I’m not one for Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, but we are planning to travel for Christmas this year, so we need to do a bit of planning. Furthermore, we are trying to be responsible in our decisions, seeking fewer, higher-quality items, avoiding excessive packaging, and consuming less. So I’ve been on a mission to purchase a toy excavator for a three-year-old. I thought it would be easy.

My father was a John Deere Dealer from the early 1960s through the 1970s. Back in those days, product licensing wasn’t as big as it is today. Farm stores weren’t filled with all kinds of clothing covered with logos. You didn’t see green baby onesies with the yellow John Deere logo across the chest. However, there was a line of quality steel toys available. My father quickly ordered toys of the tractors he sold in the store. He kept a display of 1/16-scale steel toy tractors, and he made it clear he was willing to deal. When he saw a child eyeing the tractors in the display, he went over and spoke to them as if they were his biggest customer for full-scale tractors and implements. If they were short of cash, he would suggest that he would accept trade-ins. Because the toys were not his main business, he could afford to sell them at no profit and even at a loss. The used toys were donated to an annual Christmas Toy drive. He felt that if a child had a good experience trading with him for a toy, they would later become a customer for more expensive items, and he kept at it long enough to sell a few tractors to young farmers who had purchased toys when they were younger.

Some John Deere dealerships still sell a few toys, but the bulk of John Deere toy tractor sales is conducted through major retailers and online stores. And judging from what I’ve found online, John Deere is licensing that logo to a lot of different companies that make products of varying quality. Not every toy with the John Deere logo is a quality steel toy. Most are cheap plastic.

I am on a mission. The excavator must be able to withstand rugged play in an outdoor sandbox and will probably see time scooping mud in the farmyard. It needs to be strong enough to last. Our grandson is enamored of construction equipment, especially excavators. Next door to the library in Ferndale, they are preparing the foundation for a new City Hall. The other day, three excavators were working, digging and loading dirt into dump trucks. Watching those excavators in action was far more interesting to our grandson than the story hour at the library. He protested when his mother tried to get him to go inside for the program. Usually, he enjoys story hour, but those excavators working next door are much more inviting to him.

The combination of my father’s joy in trading toys and my grandson’s love of excavators has made me brand-specific in my search. I would definitely consider a Cat excavator, but I hope to avoid the Komatsus and Volvos for now. There is no shortage of toy excavators with the Deere logo. While shopping, I discovered something that piqued my interest for a while. There is a complete line of toys called the Prestige Collection. These toys are crafted for serious collectors and have price tags that make them beyond the reach of most children. They are exquisitely designed with intricate details. They have opening doors and realistic hydraulic cylinders. The die-cast tracks move with ease.

Real collectors keep the boxes and remove the toys only briefly to admire them. They see their toys as investments and believe they will appreciate in value over time. One website selling the Prestige Collection offers buyers the option to pay in four installments instead of paying cash up front. That’ll give you a sense of the price of these toys.

Toys are for playing, not for collecting, but my family would be quick to point out that I have a collection of 11/64 Die-cast John Deere toys. It started with a boxed set of historic tractors that was offered when my father was a dealer. He gave the sets as gifts to several family members, and I ended up keeping one of them. Tractor design has evolved quite a bit since 1960; however, I would add another tractor from time to time, eventually collecting four-wheel-drive and articulated tractors. Since the toys are scaled, the newer tractors are also larger. And what good are tractors without implements? I began to add balers, wagons, drills, and tillage tools. That led to a few swathers and combines. A pickup truck with John Deere on the side and a couple of Semis to haul grain and move implements appeared. At one point, my collection ran the length of the front of my bookshelves.

When we moved, I carefully boxed up the collection. We downsized, and I don’t have as many bookshelves as I once did. And the chore of dusting my shelves is way easier when I don’t have a bunch of toys to dust as well. So, at the moment, the collection is in a box in my garage. I’ve been thinking of waiting until our youngest grandchild is a bit older and one day taking out the box to explore the collection with him. We keep a small box of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, which are a similar size, and I watch him play with them. Right now, he’s pretty rough on them. It is common for me to be gluing on wheels and other parts after an intense session of play. I’ve decided to wait a bit before getting out my toy collection.

For now, I’m trying to find just the right excavator that will withstand his rough play. I have a shortlist and will be making a purchase soon. And I’m experiencing some of the joy that my father had when he ordered toys for his store. They not only amuse and entertain the child who receives them as gifts. They also delight the grandfather who shops for them.