Jordan Hembrough always loved toys. What kid didn't? As a
child, his room was filled with Mego Star Wars toys, superhero toys, the
staples of the American boy (or tomboy) of the seventies. Like many of those
kids, he loved his toys and hung on to them.
"Toy Hunter" host Jordan Hembrough. Copyright 2012 Scripps Network, LLC.
All rights reserved
In college, Hembrough quickly found a job as Head buyer
for a chain of sci-fi/comic collectible stores, and began traveling the country
looking for collectible toys.
When the company's 13 stores folded, Hembrough opened his
own shop: Hollywood Heroes, located in New Jersey. Since then, he says, "…I
have been non-stop, knee-deep in toys ever since and absolutely loving every
minute of it."
When The Travel Channel approached him, he knew at once
that it would be a good fit. The production company, Sharp Entertainment, also
does shows on the Travel Channel like "Best Sandwich in America". He went in
and interviewed for the job; the main thing they wanted to know was "Do you do
this professionally all the time?"
One of the places he'll visit a few times is Cincinnati,
Ohio, former home to Kenner Toys; Hembrough interviews one of their former
designers. He also advises that the Jurassic Park toys, the last solid series
of Kenner Toys, are getting hot now as collectibles. Kenner did toys for several Disney Afternoon series,
including the hard-to-find Gargoyles toys and Fluppy Dogs.
The focus, Hembrough says, will be on the relationships
between the people and their toys.
A rainbow full of Fluppy Dogs plush
He tells this story about a little old lady
and a box of Hot Wheels (really!):
"I was at a garage sale and a woman – a woman was at a
garage sale and I came across basically a cigar box filled with vintage Hot
Wheels toys – cars. And they were from the 1960s & 1970s.
And, you know, she said, 'Give me,' – I actually forget
the number right now. It was something cheap; 7, 20, 20 bucks for the lot. And
I took it and there were some cars in there that were extremely, extremely
valuable."
"And, you know, I forget the number now, I was able to
come back and, you know, flip the deal for a few thousand. And I went back to
her and I gave the money back to her and essentially said, 'You know, you
didn't know what you had but this is what was in your, you know, cigar box.
Some of these toys were very valuable. You know, you take the money.'
And she was great. Her son was there at the time, so it
was wonderful."
"Toy Hunter" Jordan Hembrough inspects an action figure while a toy collector looks on.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Network, LLC. All rights reserved
He calls this kind of deal "Good toy karma". It's more about the love of the game than the
money that can be made from it – but he doesn't keep the majority of the toys
he collects. Why? "It's called a
mortgage," he laughs, joking that his wife would kill him.
Toy Hunter will premiere on the Travel Channel on August 15th with two episodes airing back-to-back starting at 10 p.m. ET/PT. It will then move to its regular time slot (Wednesday nights at 9 p.m.ET/PT) starting on August 22nd.