Trade Boxes

The Telegraph Messanger has arrived and it is as you have pictured above. Thank you for your detailed description of the trade boxes, have a few Modelled Miniatures boxes, 22 & 24 sets. My 22 is full and in excellant condition but my 24 is not complete yet. Your comment about the Beige and what I have called salmon coloured has consistantcy accross each of my examples and would have thought fading would be an inconsistant reaction. Interesting though, the more examples found the the more accurate our assuptions could be. After all this 'Covid' look forward to bringing together many examples of the trade boxes to understand better. The 29c Trade box as you say has the horizontal and vertical versions, but there are two sizes of the vertical, have multiple examples of all three types. Think the two verticals have a side by side storage ie accross the box and the other is the models parallel with the long side traditionally divided. There are one or two other boxes of slightly differant sizes, side packed or wheel down packed. haven't seen any prewar boxes just plain brown card, all the examples I have don a post war label, will have to look out for those.

It goes without saying that, of course, I could be wrong. But I'd maintain that colour fading would explain much of the paper variations we see. Fading can occur by evaporation and with humidity as well as by UV bleaching.To define the salmon colour boxes, I'd say this Racing car trade would pass as salmon ... on the lid the colour intensity has fallen so steeply that it doesn't resemble at all the vestigial colour tone surviving in parts of the base. Then comparing to another example that has somehow endured in some sheltered situation ... clearly a sibling and clearly quite orange all over. Prewar 29c brown box image for example ref

It would be interesting to see your colour variations and try to find siblings for comparison. Meanwhile my single label prewar example is not the best - the code number has been eroded off the bottom of it. But I'll try to find some other images of conspicuously prewar models with this type of box...

These boxes are impressive not seen boxes of this type of prewar before, they clearly show the A.... number. Are you still buying and do you have duplicates you would perhaps consider parting with? In anticipation David

It seems that the pre-war type 4 did not endure for long and any examples must be especially scarce. Perhaps most of the stock was also being exported as much as possible. Here's a picture of 37b.Unfortunately I don't have any of this sort myself and I don't even know who owns the ones I've shown - I just saved these images over the years as references.The best I can manage are repros of 22g, which I built a few years ago and of which I have one left.

Have taken some photographs of my collection of Trade boxes to illustrate the different colours & textures. These yellow trade boxes all have writing on the upper surface of the lid with the content printed on the lid side end. There is no indication of date but think these were the first trade boxes to be used. David

Following type 1 are the type 2 , these are beige in colour and think they follow the type 1, but may well be at the same time as type 3 Salmon coloured. These are the examples that I have

Have some photos of my post war trade boxes, have others but photo size to big. David

OUAHHHHHH never seen such a collection of tradeboxes. Recently I found a type. of box that I did not know. This is probably the only box of this type and the last one to have been made. Note that the reference 50 797 is not printed as usual above the DINKY TOYS cartouche but at the bottom right of the lid's end.

Have looked at my 797, have two and both are exactly as yours. Still alot to collect 60-70% are full, so many models to find. The plastic boxes you can see are the models that need the appropiatte box. Just received another 4 trade boxes in the post, which I think has just taken me over the 400, 100 prewar & 300 post war

That is a really superb trade box collection, David. Congratulations with the result of what must have been a long, painstaking and critical process of searching, tracing, collecting etc.! I do not collect trade boxes, just the odd one that comes along if it's nice and inexpensive. For the record I post some pictures below. One of H.M.S. Nelson, because ships have my special attention. The ones below that one are snapshots that I took 16 years ago from a UK collection. I guess they are not as bright as yours, but it may be an interesting documention, a check for trade box collectors. This collector also introduced (cardboard) spare boxes for models that are waiting for an authentic trade box to be found. Kind regards, Jan

Two fabulous collections. How can one collect tradeboxes ? these two guys buy all of them.