Andrew Ralston hails the rise of a brand reimagining.
The famous Italian diecast brand is another to receive the ‘partwork' replica treatment, as Andrew Ralston finds out.
Mercury could be described as the Italian equivalent of Dinky Toys. Founded in Turin, in 1932, the company made diecast components for other businesses and marketed a metal toy gun in 1939. Mercury was also the Italian importer for the German Märklin toy range.
After the end of World War II, Mercury focused on toy cars, initially in about 1/40 scale, that were sold with rather vague names such as “Americana” sedan and “Aero” coupe. But realism soon improved and interesting subjects like the Lancia Aprilia and Studebaker Commander were selected, plus numerous racing cars and, of course, the 1949 Fiat Topolino that was such a common sight on post-war Italian roads.
Best known, though, is the series of slightly smaller (about 1/48) cars from between 1954-1961, many of them based on the Fiats, Lancia and Alfa
Romeos of the era. Mercury later adopted 1/43 scale, and showed off its diecasting skills in 1964 with the Fiat 2300S coupe that featured opening doors, bonnet and boot. However, competition from other Italian makes, like Politoys and Mebetoys, plus the general demise of the European diecast industry, led to the end of the Mercury range by the late 1970s.
But this famous brand was not finished yet, and it has subsequently reappeared on the market - twice. By 1993 the adult collecting hobby was firmly established and two Mercury fans in Italy, Jonathan Scott and Antonio Pezzini, reproduced a few of the early models in white metal and showed them at a collectors’ event in Turin. This was the start of a new series of replica Mercurys, sold under the name Scottoy and distributed in the UK by Model Auto of Leeds. The trade name comes from the surname of one of the partners; the other, Pezzini,
was a dentist by profession and apparently the idea of Mercury copies was inspired by his knowledge of moulding processes gained from his day job!
The Scottoy brand had a certain amount of success, particularly with the Lambretta and Vespa scooter replicas, and with models targetted at specific customers such as classic car owners’ clubs. The whole story, together with a list of all the models issued, can be found at https:// www.maronline.org.uk/scottoy-revisted/ and it seems that Scottoy ceased production around 2006. Part of the reason, according to this site, was that “Scottoy was not really a ‘business’ venture, in which someone would choose the most profitable products to make. They were really just an extension of the two owners’ collecting hobby, so unless they found items interesting for their own collections, they wouldn’t make them.”
Now, Mercury is back in another form, and one which is definitely run on a commercial footing. As every collector is aware, the most significant trends over recent years have been the rapid growth of the Chinese diecasting industry and the marketing of models through partwork series in Europe by companies such as Altaya, Hachette and Atlas. We’ve seen the success of the Norev CIJ replicas and the Atlas Dinky Toys, so it was perhaps inevitable that sooner or later Mercury would receive the same treatment. Italian collectors form the target market and at the very end of December 2018 Hachette launched ‘La Collezione
Mercury’ using the well-tried formula of offering the first issue (an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint) at an artificially low price of 3.99 €, and supplying various enticements to subscribers like a plaque with a reproduction of an early Mercury catalogue cover and a binder in which to file the magazines that came with the model.
By this means, previously unobtainable Mercury issues are now available as replicas at very reasonable prices, together with authentic copies of their blue and red boxes. These include some of the rarest variations originally made for the Swiss market, such as Alfa Romeo and Fiat 1100 taxis produced for sale in Berne in bright red and yellow livery, and a PTT (post) Volkswagen in yellow and black, a subject which was also modelled by Dinky, Tekno and others. Others available or announced include the Lancia D 24 racing car, Fiat 600 Multipla in two-tone colours, Fiat 600 saloon, Alfa Giulietta saloon (two-tone), Fiat 1300 Polizia in olive green, Lancia Appia III and Cadillac Eldorado Convertible. As well as being issued in the special Swiss versions, the Volkswagen Beetle and Fiat 1100 come as ‘ordinary’ saloons, finished in red and light green respectively. It will be interesting to see whether the Cadillac will be followed by its two American companions, the Lincoln Continental coupe and the Studebaker Golden Hawk, which was originally issued in a numerous striking duotone colour schemes. Two of the best period Mercury models were the Bentley S Type and Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and UK collectors in particular will be hoping to see replicas of these included in the new range, especially in some of the very attractive two-tone finishes.
‘La Collezione Mercury’ will not appeal to purist collectors of obsolete models, of course, but to those who have long regarded original Mercurys as out of reach, these replicas will be a very acceptable alternative. Fears that the Atlas Dinky collection would lead to a collapse in the value of original Dinkys have proved unfounded – so long as the originals are in mint and boxed condition – so it is unlikely that genuine Mercury models will drop in price. In the UK, at least, examples of 1960s Mercurys are not plentiful, so the availability of these replicas will be welcomed by many. As with most of the partwork series issued in France and Italy, subscribers from the UK are not accepted, but individual items are starting to appear on eBay and through Keith’s Cars of Derby (www.keithscars. co.uk), which is probably better, as you can then ‘cherry-pick’ the ones you like best without committing to buy the whole series!