I USED TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE!

16th July 2008 Press Release

Once upon a time every boy spent their pocket money on them, these days you might need slightly deeper pockets.

Dinky Toys were originally introduced in the early 1930’s by Meccano Ltd from their factory in Binns Road, Liverpool as station and trackside accessories for their Hornby Railways items but the range soon became popular and expanded greatly. Many pre-war Dinky items are rare survivors today due to the alloy used at the time having a tendency to disintegrate and as such are greatly sought after and can command high prices.

After the war when production re-started the range and quantity of items steadily increased and grew into what many collectors consider the ‘golden age’ of British die-cast toys namely the models produced between the early 1950’s and mid 1970’s.
The range of models produced during this period was vast and included not just the usual car, lorry and bus models but large numbers of aircraft, ship, farming, military equipment, emergency service, roadside furniture and railway accessory models.

During this period Dinky Toys chief rival was the firm of Corgi Toys which had begun production in the mid 1950’s from a factory in Swansea and quickly built up range of vehicles that almost rivalled Dinky for quantity and diversity of items, indeed many would argue that Corgi became the more innovative of the two as they were usually the first to introduce improvements to the basic models starting with windows, fitted interiors, opening doors, boots and bonnets and suspension. Corgi also began to develop a successful marketing strategy whereby it would release its new model of a car at the same time as the real thing went into production.

During the 1960’s models based on vehicles featured in television and film productions became increasingly important and popular and Corgi began producing a large range based on shows and films popular with children of the day. The Corgi models of James Bond’s Aston Martin from ‘Goldfinger’ and the Batmobile must be among the largest sellers of any die-cast vehicles ever produced in this country. Dinky seemed slower to enter this section of the market but eventually produced several models from various Gerry Anderson productions most famously ‘Thunderbirds’ but also from ‘The Prisoner’ and ‘Star Trek’.

Both firms continued expanding into the 1970’s but changing times and tastes saw Dinky close in 1979 with Corgi following in 1983. Since then various firms have tried to resurrect both names with ranges of models aimed at the adult collector (who was the schoolboy collector of the past) but none seem to have the appeal or charm of the models from the past.

Collecting Dinky and Corgi models is incredibly popular at the moment and can seemingly take as many forms as there are collectors. Many collectors concentrate on one type of model or try collecting all the models of a particular make of vehicle, others trying to find the best ‘mint’ condition boxed model that they can, others happy to collect unboxed battered play worn models, some to like to re-paint and modify there models or re-collect models they had (or wanted) as a child, its really what ever you want to do as most of the fun is in the searching. Values can range from a few pounds to several thousand for rare pre-war items, it really depends on the age, condition, rarity and desirability of the model so if you have a collection lurking in your loft or garage now would be a good time to get them out and contact an auction house to get an appraisal as you could have something of value without knowing it.

Richard Winterton’s Toy Department can be contacted on 01283 511224 or email your enquiries to collectors@richardwinterton.co.uk.

ASK THE EXPERT

Q: I was clearing out my parents loft recently and came across several Dinky Toys that were my fathers. This is the only boxed one and I wondered what sort of value it might have?
A: A nice find, this is a Dinky Supertoys Guy Van dating from the early 1950’s on of a series carrying different liveries and all highly sought after, in this condition I estimate it would be worth between £100-£200 at auction.

Q: I recently purchased this at fundraising sale for £20 and wondered if I got myself a bargain?
A: Yes I think you have done very well there, this is a Corgi Toys Ford Car Transporter dating from the late 1960’s, in its box complete with the pictorial card insert and in this condition I would expect it to sell at auction for between £40-£60.