Deals on wheels Small yet mighty, Dinky toys attract a lot of collectors and can fetch a small fortune
One of 32 boxes of 1960s Dinky electric milk floats, each containing six vehicles promoting Job’s Dairy, each box estimated at £250-350, to be sold at Ewbank’s auctioneers in Surrey on October 2
given away, while the rest were put away in a cupboard where they have remained since.
The 32 lots, some in the original yellow trade boxes, each containing six of the milk floats in cream with red lettering and red load-bed and treaded tyres, are each estimated at £250 to £350.
Every collector knows that Frank Hornby (1863-1936), the Liverpool inventor of Meccano, or “Mechanics Made Easy” as he called it, was the man behind Dinky, but fewer know that the cars were marketed originally as “Hornby Modelled Miniatures”.
They first appeared in 1933, just three years before his death, and
The boxed set of six of No 28 Dinky delivery vans sold for £10,200
hammer at M&M Auctions
were intended as accessories to Hornby’s blossoming electric train sets. Once a child had a train layout with stations and other paraphernalia, a display of vehicles to transport miniature passengers to them became essential.
The first cars appeared in the shops in 1933 and the name Dinky Toys followed in 1934.
In the years up to the Second
World War, a bewilderingly extensive range of models was produced.
Production was affected severely during the war years when the Binns Road factory was put over almost exclusively to war work, but somehow the company managed to release small numbers of cars and Meccano sets each Christmas, probably from existing stocks since the shortage of metal would have precluded new production runs.
Come 1946 and the company was able to announce “new” models that were, in fact, often reissues of those seen previously using the same moulds but different colour schemes.
The austere post-war years saw new Dinky issues concentrating mainly on lorries, vans and commercial vehicles, but in the later 1950s, new models from the car giants were quickly matched by an explosion of well modelled Dinky versions.
The company’s eventual decline began in the early 1960s with the appearance of Corgi and Lesney toys.
The two firms brought with them new ideas, more modern manufacturing plant and innovative advancement in model making.
Corgi, for example, Photo: Vectis auctioneers advertised their models as “the ones with windows.”
Meccano was taken over by Lines Brothers in 1964 with the promise that high quality toy cars would continue to flow from the Liverpool plant. However, this proved to be too difficult a promise to keep and much to the disappointment of
Dinky and Meccano lovers and collectors all over the world, the factory closed on the last day of November 1979.
The Dinky tradename subsequently changed hands several times, becoming part of Matchbox International Ltd in the late 1980s, itself owned by the US giant Mattel, of Hot Wheels fame.
The coveted 1920s-style 28 Series delivery vans now commanding such astronomical prices were produced for just a year, from 1934-35, and used the same moulds as the Modelled Miniatures version.
In these early years, the models were cast in lead which proved to be better able to withstand the passage of time as opposed to the later alloy cast models that replaced lead on the grounds of health and safety and cost of manufacturing.
Condition is everything. Paint loss, Most collectors’ fairs have selections of Dinky cars like these to tempt buyers, with prices starting at a few pounds. The eagle-eyed will spot the treasures and bag bargains North Yorkshire auctioneers Tennants took a bid of £1,300 hammer for this Dinky No 28 “first-cast” delivery van promoting Wakefield Castrol Motor Oil
metal fatigue and crazing, missing parts or just simply “play-worn condition” to coin the collecting phrase, can knock chunks off the prices buyers are prepared to pay.
Restoration is at least as bad and sometimes worse. Sadly, fakes and frauds dog the market, so it’s best to buy only from reputable dealers and auction houses, particularly if the price stakes are high.
Don’t try to buy one of every Dinky model made, you’ll need a bigger house. Instead, pick a theme and try to stick to it.
Oh, and collectable Dinky cars are definitely not to be played with.