Meccano Inc.

To all....I will now continue with my last post on HHD......... On Ancestry, there are several Directory listings for different years, and they usually list the occupation, etc. Several of these say he was a 'manufacture agent in NY' & toy importer...this implies to me, that he apparently kept a separate business dealing in New York, possibly that Fleuron company connection. His World War II Draft Registration card says, for employment 'in business for self' (1942). In 1956, he and Helen traveled to England, no doubt to visit Meccano, and on that manifest he is listed as an 'importer'. The last directory listing I could find for him was in 1974, one year before he died. By then, Helen had pre-deceased him, and it showed him living alone in an apartment.All of this is intriguing, and it paints a somewhat confusing picture. Did HHD have any ownership in Meccano Ltd, and did Meccano Ltd have any ownership in HHD, or was he simply there long term, loyal agent in America? I tend to think the later. I think that HHD was set up by him to represent Meccano in the states, and I think that Meccano paid him an annual sum to do that. If Meccano owned HHD, then he would not be able to add those other interests like he did in 1960.So, by 1960, HHD was an old man, apparently without an heir apparent, and likely some of the handwriting for Meccano and Dinky was already on the wall; changes were coming, and it could have been a mutual decision to shut down HHD, as far as Dinky was concerned. It would be interesting to know if the company carried on for some time after the split with Meccano....I would guess no....Henry was ready to retire............. Jose Haraud and I have been corresponding and he has quite a collection of US catalogs, and I asked him to try and pinpoint just when HHD disappeared from being listed, and also when A.C. Gilbert first appeared. Regards, Terry

Terry, I knew from your contributions elsewhere on the forum that when you were able to weigh in here, it would be extremely valuable!! I only hope you were able to send H.H.D. the ten cents owed and that it is not weighing heavily on your conscience to this day Remembering that H.H.D. was known as the 'Meccano Company of America' pre-war, at the same address as H.H.D. was later, I am among those who believe that Mr. Dobson was originally a Meccano employee, and that Meccano Ltd. retained a substantial share (at least) in the company post-war, but I guess we shall never know the truth, nor why the company shut down. (Ironically I once heard from a fellow collector that Henry Hudson Dobson Jr., the son, *did* also go into the toy distribution business and wound up in Texas (no connection to AVA). But I cannot locate any documentation to this effect, so it's only hearsay.) What is indisputable is that H.H.D. did an excellent job of promulgating Dinky Toys throughout the U.S. -- for you lucky older collectors who were able to be on the scene -- but then it all went pear-shaped, as the British say, during 1960. I will never forget being, as a fanatically interested five-year-old, being handed the 1961 Dinky Toy catalogue by staff of the Palo Alto Sport and Toy World (a shop which amazingly, still exists under family ownership), but being told that they could no longer get new models because the distributor had shut down. It was suggested to my mother that she write Meccano Ltd. directly or contact a company called Keystone Brothers that was supposed to be the local jobber (if she ever pursued either, it didn't do any good). The dates of the A.C. Gilbert arrangement are well-known: just from 1963 until 1964, at which point Lines Brothers took over. One 1963 catalogue was published by Gilbert, showing a limited Dinky range along with chemistry sets and other products they distributed. I have a copy, though not accessible to be scanned just now ... the image below, grabbed from elsewhere on the internet, shows what the cover of it looked like. Below is a picture of a Gilbert-branded Dinky Toys display from 1963. In addition to this one, I distinctly remember a free-standing, rotating display with four sides that was installed in a Sears, Roebuck store in Mountain View, California, that same year. -- J

Johnny I agree that Henry Dobson must have had some connection with Meccano or Frank Hornby prior to coming to America, although the 1920 census states occupation as 'S. Secretary'........not sure at all what that means, but no mention at that early date of a toy connection. Was there any equivalent of HHD in any of the other countries that handled sales and distribution? It is interesting that this whole topic is somewhat unexplored and also unknown, and sadly, most, if not all, of the people that would have known are long gone. But I agree that for quite some time HHD seemed to serve Meccano's interests in the states very well, and at least in the 1950's, Dinky's were in many toy and department stores, at least in Southern Calif. You are also right that guys of my age, born in the early to mid-1940's, got to experience the best of Dinky's and all that went with them. When I lost Dinky collecting interest around 1960, I was only 15, but I never knew fhe travails of either Meccano or A.C. Gilbert that were soon to unfold; and I was a huge American Flyer fan at the same time.....I still have all of my Flyer sets from the 1950's. A somewhat sad ending of a fabulous toy era that really lasted only about 25 years.....1935-1960. Regards, Terry

Just found another interesting tidbit about Henry, and this confirms what you and others have said.....that he was a valued employee of Meccano very early. I found his WWI Draft Registration for 1917, and it also asks where he is living, where he was born, etc. it also asked occupation and employed by who: it said he was Secretary-Treasurer of Meccano Ltd, and he was only 25 at the time. You can't help but feel that he must have met Frank Hornby in Liverpool somehow, and obviously must have impressed at that young age. That also explains that reference to 'secretary' in his 1916 ship manifest listing......by 1916, age 24, he was already Secretary of Meccano Ltd. The last trip I see listed for him was another trip to Liverpool, alone, in early 1958, and it said duration of trip was 6 weeks. I know wonder if his impending exit/retirement, exit was formulated or discussed? Regards, Terry

What interesting digging you have done, Terry! Indeed, from what you have found, it seems Mr. Dobson was a valued Meccano employee from pretty early on. And it is interesting to consider that while we Dinky Toy collectors have come to see Meccano Ltd. as a struggling, old-fashioned, outmoded manufacturer, at the beginning of the 20th century it was obviously viewed as modern and powerful. I was just glancing at my reproduction copy of 'Frank Hornby -- The Man Who Made $1,000,000 with a Toy,' which was published by Meccano in New York in 1915. Obviously, while that book was obviously produced for some self-serving reasons, it's clear that Hornby (who had escaped from working in the meat packing industry) was seen as a business hero, the way some people today regard those who started Apple or Google. And so, coming to America to represent such a company was quite an honour for a young man. Other distributors, especially Arthur Harris in South Africa, arguably had an equal or greater impact on the history of Dinky Toys, at least in proportion to their countries' size. But, whether or not H. Hudson Dobson was an owned subsidiary, it does seem to have been closest in style to Meccano Ltd. itself in the way it responded to and encouraged collectors such as young master Terry!

Since I happened to locate these yesterday, here is a followup regarding Gilbert's one-year distribution of Dinky Toys in the U.S. This is the last four pages of a 48-page booklet illustrating the company's 1963 product lines, which otherwise included Erector sets (not Meccano), chemistry sets, microscopes, and other homegrown toys. Given that it's a catalogue of sorts, I'll copy this post to the catalogues thread as well. I'm sorry the resolution isn't better, but given that these were full-page, it was a struggle to get each within the 800-pixel limit.

This valuable USA Dinky Toys price list of 2-2-1973 from the USA distributor Covell Management Inc. Stanford, California, I received yesterday. It came together with an Meccano leaflet UK 1972 with a Meccano price list USA 1973, also from this USA distributor that was mentioned in comment #3 by Jonathan. I had yet never seen a document from this USA distributor and is therefore very valuable in the overview of USA distributors in this topic. This company was USA distributor for a very short time, because already in April 1973, AVA International took over the USA distribution. I bought these documents via Ebay USA through the friendly services of Jose Heraud and show it here. 1972 4 page Meccano leaflet UK 1972 with Dinky Toys and Meccano price list USA 1973 of Covell Management, Inc, Stanford California as US distributor. Front cover. 1972 4 page Meccano leaflet UK 1972 with Dinky Toys and Meccano price list USA 1973 of Covell Management, Inc, Stanford California as US distributor. Back cover. Dinky Toys price list USA 2-2-1973 Covell Management Inc, Stanford, California as USA distributor, 4 pages, front. Meccano price list USA 1 February 1973 Covell Management Inc, Stanford, California as US distributor, 2 pages, front. After reading all the interesting comments in the DTCA forum about USA distributors, its a pity that this very interesting information is divided over 3 different topics, while the content is the same. I therefore made a brief overview in time line of USA distributors in chronological order and show various related documents as catalogues, leaflets and sales brochures that I have acquired. There was some discussion about the year that Henry Hudson Dobson stopped as USA distributor. The latest date I could find is in the H. Hudson Dobson correspondence topic, comment #3 of Jan Werner about a letter from HHD dated January 5, 1960. In that light I can prove with the picture below that he still was in business in September 1960. This photo shows an H. Hudson Dobson envelope for shipping a Dink Toys catalogue USA 1959 and is clearly dated September 28 1960. So this is a very valuable document. 1960 Envelope from H. Hudson Dobson Inc. for shipping Dinky Toys catalogue USA 1959 with post stamp September 28 1960 shown below. Post stamp Kenilworth N.J. SEP 2860 Besides that I have a Dinky Toys leaflet USA ref. 7/8/125 of H. Hudson Dobson Inc. that Ramsay dated as 1959 but I date it as 1960 according the release dates of the pictured models that I explain below. Dinky Toys leaflet USA H. Hudson Dobson ref. 7/8/125 outer side. Dinky Toys leaflet USA H. Hudson Dobson ref. 7/8/125 inner side. Ramsay dated it as 1959, but I date it as 1960 according the following pictured models of this leaflet released in 1960/1961. 543 Renault Floride 1960; 545 De Soto Diplomat 1960; 195 Jaguar 3.4 Litre Mk. II 8/60; 258.1 Police Car 10/60; 265 Plymouth Taxi 10/60; 186 Mercedes Benz coming soon 2/61; 796 Boat on trailer 9/60; 785 Service station 6/60; 786 Tire rack 6/60; 756 Lamp standard 3/60; 755 Lamp standard 3/60; 295 Atlas Bus 5/60; 948 Tractor Trailer McLean coming soon 4/61; 960 Cement mixer coming soon 8/60; 949 Wayne School bus coming soon 2/61; 958 Snow Plow coming soon 1/61 Note: Showroom from H. Hudson Dobson from 1938-1960 all the time at 200 Fifth Avenue New York. Showroom of H. Hudson Dobson in Toy Center 200 Fifth Avenue New York Building entrance Toy Center 200 Fifth Avenue Entrance The Toy Center South, 200 Fifth Avenue, New York. Landmark sidewalk clock (1909) outside the Toy Center, Fifth Avenue, New York. TOY CENTER The Toy Center, also known as the International Toy Center, is a complex of buildings in the New York City borough of Manhattan that for many years was a hub for toy manufacturers and distributors in the United States. It consists of two buildings located between 23rd Street and 25th Street at Madison Square, where Fifth Avenue and Broadway cross. The American International Toy Fair, the industrys major annual trade show, is held annually in February at both the Toy Center and the Jacob Javits Convention Center on 34th Street. Today, 200 Fifth Avenue is a 15story premier class A office building in the Madison Square-Flatiron district. Brief overview of USA distributors in chronological order: 1) 1913-1938 The Meccano Company of America Inc. founded in New York 200 Fifth Avenue 2) 1938-1960 H. Hudson Dobson, last address H. Hudson Dobson Inc. P.O. Box 255 627 Boulevard Kenilworth New York. Showroom 200 Fifth Avenue, New York. The company moved 3 times in New York. The showroom was located all the time at 200 Fifth Avenue, New York. See pictures above. 3) 1963-1964 A.C. Gilbert Company, New Haven, Conn 4) 1964- 1971 Lines Bros., Inc. 1107 Broadway, New York, N.Y. (See excellent article in The Binns Road Gazette September/October 1999, Volume 1, Number 5 of Keith Harvie) 5) 1972 Covell Management, Inc. P.O.Box 4406, Stanford, California 94303 via Airfix ?? 6) 1973-1979 Ava International, P.O. Box 7611, Waco, Texas 76710. Below I show various documents related to the discussions in this topic. Note: About the publishing of USA Dinky Toys catalogues wrote Keith Harvie 2 excellent articles in his Binns Road Gazette volume 1, number 3 and 4 of 1999. Greetings to all. Jan Oldenhuis, 10-1-2018











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Jan, Thank you for unifying this information here and adding the useful New York City images. I do have some corrections/addenda. Firstly, during 1961 and 1962 -- after H. Hudson Dobson closed down, and until A.C. Gilbert took over -- there were multiple U.S. distributors, divided up geographically. They are listed in the advert I have attached to this post. I can testify from personal experience that the arrangement did not work well, and that Dinky Toys became hard to purchase during this period. Secondly, Covell Management began distributing Dinky Toys in 1971, to the extent that they had models in some U.S. shops by Christmas 1971. (I know this not only because I was there, but because I knew the founder of Covell Management personally.) In (5) I do not know what you mean by 'via Airfix.' Airfix of course owned Meccano Ltd. at the time, but Covell Management obtained its stocks directly from Liverpool. Regarding AVA International, toward the very end (probably in 1978 or 1979) they were purchased by Airfix and the distributor then became known as U.S. Airfix. I think this name change is documented on one or two late Dinky boxes. Cheers, Jonathan

Jonathan and Jan---Jonathan, you already know about this letter that I purchased on eBay last year, and I think I posted it once before on the site, but will include it again now, as the information is timely to this discussion. I think Jonathan's post shows these distributors, but the letter also shows them. What is interesting is that this letter is from the Dinky Toys Club, as apparently a club member wrote them to ask who is now distributing Dinky Toys in the United States. The letter makes reference to the fact that 'we have recently made changes in our distribution arrangements.....', and this letter is dated March 10, 1961. The other interesting item to note is a reference to a new catalog....'.a 48 page colored book', to be available by June or July. My understanding is that there was no US catalog in 1960, probably due to the uncertainty of distribution, with the ending of HHD. I was very happy to win this letter....every piece of evidence we find helps fill in the gaps!Best regards, Terry

Terry, yes, of course I recall that letter. It is definitely important to this thread and very useful for dating the change. Until I happened to unearth the ad, it was the only source we had for detailing all the distributors ... Incidentally, here's a second ad from later in 1962 showing that two of the distributors -- Thor and King For Toys -- had dropped out after just a short period. What disarray, and now you can see why I complain about how hard it was to get Dinky Toys in my childhood.

Jonathan and Terry. Thanks for your valuable contribution with photos about the gap after shut down of HHD in 1960. The mention 'via Airfix' in 5 by me was a mistake. I had misread the comment. I found the logo of Airfix for the first time on the back cover of DT catalog UK No 11 of 1975 and on the back cover of DT catalog USA No.13 of 1977. The logo I found also on box 361 Galactic War Chariot and on more DT boxes from 1978. Airfix logo on back side DT 361 box. Jan Oldenhuis, 11-1-2018

To all-- Here is a copy of that last letter that I received from HHD, dated May 23, 1960...........Terry

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