Arnold Rolak’s sweet fleet sails off into the sunset

Arnold Rolak is entitled to wear many hats of distinction. As a Texan, he earns the automatic right to don a Stetson. As former owner of one of the world’s most formidable collections of Britains soldiers (auctioned seven years ago in London), he retains the honorary title of commander-in-chief, with its star-studded battle helmet. And as caretaker of 51 exceptional antique and vintage toy boats, he also makes room on his hat rack for a commodore’s cap.

As is so often the case with collectors, Rolak was inspired to get into nautical toys after viewing an advanced collection that knocked his socks off – that of his British friend Pierce Carlson. “I’ve always been a military history buff, and I already had a few boats, but seeing that collection made me want to start moving,” Rolak recalled. “Pierce lived above the London Toy & Model Museum. I used to love to look out the back. From the balcony you could watch the model railroad going around.”

With his shelves emptied after the auction of his toy soldiers, Rolak did what any red-blooded collector would do – he set about filling them up again. “I bought boats from all over the place – auctions, several dealers, through private sales and eBay. But they had to be German or French made. The Japanese didn’t get into it till after the war, and to me, their boats were too toylike – not realistically detailed.”

Other physical aspects that had to pass muster before Rolak would consider purchasing a boat included originality and condition. “I don’t paint and I don’t repair, so the boats I bought had to be in excellent condition,” he said. “The paint had to be 98 percent or better, and it had to have everything intact – lifeboats, flags, etc. I’ve passed on hundreds of boats because they just didn’t come up to my standards.”

The collection includes mainly battleships, ocean liners, a few racing boats, and German-made replicas of Japanese Navy boats from the Russo-Japanese War. Makers include Bing, Carette, Sutcliffe, Fleischmann, Ives, Orkin, Arnold and the premier brand, Marklin. “I have only two Marklins in the collection because Marklin is the Rolls-Royce of boat makers, and they command Rolls-Royce prices.”

Naming his favorites, Rolak started the list with a Marklin 29-inch yacht Jolanda. “Not many manufacturers made yachts. This one was made in 1904,” he noted. “It’s really quite rare. I purchased it privately from a Pennsylvania collector. It’s the most expensive boat in my collection.”

Another craft that ranks near the top is the Bing 30-inch live-steam battleship Furst Bismarck, made in 1905. “I like the size and beauty of it. That’s one I would sit in the room and look at and love.” Rolak is also partial to his 26-inch Bing three-funnel ocean liner Bremen and his 29-inch Bing battleship King Edward made in 1910. The latter boat was made in Germany for the English market – a “beautiful old boat,” Rolak observed. “Battleships like that are much harder to find than ocean liners.”

Because of its unusual action, Rolak especially enjoys his 7¾-inch Carette gunboat made in 1915. “A sailor stands with a cannon at the rear of the boat. When you wind it up and put it in the water, the sailor runs back and forth from right to left, but only when the boat is running. That, to me, is unique. On most boats, the only thing that moves when the clockwork operates is the propeller.”

In addition to boats, the Rolak collection includes a wonderful circa-1920 Bing deep-sea diver. Hollow bodied and made of hand-painted tin, the figure wears a round, tin diver’s helmet and can rise or submerge in water when air is pumped through a hose attached to its body. This curious toy is universally coveted by nautical toy enthusiasts as well as collectors of diving memorabilia.

During his earliest days as a boat collector, Rolak had the good fortune to purchase a Fleischmann tanker from the celebrated Malcolm Forbes collection. “When it arrived, I unwrapped it, held it in my hands and kept looking at it. My wife walked up and said, ‘What in the world are you doing with that boat? You don’t collect boats. Why did you buy it?’ I replied that I just had to hold it for a minute because Malcolm Forbes’ hands held that boat, and those hands held Elizabeth Taylor.”

Rolak entered the hobby for “fellowship, not for profit.” He even used to take his dad, the late Arnold Rolak Sr., along with him to toy shows. “He wasn’t a toy collector. He was a retired postal worker who dealt in antique glass and pottery, but he loved working at my table whenever I would set up at a show.”

Considering the pleasure his boat collection has brought to him, it surprises some of his fellow hobbyists that Rolak has chosen to auction his collection in its entirety, during the second session of Bertoia’s Nov. 9-11 sale. He explained that his decision to sell is based purely on “age … I just had a birthday and turned 74.”

Arnold Rolak may be parting with his fleet of toy boats, but anyone who thinks he’s through with collecting would be ill advised to bet money on it. As he told Toy Collector Magazine: “I’ve made a lot of friends over the years because of collecting. Besides, I just can’t stop buying and selling.”