Red and Yellow Sided plain end-flap boxes

Jacques I doubt that my pictorial box is a fake as it contained pricing data on the other end flap. Part of the cost in making any box is the artwork as well. The scenario could most likely have been at the beginning, in that Meccano may have done a trial run, even a couple of thousand, and then switched to the plain red and yellow boxes, as that was the direction the company was taking - trying to modernize the small boxes, which ultimately caused them more grief when feedback on these was not favourable. it is for that reason I felt that the first models packaged in the plain red and yellow boxes in all probability were those models whose supply of the original boxes were running low. It has been stated in the past, anything is possible and nothing is impossible when trying to unravel the ins and out of Meccano in the absence of any hard evidence. The jury on this one is still out. Bruce (150) #580

Hi Bruce The price of 55 Cents for the 187 is interesting. I have a very large collection of catalogues and price lists from the 1940s to 1964. My information on the 187 is as follows: Up to, and including, 1959 it is not shown. 1960 $1.00 1961 $1.00 1963 $1.10 I don't have 1962 or 1964 Dave

Bruce Not sure if you ever saw or experienced it, but here in the states, some Dinky models were sometimes discounted, especially if a store had a supply, and then decided to no longer sell Dinky's. I have at least a few boxes that have a sticker with price listed much lower than the catalog price. Terry

Thank you Terry. I was not aware of any price changes with Dinky Toys when I was growing up, as I just accepted the toys in good faith! None of my boxes have had price changes, and on viewing Australian catalogues, prices seem to have been rather constant. It is interesting looking back nowadays, as to how Meccano calculated wholesale and retail prices in overseas countries, Australia for example, and how retailers stuck to those prices. Of course, exchange rates were regulated, by our government at least, and we did not have the chaos the free market has brought about. However, on the matter of the price on the 187 box, the image below is of a 166 box that carries a price of 35c. I am not certain if that is US or Canadian dollars, nor how the smaller units are written in South Africa, but certainly that price appears to have been reduced. The US price for the 166 in 1962 was 85 cents. As you said, prices on boxes are just a guide, and as you have written, a retailer could do anything, particularly if the retailer is removing Dinky Toys from their inventory, or just moving old stock. This could have been the wholesale price at the time. (In the UK, a box of six 166 Sunbeam Rapier was sold to the agent for 11/4 or about 1/10 each, with the retail price being 3/4, so the mark-up is more than 50% unless my pounds, shillings and pence arithmetic has failed me - yet again! Probably the wholesale price in the US was less as Meccano would have received tax benefits for exporting a product. Many thanks again. Bruce (150) #582