It's a 'Toy Story' that one Northland office is hoping will have a happy ending.
A group collecting children's gifts for charity has suddenly found itself in possession of a rare and expensive collectable toy set.
Staff at the Northern Advocate are used to getting their heads into a good mystery, but this one is particularly close to their hearts.
The newspaper runs an appeal every Christmas, asking readers to drop off toys and gifts, so they can be passed on to charity.
This year, someone's donated a gift so special, they're trying to track down the person who dropped it off.
"She's elderly and she's female," said receptionist Gaylene Kooge. "Marylin, my offsider, knows what she looks like, so we'll know her when we see her."
The donation is a toy set made in New Zealand by Timpo, an international company that went under in the 80s.
Listings on eBay have prices as high as $1500 for the whole set, but editor Craig Cooper has even better news from a Whangarei toy shop.
"The individual pieces in the toy set could be worth a couple of hundred dollars and there's at least five of those," he said. "The box itself isn't damaged, so that's worth something."
It's not known just how rare the Timpo toys are.
Most of this collection is in good condition, but some of the smaller items may have some battle stories to tell.
"The cowboys and Indians themselves have obviously been through a few battles," Mr Cooper said.
If the toys remain unclaimed, they'll be sold with proceeds to going to charity.
But they hope it won't come to that and that the toys' missing owner will return before this Christmas appeal finally wraps up.
Newshub.
