughout the building. "I guess I've never grown up," said Dexter to explain why his collection has grown to include more than 4,000 1/16-scale toys. Dexter started his collection after he graduated from high school and took his first job as a farm implement salesman. When a farmer traded for a tractor, Dexter would deal with the farmer's kids, too, by offering them a brand new toy in exchange for two or three broken ones. Dexter does not collect new, limited edition toys. "Forty years from now, the shelf models that were sold in toy stores are going to be the most expensive because nobody kept them," he says. Although his store carries an extensive inventory of new and used toys, items in Dexter's personal collection are not for sale. He hopes they will always be displayed "someplace where people can see them." Visitors have driven great distances to see the collection. One set of grandparents brings in a two-year-old grandson twice a month. At first the youngster screamed with excitement every time he saw the array of toys. "Those kinds of memories you can't put a price on," Dexter says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dexter Farm Equipment, 606 North Sparta, Wataga, Ill. 61488 (ph 309 375-6661).

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