Donald Lewis Kaufman was an American toy collector amassing millions of dollars worth of antique items in his country home in western Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

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Early life

Kaufman born and raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and was educated at the North Adams State College. He then did national service in the Army in the early 1950s. Afterwards he joined the family business, Kaufman Brothers, started by his father and uncle in 1922 and which sold general goods.

K·B Toys

The Kaufman Brothers' business expanded into retail that included Kaufman Brothers Toys, or Kay Bee Toys

KB Toys

K·B Toys was a chain of mall-based retail toy stores in the United States. It was founded in 1922 by the Kaufman brothers. K·B operated 605 stores in 44 U.S. states, Puerto Rico as well as Guam. It was privately held in Pittsfield, Massachusetts...

, in 1960 and was fully established in 1972 in nearly every state in shopping mall

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

s. Donald Kaufman was vice president at this time. Nine years later, the business was sold to Melville Corporation and eventually dissolved in 2008 when the decline in the retail business started affecting the shopping malls.

Personal life

Kaufman married Faith Dichter and they had three daughters. The marriage was eventually dissolved. He then married Sally Golden, who had two children from her previous marriage. Throughout his adult life he spent vacations touring toy fairs in the Northeast and in Europe and amassed a huge collection of antique toy cars and trucks.

The Collection

Kaufman's important collection of antique toys included his first item, International Harvester Red Baby truck, purchased for $4 from a collector friend in 1950. The collection also included a working 1912 Märklin live-steam fire engine and he had more than 700 cars and trucks arranged on shelves in a four-level annex to his property. Other larger items included 40 pedal and oversized pressed-steel cars. The total size of the collection was estimated at 7,000 items, which he amassed with the help of his wife, Sally. "It was a team effort...It was one of my lifelong pleasures but when she came into my life 20 some years ago she partnered in it and enjoyed what we did just as much as I did. I couldn’t have done this without her."

As of March 2009, about a fifth of his collection had been sold at auction by Bertoia Auctions for $4.2 million. In September a further 1,100 toys brought in an estimated $3 million. At the time of the first sale, Jeanne Bertoia stated it would take a series of 4-6 sales to sell the entire collection.

Death

Kaufman died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on October 12, 2009 from a heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

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