New arrivals

Very nice red Bedford Jon and neat to see it in red. The Coles crane is a good find too. The Bedford appears to have been well loved and the well deserved cosmetic freshening makes it display very well. Mark

Well done Johnny, this is a very nice example. I do not know this version with black hubs and red cab's foot step. How is the axle of the trailer fitted ? This could be the eigth version. 706 256

Bought today at the toy fair in Houten,2x Reconnaissance Car 152b

Jacques -- Yes, it does seem to be an eighth version that was not yet in the Encyclopedia, because the rear axle of the trailer is like (2), fitted through holes. Other details are typical of an earlier type -- i.e. the '20' speed limit transfer on the rear, and 'Dinky Supertoys' on the bottom of the cab.

Nice, and good to see those color variations side by side!

Nice pair of Recce Cars indeed, Gerrit! I sold more (replaced) Dinky Toys than I bought at Houten today. And many trivial things like books, a garage, calendar etc. etc. And many garage books were sold, our stall was crowded. Good to meet so many like-minded buyers! The only Dinky I bought was one of the many variants of the Observation Coach. I wouldn't have bought it if it were not so very cheap. Virtually no chips, but some slight rubbing here and there on the red lining and the paint on the roof slightly coarse. To be rated as 'excellent' in my opinion.

Hi Jan, I saw you today, but you were very busy. understandable. The Observation Coach is indeed beautiful. I could also take the two Reconnaissance Car for a very nice price.

Here are some additional photographs.

When I returned home from Houten yesterday, I also found another addition on the doormat: the January issue of The Journal. And I was very happy to see that my contribution on the transfer of my factory drawings and lists to the Meccano Business Archive in Liverpool is included! And I am also very glad that on this occasion all scanned 73 sheets have been added to the Publications >> Documents >> Factory drawings section on our website. Now their contents are availble for the benefit of all those who research the history of the Meccano factory and the history of Dinky Toys at last - both digital, on the website, and physical, in the archive mentioned. I thank our Website and Technology Officer, Al Keeling, for uploading the pdf files to the website. Kind regards, Jan

Nice new additions Jan and Gerrit. Good to hear the show was crowded and people are out spending money again. I have always heard that show is very large and filled with vintage toys. Jan, I hope your book sales were a hit too.

350 498Ten years ago, Claude Wagner and I published the book 'French Dinky Toys Aircraft'. Although this book had been writen in French, it has been issued only in English because we thought that more collectors would be interested by this book in English. Today, we have decided to have it printed in French and we are starting a subscription for this. We are taking the orders from today on and the book will be printed early in April. Only the orders received before March 31st. will be accepted. There will not be a reprint and this is your only chance to get this rare book.This book, size A4 includes 114 colour pages with all the aircraft made in Bobigny and Calais as well as the mytic sets 62 and 70 and also the Concorde and Super Mystre.This beautiful book costs 59,99 payable by bank check, IBAN transfer or cash, I will give you my postal adress by email. I accept Sterling Pounds and US Dollars in cash.

SAD NEWThe canadian company Spin Master who owns MECCANO and ERECTOR announces that it's Calais factory will close down next October. This is the end of a long adventure which started at the very end of the 19th centuary. With a production span of 122 years the MECCANO is the toy which has been made for the longest time. With 71 years of production Lego has still a long way to beat the Meccano.