689 Medium Artillery Tractor (195765)

Bruce, The model is of the variation No. 2 of my post above and the box has no price. Jacques.

Jacques I have just picked up this topic again, and giving the stamp T O296 some thought, this is a possible solution. You wrote that the model is Variation 2) and the box is a blue striped version, with you later mentioning that the blue striped box was deleted sometime after 1960. Well, the blue striped box type was deleted after March 1963 unless later date stamps can be found. I am of the opinion that the stamp should read T O 962, September 1962. I came to this conclusion based on the following. If we look at what the lady was seeing when she put the rubber numerals together these should be reversed on the stamp holder, so when she was inserting the blocks, she put them in upside down. The stamp (in mirror image) should have read 269 O T but she inverted the 6 and 9 and placed the numerals in the wrong order so the stamp became 692 O T. She may not even have noticed the error as she stamped merrily away! It would be interesting if more of her stamps could be found. What a pity that sellers, both traditional auction and eBay do not include these particulars as well as an original price on the box in the description!. I have not seen another TO on any other box, so perhaps TO was a new employee at that time, or someone moved from one area of the production line to another. I stand corrected! A TO was working in the quality examining area in October 1957, but the stamp could not be interpreted as September 1957 as the numeral 2 is very distinct. Bruce (150) 20160422/905/0218

Some new additional image documentation of the No. 689 Medium Artillery Tractor:

Dear Jan, This makes me remember our trip in England when we came around a round about on which four actual 5.5 gun were displayed.I will attend the next AGM and hope to meet you again there.

Yes, Jacques, 14 years ago that was, when we were young. I will attend the AGM in Peterborough indeed, the first occasion since 2019! Looking forward to meeting you and the other Dinky comrades again. Kind regards, Jan