Product details
>>LAST ISSUE, NO More will be published from Joachim Koll<<
The general decline in the model railway market is also leading to a reduction in the number of publications that can be sold.
We therefore decided in 2019 not to continue the illustrated volumes of Koll's price catalog, both in the cardboard version and in the cloth-bound complete edition. This also affected the Koll's special catalog.
As you can see, we are continuing Koll's compact catalog, which is traditionally based on the text part of the Koll's price catalog. It still contains the descriptions of the models that Märklin has released in the 00/H0 gauge since 1935. Plus, of course, the current collector's price, which is permanently determined in real terms at the special auctions. The new 2025 edition also lists the Märklin Magazine models, the Märklin Museum models and the Märklin Insider models from the beginning.
The smallest of our catalogs for Märklin 00/H0 is based on Koll's price catalog, but omits pictures in favor of a low price. Therefore, it is only recommended if you already have basic knowledge, which you can acquire at railway exchanges and auctions or through Koll's price catalog.
Its portrait format makes it the ideal flea market companion.
ISBN :
43nd edition
Joachim Koll
Koll's
Compact catalog 2025
Prices for Locomotives, wagons, accessories
Märklin 00/H0
cardboard/perfect binding
675± pages
without photos
21.0cm x 10.5cm
46 years of Verlag Koll
When the first Koll's price catalogues came out of the printers in December 1978, it was a bit of a risk, because the model railway collectors scene was still so small that you kept seeing the same people and knew each other - at least by sight.
At this time, there were already toy auctions by Willy von der Warth in Burgstrasse in Uerdingen, who was the first in Europe to auction antique toys in 1969. Von der Warth also held pure H0 auctions at that time. In 1972, Rossig & Richter from Weinheim - and Rolf Richter from 1978 - followed with toy auctions.
After friends of old toys, especially railway enthusiasts, met for informal get-togethers, the first "swap markets" were formed, probably in 1968 in Weinheim. Dr. Jürgen Griebel and Manfred Kip organized a meeting in June 1971 in Cologne's old town at the fish market, which had to be moved due to flooding. Later, people met at the "Treuen Husar".
In May 1975, railway enthusiasts met in the station restaurant of the "main station" Wuppertal-Barmen with Mr. Müller and Mr. Graeber. In November 1975, the "Frankfurters" Carl Ernst Baecker, Horst Blüm, Dr. Otto Gros, Dieter Haas and Botho Wagner began their "swap meeting" with the Rhine-Main swap meet in the Obertshausen "Café Ott".
In Munich, Josef Lorenz and Christian Selzer started collecting old toys in 1976, first in the "MTV-Halle", then in the "Waldheim" and later in the "Heide Volm" restaurant. Herwig Pötzel invited collectors to the "Lämmchen" in Langen in 1977.
As the two oldest auction houses increasingly focused on large gauges from zero, Klaus Graeber from Wuppertal and Alfred Krieg from Stuttgart tried their hand at small gauges in 1977 and 1978. Graeber was delighted to have 80 bidders at his first auction in the cozy restaurant at Wuppertal-Ottenbruch station. After very successful years as an auctioneer and stock exchange organizer, Graeber withdrew more and more from the scene. Auctioneer Krieg also ended his activities in the meantime.
The first Nuremberg exchange, organized by Tucher & Walther in October 1978, took place in Langwasser. In the same year, Clemens Pothmann started his Gelsenkirchen exchange. Klaus Tacke organized the first Inntal toy exchange in Raubling/Upper Bavaria in November 1978.
"Essen Railway, Toy and Photo Swap Meet" was the name of the launch event organized by Wolfram Aschmann and Kurt Pagga in October 1979 in Essen. In the Netherlands, Dr. Hobma organized the first model railway swap meet in Holland in November 1979.
In June 1980, André Vercauteren began his first railway auction in Belgium.
Klaus Benkmann led the first Rhein-Sieg swap meet in April 1980 in Troisdorf. In the same month, the friends of old toys met in the Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt Kursaal with Dr. Rolf Theurer and Hans Willi Walter. In September 1980, the first South German European swap meet for old toys began in Weingarten, a meeting that was organized by Willi Siegele for two days from the start and later moved to Bruchsal. The first toy swap meet in Austria took place in November 1980 in Salzburg. Erich Hamminger was the organizer. Also in November 1980, the Taunus Railway Friends started their model swap meet in Eschborn with Michael Sauer.
Incidentally, in the 1970s no one would have thought of putting new goods on the table. One exception was the Northlander, which was despised by most collectors because of its plastic feel. Even the tin apron cars were considered too new at the time and were traded for around 20 DM in the mid-1970s.
The Wachenburg in Weinheim was a chapter in itself. It could be miserably cold when you drove up the winding roads to the castle at 7 a.m. to find a decent parking space, or it could rain so hard that you hardly dared to get out of your warm car. Warm sunny days were rare and led collectors to go on a buying spree. The trunks offered treasures that had been sought after for a long time. Anyone who wanted to look at the auction in the Knights' Hall had a hard time with the atmospheric lighting. Some flaws were overlooked here. When the traffic chaos became more and more impenetrable, Rolf Richter had no choice but to go down to Weinheim in 1984. Although there were now plenty of parking spaces, the atmosphere unfortunately fell by the wayside.
The first collectors devoted themselves exclusively to gauges 0 and 1, preferably to the Märklin brand, less often to the Bing brand, but hardly to other companies such as Schoenner, Rock and Graner, Hess, Doll, Carette or Bub.
The 1 gauge collector looked down on the 0 gauge collector, the latter on the H0 collector, and the latter on the N collector, if there were any at all. Märklin collectors laughed at Bing or Trix or whatever other strange brands there were. This has changed slightly today. However, the appreciation of the gauges is still reflected in the collectors' prices. A Märklin crocodile in gauge 1 from 1935 costs around EUR 30,000. In gauge 0, you ask for around EUR 20,000. In gauge H0, a model from 1947 fetches around EUR 5,000. It is similar for the carriages and accessories.
In the 1970s, retailers significantly reduced the selling price of discontinued models. This was of course a good opportunity to buy slow-selling models, which most foreign models were, at a reasonable price. Old models could be recognized immediately by their old boxes. The retailers were of course happy that these strange collectors kept the shelves in order. The author can still remember a business trip to France well. In Paris, he went to the Passage du Havre, to "La Maison des Trains" and was amazed to see the rare Danish steam locomotive 3045 in a display case. It was of course a nice souvenir.
It has long been known that model railway enthusiasts prefer to buy models whose originals are used at their local station. But while national models used to be sold almost exclusively in the respective country, for many years now there have been collectors all over the world who are interested in exotic locomotives and carriages. They ensure that the numbers for small countries reach economic levels. Without the commitment of the collectors, the large number of export models would not be profitable at all.
How much the share of collectors in Märklin model train sales has grown is made clear by the fact that in some cities and states official Märklin dealers are at the top of the sales lists, who had their origins in the collectors' scene and still have a feeling for this very special market segment today. After collectors had made their presence felt in the trade, the behavior of dealers changed when the discontinued models became known. Koll's Info for Insiders, the information service that has been published since 1981, once published a discontinued list early on, and a number was transposed for one locomotive. In Göppingen it was clear that the information had been read, because the error led to lively activity in the trade, which reordered the "discontinued model" in large numbers.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the demand for model railways changed significantly. Because the birth rate fell sharply, fewer starter sets and additional parts were sold. On the other hand, model railway enthusiasts increasingly became interested in the subject in adulthood. They had higher expectations of the product range and advice from retailers. Department stores could not keep up.
Until 1980, there were fixed selling prices for model railways. After that, manufacturers' price recommendations were prohibited, and a price competition that was at times ruinous developed, which was driven by mail-order model railway companies through advertisements in the trade press. As a result of the price drop for model railways, the smaller department stores closed their model railway departments. First, the toy railways became a winter range only, then the Märklin range was replaced by a Primex range, and finally they closed down completely. Many traditional toy shops followed this example. The number of toy retailers decreased significantly. The largest stores in Frankfurt and Cologne closed. But pure model railway shops also closed. Overall, the number of Märklin sales outlets decreased significantly.
Model railway sales fell not only because the number of buyers was falling due to the lower birth rate or because low-price retailers were poaching customers, they also fell because the toy market now offered a much wider selection of game systems. In addition, there was strong competition from computer games. In recent years, there have also been structural changes in the world of work. The large number of low-income earners could not afford an expensive model railway. All of this led to changes in ownership of model railway manufacturers: Jouef in France, Hornby in England, Lima and Rivarossi in Italy, Liliput and Roco in Austria, Arnold, Trix and Märklin in Germany. The Nuremberg garden railway manufacturer Lehmann also filed for bankruptcy and was taken over by Märklin. Most recently, the Fleischmann family sold their traditional company to a Bavarian investor who already owned the Roco company.
But another effect also caused difficulties for some miniature railway manufacturers.
The trade press almost without exception saw itself as the mouthpiece of the "serious model railway enthusiast" and demanded that the industry continue to refine its models and select models that were geared to fringe interests. The demand to "get off the high rails!" also led to dimensions that were incompatible with safe operation. More than 15 track systems were fighting for customers in the H0 gauge alone!
The reunification of Germany did not automatically lead to higher sales for Märklin, as the company had not been present in the East for 50 years. In the meantime, the Eastern market in H0 gauge had become a direct current market, and in East Germany the TT gauge played a major role. The Göppingen company therefore had to start from scratch there.
While there were still 3,000 Märklin dealers in Germany in 1980, Märklin now sells to around 800 dealers. The MHI trading partners account for around 90% of Märklin's turnover. The trend is moving towards specialty model railway trading. The toy railway enthusiasts of yesteryear have become the target groups of model railway enthusiasts, model railway collectors and toy railway enthusiasts. These buyer groups have very different needs.
The model railroader wants to buy locomotives and carriages from a specific era. He wants perfect driving characteristics, the finest detailing, burnished wheels, real close coupling, digital control, expert discussions at the dealer, and of course he wants as much model railroad as possible for his money. He rebuilds vehicles and ages them. He dirty them so that they look as natural as possible. However, such models cannot be sold to a collector later on.
On the other hand, the model railway enthusiast values problem-free installation of the system, robust models, transparent technology, advice in case of problems and low prices. The inexpensive starter sets meet his needs.
The collector usually knows the range better than the dealer. That is why he does not need any advice. It is important to him that the model and its box are in perfect condition. In the case of a special series, he does not care whether the model is equipped with the latest technology. If the series is small enough, he will also accept less tasteful prints. But it would be wrong to believe that you can sell him anything as long as the Märklin name is printed on it. He is becoming increasingly demanding and picky. Since he has one eye on a possible increase in value, he buys where it is cheapest. If a model is in short supply, the collector goes from dealer to dealer and creates what appears to be huge demand, but in the end he may only buy one model.
There are also a number of speculators among collectors. They buy a large number of models in the hope of being able to sell them again at a profit if their value increases. While this used to work with the Northlander, for example, it is hardly possible today because demand for modern rarities has become much more restrained.
After the copies of the first Koll's price catalog for Märklin 00/H0 were sold out at the beginning of 1979, a small reprint was printed, which also sold out. This first "Koll" was purely text information about construction time, variants and collector's price, and it was typed on a typewriter to minimize costs. It offered collectors a quick overview and, with its 84 pages, was thin enough to be taken to flea markets without any problem. The basic design of the title has been retained to this day.
At the end of 1979, the second Koll's price catalog for Märklin 00/H0 came onto the market: the 1980 edition. It now also contained black and white and color photos of interesting models, as well as
detailed photos of couplings, pantographs, axle bearings and bogies. The picture section was printed on art paper and the volume grew to 264 pages, not least because of the more detailed background information.
In the third edition, the 1981 catalog, accessories were shown in color for the first time and rarities such as the English E 800 LMS could be shown in color. The volume grew to 344 pages. The 1982 catalog already contained around 700 photos and its page count increased to 472.
The risk of having a collector's catalogue printed and having to sell it within a tight deadline was limited, because the author and editor could do the essential work himself, apart from the printing. Working as an art director in an international advertising agency (Ogilvy), the design and conception of the catalogue, as well as the advertising for it, was his "daily bread and butter" and directing photos for professional still life photographers or monitoring litho and printing adjustments were also part of his normal work. This small side job was of course approved by the bosses, because reviews in Capital, FAZ, Spiegel, Welt and other media could not be ignored.
In 1983, the publishing house moved from Frankfurt am Main to Bad Homburg and was now able to develop even more. The 1983 edition was the first to be published as a thread-bound linen edition of Koll's price catalogue. In some cases, the inexpensive, perfect-bound edition could not withstand the demands of everyday collectors' lives and since then there has been a choice between a low price and a classy design.
Since the 1983 catalog had grown to 496 pages, it was quite a load to carry at trade fairs and flea markets. So the Koll's compact catalog was published for the first time as a supplement, especially for the "field sales force." It was only half the size and therefore fit perfectly in a jacket pocket. In favor of a low price, it did not include any illustrations.
The 1984 edition of Koll's price catalogue contained a current special theme:
"The 125-year Märklin story", which offered an overview of the other Märklin activities on 35 pages. In 1985, the special topic was: "Anniversary story 50 years of Märklin 00/H0". Märklin catalog titles marked the development steps.
Because Koll's price catalog was growing in size and this also caused technical problems, the section on special models, advertising cars and prototypes was removed in 1986 and Koll's special catalog was able to devote itself to this topic from then on. It was initially 208 pages long. In the same year, the author finished his work at the agency and now had enough time for book production. The computer age began at the publishing house with the new Mac. The 1987 Koll catalogs were the first to be produced with the Mac Plus. Once everything had been recorded, this of course made work much easier.
In 1988, Koll's price catalogue celebrated its 10th anniversary. The covers were white with gold lettering. For the first time, charts showing the price development of selected models were available.
In 1989, Koll's price catalogue included the special theme "Original box - a magic word?".
In 1990, one could wonder about the topic: "Tracks, how have you changed?". The tracks of the pre-war and early post-war period in particular were unknown to many railway enthusiasts. And because better is the enemy of good, the cloth edition was now available with the helpful bookmarks.
In 1991, the special theme was: "From the idea to the pilot series". It showed the many steps involved in realizing a model railway locomotive.
Since the volume had now increased to 960 pages, it became necessary to divide the standard edition into two volumes.
In 1992, the drive technology was up for debate: "How they switch and rule. The Märklin locomotives and their technology".
In 1993, the secret was revealed: "The Truth About Die Casting" dispelled some of the myths that were told among collectors.
In 1994 there was the last special topic for the time being: "The big wide world of export models".
In 1995, the accessories section was revised and illustrated with 143 color images.
In 1996, two catalogs for Märklin Z gauge were published for the first time. One edition was dedicated to the standard program on about 220 pages and a special catalog for the advertising and special models comprised about 280 pages.
In 1997, the updated second editions for the mini-club were published with an expanded scope, totaling around 580 pages. There are currently no plans for a new edition of the Z-gauge editions.
Every year the catalogues were updated, the number of photographs was increased, old images were replaced with new ones, and conventional reprography was replaced with scanner-based ones. The new editions usually appeared in December.
In 2003, the 25th edition of Koll's price catalogue was available, with a gold cover for the occasion. And the 40th edition came with a white cover and was also the last edition. The theme is continued with Koll's compact catalogue.
Koll's price catalogue has had no shortage of competitors from the very beginning. However, the support has never been long-lasting. In most cases, the potential number of buyers has probably been overestimated and the production problems underestimated.
What is the situation today? The idea of collecting old model trains has spread,
especially among Märklin fans. But the idea is still little known among the general public.
Collectors who collect everything are certainly a minority. The majority today restrict themselves to specific areas. One is the area of "old models from 1935 to 1956", i.e. the models of the 700 and 800 series. Some certainly do not draw the line until 1970. Others only start with the super model series from 1947 onwards. Up until around 1980, the range still allowed for a complete collection, and it was easy to keep track of everything. People knew the article numbers and could imagine something under 3086 or 4075. Then there was a steady expansion of the range, which made it increasingly difficult to keep track. Export models and special series were added to the usual catalogue range. Today, further special series from trade associations have been added to these ranges. The one-off special series is no longer the exception, but has become almost the norm.
That is why collectors today are looking for models of their choice from the wide range on offer. They do not only rely on Märklin dealers with shops or mail order companies, but they can now choose from more than 400 annual toy markets and auctions, which is particularly indispensable for old models. However, the trend has now reversed. Markets are complaining about fewer buyers and were unable to open at all during the pandemic. Auction houses are auctioning online.
Two auction houses dominated the H0 scene. Georg Brockmann in Munich, who has since passed his activities on to the auctioneer Christian Wrede in Adelsdorf, and Erich Lösch in Worms, who sold the auction to Kevin Enser. Willy von der Warth had handed his auction house over to Heinz-Dieter Lankes and Rolf Richter also withdrew from the Weinheim scene. For several years, Christian Selzer had established himself with a focus on large tracks in Geisenheim next to the cathedral and then moved to his own home in Rüdesheim.
Götz Seidel's auctions in Ladenburg also include H0 models. The Alino AG auction house, on the other hand, has ceased its activities. The contact point in Switzerland is the Dorenbach auction house with Stefan Stöckli, formerly Hermann Ostermayer. In Belgium, Mr. Baeyens held H0 auctions in Antwerp. H0 material can also be found from time to time in the Dorotheum in Austria. The same applies to the auction houses in London, although Christie's no longer offers model railways. In Sweden, model railways can be found again and again at Stockholms Auktionsverk.
What will happen next? The interest of railway enthusiasts in very old Märklin models remains stable. The trend towards the best condition, with the original box if possible, continues. Locomotives with cast bodies up to the 1970s are sought after, provided they are in mint condition. Old sheet metal cars and cast models, on the other hand, are less popular. Prices have fallen considerably here. Plastic models from the early days are hardly in demand. Current models are impressive with close couplings and much finer prints. The large numbers of units from the 1970s and 1980s are also a reason why there is no shortage of old models.
Many friends of history build railway systems not according to model eras, but according to Märklin periods. With pre-war track material and suitable accessories, it is of course a special challenge to make the old models work. A system from 1954 can also be attractive, with the model tracks of the 3900 series and the station system 419 G/6. A scene from 1958 or 1965 is just as conceivable.
The era of tinplate car models is over at Märklin. However, this period cannot be described as closed, because every now and then a special series is released to delight collectors.
The metal track is now a thing of the past and the C-Sinus motor only made a brief appearance. Although it was an excellent drive, it was also very complex to manufacture. The relatively small number of units made production more expensive, so it had to be abandoned.
Problems with the ability to deliver the first generation of the central station and other influences led to a sharp drop in sales at Märklin. Banks sold Märklin loans to other interested parties. The 22 shareholders of the Märklin, Friz and Safft families, who had run the company for almost 150 years, were unable to pay off the debts. They therefore sold their shares to a group of investors in 2006.
The future of the Märklin company (and Trix, Lehman, Hübner) was managed by a new team, which was ultimately unsuccessful and had to file for bankruptcy on February 4, 2009. The insolvency administrator Michael Pluta and the appointed managing director Dr. Kurt Seitzinger were able to restructure the Göppingen company and bring it back into profit. In 2012, sales were around EUR 109 million and profits around EUR 10 million.
The insolvency administrator sold the model railway group on March 21, 2013 to the owners of Simba-Dickie (leaders) Michael and Florian Sieber. This secures the future of Märklin and we can hope to continue to enjoy model railways for a long time to come. The Simba-Dickie Group is therefore the largest toy manufacturer in Germany.
