Pictorial Yellow End-Flap Boxes

Greetings allI have started this new Thread using the interesting information that can be found on the 132 Packard Thread, commencing with the post submitted by Jacques:dinkycollect wrote: This is an hybrid box. On one side there is a white halo around the pink car drawing but on the other side there is no halo around the green car.'janwerner wrote: 'The same goes for my example (also with green colour spot). Is this a rule for this box or limited to occasional exceptions? Kind regards, Jan'Richard wrote: 'Same for me ! Richard'buzzer999 wrote: 'I guess they are all like this, mine's the sameDave'buzzer999 wrote: 'Some of you may recall the lengthy articles I wrote in the DTCA Journals about a number of Printer's Proofs I bought some years ago.Guess what?????? This is the same - I will wager that this is normal and most, if not all, picture boxes for the Packard are all like this,Dave'Exactly - my 132 Packard is identical to the box posted by Jacques.Also confirming what Dave has stated the aura or halo surrounding the picture of one model is not unique to the 132 Packard. Here are some examples: To be noted, the aura for the Packard Clipper does not extend around the model, but only that part of the model whose colour would clash with the yellow of the box.But then we come to the following 181 Volkswagen. With both drawings being identical, why only select one to have the aura??!! Bearing in mind the purpose of the aura was to highlight the drawing of a model whose colour could clash with the yellow background of the box, so one has to wonder why the following model colours were not reversed with the aura. The model in grey would have probably benefited with having the aura with the green not so, although this may very well be in the eye of the beholder.There were also quite a few boxes that neither picture panel utilized the aura to emphasis the model. These are mainly those that were issued when individual boxes dispensed the larger Trade Box, in particular, those whose pictures of the models does not clash with the yellow of the box itself. It would be interesting to determine exactly when the aura-style came into vogue. Was the 480 Bedford 10 CWT Van 'Kodak' the first to have the aura surrounding the picture of the van? With the van itself painted yellow, it does seem obvious that when the model was issued in its own individual box then this would incorporate an aura around the picture. I am not sure how long the Trade Boxes were in use for the Kodak van. As mine is dated October 1954 so that would make it at least six months. Kind regardsBruce (150) #668 21 June 2015

Remarkable to see that the aura-less picture of the blue Volkswagen still has the white background of an (intended?) aura peeping through (mainly) the front window, whereas the beige aura-less picture of the Volkswagen shows the yellow box colour there! Kind regards, Jan

I found two examples of mine, showing that the early aura-less box picture has the full yellow background, whereas the later (lighter yellow, italic brand lettering) without aura has the white background. So this seems to be the general pattern. Kind regards, Jan

Hi all, How very strange and interesting! My first thoughts were the same as Bruces', that it's logical to give a yellow/ish model on a yellow box an aura, or that it was thought dealers might want an alternative box side to display the model better, but then like all things Meccano any logic goes out the window and it all becomes quite random. That's why I love these things. CW.