New arrivals

Bruce----Very nice addition there, and one I am not familiar with, so it was most interesting to see. Those cows are actually pretty nice. And a great story getting the box and model separately.......nice going! Best regards, Terry

Wow, it's rush hour as new arrivals is concerned! I heard of Rob's curiosities at the Houten Fair already, and by telephone. Always new surprises in the field of deviating colour schemes! Bruce, no doubt - like me - you would prefer to have a model and box that seem to have always belonged together. But this solution and happy coincidence is wonderful for you. I once swapped boxes for my two Simca's Cargo. The 'Bailly' is my childhood toy (well, my brother's), of which the box did not survive the frequent unpacking and repacking after play. Half a century later, in 2009, I bought the plain green/orange predecessor, no. 33A, but with the wrong 33AN box. Then I started searching for a correct 33A box, which I found not many months later. So I combined the 'Bailly' and the 33AN box, and provided the 33A with the newly acquired correct 33A box. Today I was happily surprised with the arrival of a blue/cream Simca Versailles and a grey Traction Avant. They are real beauties, a welcome addition to the 'French Corner' in my cabinets. Kind regards, Jan

Hi all, Very nice models, Jan! You definitely show that specialising in collecting as mint as possible models and boxes can be done and is worthwhile! And the models are French Dinky Toys, giving me a good opportunity to fulfill the promise I made in my last post. As I mentioned before, I do not collect French Dinky toys. I did buy one recently however, a dark red South African 519 Simca 1000. I added my old toy, a red Simca 1000 on an also recently found box, to show the colour difference. Why did I buy this French Dinky Toy? First of all, it is assembled and painted in South Africa, so not really French. As it is very difficult to find South African Dinky Toys, I welcome any South African Dinky Toy in my collection. I only managed to find twelve sofar. The second reason is much more sentimental. My first car was a Simca 1000, and my second car as well. Also my father owned one in the sixties. And my mother in the seventies, so some dear memories for me there! I included a picture of the base plates, to show the difference in the rivets used. The dark red model has been a real traveller. It started in France in parts, went to South Africa to be sold after assembly and painting, then it travelled to the UK were it was bought by a French gentleman who took it to France and then I bought it, so it went to the Netherlands. Your guess is as good as mine,where the model will go next. I know there is a turquoise SA Simca 1000 waiting for me somewhere. When I find it, I will surely post it! Kind regards, Rob

Jan-- Nice to see that you are adding to your French Dinky automobile collection, and those two are nice examples. Early on, when I was just a youngster, I discovered French Dinky Toys, and became enamored of them....they were always slightly different than their English cousins. I have both models, in the exact same colors. The Citroen was always a favorite of mine, and I first had a black one, bought new around 1956 from a local store. In 1959, I was hunting for some new Dinky's with my collector friend, and we had driven quite a ways from home, to a small toy store in San Diego. There we found several nice examples, including a beautiful grey version. I had never seen this color before, and loved it, so I quickly bought it. A bonus was in came in a trade box......and back then, I had never even seen a trade box before, so I was delighted. This particular Dinky has remained a lifelong favorite, and would be in my top 10 favorites. Despite over 57 years of ownership, and being displayed all that time, it has remained nearly mint, with those white tires now being a bit grubby. It also is a superb casting, and a very accurate model of the real 11BL. Congratulations on those nice acquisitions!

Thanks, Terry and Rob. In fact the photo shows two 'generations' of French Dinky Toys. The post-1959 French Dinky American cars on top were our firm favourites as a child. The small rectangular black backgrounds on the display texts indicate that they are models of my childhood period, not later additions. They were flashy, 'cool' modern cars, with windows, most with suspension, which we (my brother and me) appreciated and cherished very much. When I resumed collecting Dinky Toys, about fifteen years later, I went back to 'basics', all pre-1960, without windows and other disturbing features, and restricted to the British made Dinky Toys. I approached the verge of French Dinky Toys again around 2000, when I became fascinated by the British ones assembled in France. Subsequently I slowly passed the border to pure French Dinky Toys again, and they are now have (almost) equal attention in collecting, but, not later than 1959 (old numbers only, no concave hubs, no windows etc.). Kind regards, Jan

Rob----With your absolutely wonderful Dinky collection, have you decided not to collect the French versions solely as a way of limiting the scope and scale of your collection? If so, I can understand that, as we all somewhat need to put limits on what we collect. For me, at least, the French made some very nice and charming models, and almost always with their own little touches.Best regards, Terry

Hello Terry, You are right. I decided to collect English made Dinky Toys to limit both the scope and size of my collection. I fully agree that the French factory produced many nice models. I enjoy the posts on this Forum for all Dinky Toys! Even with the limitation my collection has outgrown my cabinet space. I try now to limit my purchases to scarce or rare models, colours and variations only. Including pre war and sometimes Nicky Toys. As we are on colours and variations, after I bought the mid blue Austin Atlantic with mid blue hubs, which I posted in December, I recently found a dark blue model. It is not repainted. It could be the model described as deep blue in Ramsay's catalogue, next to the mid blue models. But I would not call it deep blue, but dark blue. Anyway, here are two pictures of it, one alongside a more common light blue Austin Atlantic.Kind regards, Rob

These models arrived this week, but they are the straws that have broken the camel's back! They'll just be sitting around in the open until I find some way to organise another display case. (At least all my Dinky Toys are in a small room that no one but me tends to enter.)

Johnatan, I specially like the MG Rob, I never seen this colour variation before ! None of my books shows a photo of this dark blue Austin ! Is it a colour try ? We always find a 'surprise' with Dinky Toys ! Richard

Jonathan, nice acquisitions, to be proud of! Do I see different tyres fitted on the BOAC coach? Display space is just a luxury problem. Too little space or too many Dinky Toys? Kind regards, Jan

NIce one Rob - the deep blue/dark blue Austin Atlantic. Can you post a picture of its base please? This is my mid-blue example that I picked up in Sydney, many moons ago. 928 726 922 734 886 698 The full length chassis front axle support confirms this model as a 140a. Kind regards Bruce 20170429/1084/1812

Just acquired this little lot, will post more detailed shots when they arrive. A mix of pre and post war, the odd missing headlight and a little missing paint, but I'll be glad to have these in my collection. Obtained from a generalist antique delaer in the States, who had no other toys on offer and didn't know what he had, given the buy Now price he had them listed for. Very happy to have picked up such a diverse selection. I'm particularly looking froward to seeing what the Studebaker looks like once I have cleaned it up a little. Cheers Dave