Trade Boxes

The early (1948-49) version of the no. 551 Large Trailer trade box. The only Dinky Supertoys ever delivered in trade boxes, I presume. Kind regards, Jan.

Some fantastic trade boxes shown here as well as information I was not aware of. Any or all the information about the trade boxes would be greatly appreciated. The list would be good as well as the list of the date and codes on the sides of the prewar trade boxes. David

The no. 29g Luxury Coach trade box was still wanting here:

This paler No. 27d trade box, without number is slightly different from Dave's:

This is a third type of tradebox for the 27DLand Rover, it has the double numberingand the reference number 50 032 has gone.

Just been reading the back issues of the Journal and come accross a request back in the July issue of 2010, which refers to the trade boxes for the figures. The numbers that it states as known are:- 50021, 50022 50036.I have photographed and listed the examples I have.This does however highlight question and that is these trade box reference numbers have been used else where, the table I have added shows the duplication.Was anybody aware of this duplication and the boxes I have registered.Another question is that what is the number of each of the other figures.Photos to follow to big for upload.David Trade Box refereeces Model Ref. Trade Ref. Model Trade ref. Model Ref. 50021 Pigs 50021 25m Bedford End Tipper 50022 Sheep 50022 25p Aveling Barford Road Roller 50023 5002450025 500265002750028

Photos of trade boxes fronts

Photos of trade boxes backs showing reference numbers.

David T With reference to your post # 90 above, the 50 100 number was also used twice, once for the 43b R.A.C. motorcycle patrol and once for the set of racing numbers transfers. 50 094 - 6676 Tyres 11/16' and 40e Standard Vanguard 50 098 - 40 d Austin Devon and 42 a Police hut 50 099 - 42 b Police motorcycle patrol and 10 253 tyres 13/16' Two items had two 50 xxx numbers : 1 - Station staff 50 168 and 50 250 2 - Farm yard animals 50 169 and 50 251 I hope that this answers your question.Kind regards. Jacques

The list of trade boxes, how do we update that information? I can see the duplicated numbers you refer and just wonder why. Am really looking forward to seeing some of you guys at the fairs in the hopefuly near future. David

A-ha, new numbers and I am the compiler of the pdf list. Thanks, David, I'll look at getting it updated soon. Code number discoveries are rarer now and I can only remember last year uncovered one - 25h Fire Engine A2107

My current assumption about pre war trade box versions is that Type 1 was just the same as the contemporary yellow Hornby Series trade boxes and the A in the A**** numbers indicates Accessory (trackside) for Hornby railways. The first iterations of the type 1 boxes even say Hornby Series rather than Dinky Toys on the checker top and will have Modelled Miniatures rather than Dinky Toys on the box ends. The design did not remain consistent for long - the univers and gill fonts supplemented with different futura style faces. Significantly In 1935 the boxes were simplified with only one side printed and the colour was now orange. I'd call this Type 2 and within that scope there were variations - probably the address line was soon added on the long sides.I think the first boxes used varying qualities of paper batches too - any beige, white or pink boxes likely just being faded yellows and oranges. In 1938, aeroplanes started to ship in blue boxes with print and date codes on one of the long sides under the address. The vehicle trade boxes became shoebox style with a lid shorter than the depth of the base. Again, they have date codes on one side. Together I'd call the blue and shoes Type 3 which lasted up until late 1939. The last prewar trade styles are much like the post war brown boxes with one small printed label on one end. Type 4 have A**** codes which were dropped when production resumed. Stacking in boxes took whatever approach the box makers seemed to feel best at the time. Note how early 29c boxes lay the buses on their sides where the late ones are stood upright. Or how aeroplanes were first shipped strung into nice echelon formations in cloudy sky blue boxes, rather then shoved sideways into brown shame holes as they later were. I suppose some of these considerations were about using the boxes as a point of sale display - where opinions changed over time. Some of the boxes (like for figures) were very small and although people generally kept most nice boxes as general containers, maybe the very small examples really didn't offer much recycling potential and were discarded. So while every figure had its own trade box back in the day, maybe none survive for some of them. The gaps in the trade box number sequences are certainly suggestive. We know that Meccano regularly offered set prices and single piece prices. The set would typically be the first number in a consecutive series. As an example, we knew the code for 47 road signs was A2073 and there was an gap of unknowns following. Later 47q No Entry Sign was discovered and this number was exactly what we predicted it must be. Then 47g was found and again with the predicted code. Leaning on this evidence, I fill in the missing sequence. This is not guaranteed evidence for all missing number unfortunately. The previous 47 set (robot signals) was A2059. It was then discovered that boxes with distinct directions had codes A2059A (four way) and A2059B (3 way robot) Telegraph messenger should be 50175