New arrivals

JonathanVery nice score....especially that sport car gift set....most attractive and displayed nicely in that box. Congratulations on these recent additions! Best regards, Terry

Thanks, Terry. Some of the cars are a bit the worse for wear, and for a couple I already owned better examples, but the set displays well!

Jonathan, the gift set looks great. For my part, I got this Renault 4L brown/red with its box. At the beginning it was to improve my collection because I already had that model No discussion if you compare with my old one. At the end, I will keep both, because the baseplates did not receive the same paint ! One is shinny and the other is satiny Kind regards Richard

Just arrived: an early 551 trade box containing three first type Large Trailers with small towing hooks, inside bent drawing bars, black finished rear wheel covers, ridged hubs, 'T' transfers on the rears and early large black tyres, both herringbone treaded and round treaded. One with black hubs, two with red hubs. Box 1948, contents 1948-1949. I'll take some better photos for the 551 thread. These bringing my total of Large Trailers to fourteen, eleven of them differing from each other. Kind regards, Jan

By some happy coincidence it keeps raining Dinky Toys. Today this quartet arrived from various vendors. The Talbot Lago a replacement for an unboxed example, the Daimler Military Ambulance another quality replacement, the Military Bedford Truck a real new addition, now completing my set of US export military models, and the Peugeot 403 a new French addition. By the way, the photographs, as announced by Rob in post #1181 above, have been taken last week. They will show stunning Dinky models to illustrate forthcoming articles by Rob in The Journal! Kind regards, Jan

JanVery nice that you were able to complete that little collection of the export military vehicles, and that Talbot Lago looks just stunning plus a super crisp box! Best regards, Terry

Thank you, Terry, for your comment. In fact those export models are a strange party of mostly unrealistic military models, moreover, hardly compatible with each other, varying in scales from 1/40 to 1/60. Of course I did not count the military models in brown and the ones with crimped axle ends which turned into domed axle ends in about 1952, which were exclusive US exports too. Kind regards, Jan

Here are quick photos of a couple of arrivals this week. The Daimler Ambulance is no coincidence, since the posts by Terry and Jan reminded me that I did not have this model, and that in fact it's the only Dinky ambulance I didn't have. (As well as the only one out of the above suite of U.S. export models.) Fortunately the sales of this ambulance in the States must have been phenomenal, making it an easy and inexpensive model to locate today. Decidedly not inexpensive was my other item, which I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to purchase since I certainly would never have the opportunity to obtain again. Originally from the Parodi collection, it's one of two (or so I have read) resin display versions of the never-issued Steed's Jaguar. (I'll re-post these images in the relevant topic.) The labels on the bottom come from the period and show what the Italian price would have been.

Jonathan-A very nice example of the Daimler Army Ambulance....nicely done. I commented on your Steeds Jaguar in the other thread......you had a very nice day!Best regards, Terry

Nice additions, Jonathan! As the Daimler Military Ambulance is concerned there is a remarkable price development on my side of the Atlantic. Since the introduction of the internet US export models like this one have become traceable and available much easier than before in Europe, resulting in a spectacular falling down of the price. I bought mine (above) at a price merely 25% of the price I had to pay for the one I will replace now, which I bought at a well-known Dutch fair back in 1995! Kind regards Jan

Two new additions for me this week. A Plymouth USA taxi and a Studebaker golden hawk with concav hubs. This last model just improve my collection, my old one is in 'play with' condition, as we say ! Kind regards Richard

Jan makes an excellent point above: Before the Internet in general, and eBay specifically, started providing us with so much information, British collectors tended to think these U.S. export military models were rare, but for the most part they're not. Apart from enjoying hefty sales, these models also benefit from the fact that their olive drab paint was probably the most durable shade used by Meccano Ltd. It is perhaps a little tricky to find the Ford Staff Car without damaged or misapplied decals, and I've been led to believe the box for the Jeep is also uncommon. (Mine has a plain yellow box with no pictures, but apparently there was also a picture version!)