Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Collectors Gazette

Wallis & Wallis offered almost 450 lots in its last toy sale and there were many job lots of railway carriages and rolling stock amongst them. The modern Bassett-Lowke examples sold well, predictably: a three rail electric LMS Princess Elizabeth in dark red raised £320 whilst a LNER A3 loco (the Flying Scotsman) and two tenders in apple green pipped that sale at £340. In the small scale diecast arena several grouped Matchbox toy lots all found new homes but the rarest example was arguably that of the Lomas Ambulance. This was off-white with a casting for the cross on the roof and running on silver wheels. It achieved £300, about double its estimate. There was a useful selection of Dinky Toys, also. A lovely blue Royal Air Mail Service…

Wessex Auction Rooms were busy in February, with a two-day sale that encompassed close on 1,000 lots. Of that total, 180 lots were given over to railway items, with Graham Farish N gauge proving popular: a Class 42 Warship diesel, a Class 45 diesel, a Class 37/0 diesel and a Class 42 diesel D814 Dragon in BR green raised £260 while a Class 14 diesel in BR green, a Standard Class 3MT in BR black, a Class 64XX Pannier Tank and a Class 03 Diesel shunter in BR plain green sold for £220. There were other lots of N gauge, some by Dapol, and prices were firm. But it wasn’t all about big bucks, for a neat 0-4-0 Pioneer tank locomotive in green livery, in 2.5" gauge, was well built…

The current special exhibition at Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel, Plush, Play and Pioneers – Women in toy design, presents the legacy of women whose creative work has had a lasting impact on the toy industry. Women have played a key role in creating some of the best-known and most popular toys, such as dolls, plush toys, board games, therapeutic and educational toys. These women paid great attention to the needs of children and shaped educational reforms. The exhibition presents pioneering women who were, or still are, successful in the toy industry, highlighting their creative work, their working conditions and struggle for equality. One of them was Margarete Steiff. Her perseverance, and more specifically her soft toy Small Elephant, laid the foundation for the global success of Steiff. The exhibition also…

OXFORD AUTOMOBILE Austin Low Loader Taxi - Oxford Blue REF: 120AT002 SCALE: 1/120 PRICE: £7.45 OXFORD OMNIBUS Bedford OB Coach Southdown REF: 120OB002 SCALE: 1/120 PRICE: £8.95 COCA COLA Coca Cola Mercedes Sprinter REF: 76MSV007CC SCALE: 1/76 PRICE: £10.95 OXFORD HAULAGE Scania T Cab Cylindrical Tanker Wilson McCurdy REF: 76TCAB011 SCALE: 1/76 PRICE: £31.95 OXFORD COMMERCIALS Land Rover Series 2 LWB Canvas Bronze Green REF: 120LAN2011 SCALE: 1/120 PRICE: £7.45 OXFORD COMMERCIALS Mercedes Whitby Mondial Ice Cream Van Tonibell REF: 43WM009 SCALE: 1/43 PRICE: £20.95 OXFORD AUTOMOBILE Austin Mini Metro Emberglow (Princess Diana) REF: 76MET001 SCALE:1/76 PRICE: £8.95 OXFORD AUTOMOBILE Buick Century 1955 Carlsbad Black/Windsor Grey/Dover White REF: 87BC55007 SCALE: 1/87 PRICE: £9.95 Scammell Mechanical Horse Van Trailer LNER REF: 120MH004 SSCALE: 1/120 PRICE: £9.95 B Taylor Builders (Auf Wiedersehen)…

Dioramas can vary greatly in size depending on your available space and budget, and can range from adding a few simple touches to a full blown layout with lighting and scenery. This time, I’m focusing on British buses using my collection of London Transport and Southdown models, but obviously these ideas can be put to good effect whatever your choice of fleet. Starting with the simplest of displays, particularly useful if you collect at larger scales, I’ve chosen to display my 1/43 scale AEC RT with just a bus stop and a pair of same-scaled figures. The bus takes me right back to my earliest days, carrying Red Bus Rover advertising, reminding me of the times when I would ride around London all day from my home town of Sidcup…

Item: Hot Wheels Mattel Redline Custom Volkswagen Condition: generally near mint with some agerelated wear, rare version with no sunroof Sold for: £1905 (24 bids) Item: Kenner Star Wars Jawa with blaster pistol  Condition: mint on original sealed card back, contained in acrylic case Sold for: £887 (66 bids)  Item: Lesney Matchbox MB5c Routemaster Bus “Baron of Beef” Condition: original near mint to mint, with rare decals to sides Sold for: £511 (30 bids) Item: Airfix Battlefront History Series, Guadalcanal US Marine Assault Forces Condition: excellent, complete except the paint brush, paints have dried due to age/storage. Sold for: £381 (12 bids) Item: Matchbox SuperKings K-74 Volvo Estate Condition: near mint with only a couple of small factory paint marks, box original and unpunched Sold for: £565.88 (10 bids) Item:…

This piece is about conservation and restoration. Conservation usually involves the oiling of a motor or a gentle wax, whereas restoration can be anything from replacing some tyres to a total strip down and a repaint. For example, restoring a pre-war Dinky toy is like working on a Ming vase. They are fragile and repair cannot involve force of any kind for fear of the model crumbling into pieces. You need patience and experience to take step-by-step actions to fulfil your goal. Nothing is guaranteed either, parts that should fit together seldom do, so fettling is the key word here. Conversely, many post war diecasts are seemingly straightforward with only one or two makes being especially needy. Tri-ang’s Spot-On range being one such example. With all those easily breakable parts…

Warwick and Warwick’s recent auction featured many diecast models, with Corgi and Dinky doing well. A Corgi Aviation lot achieved £1,240 but the older toys also performed. The Corgi Chipperfields Poodle Truck (No. 511) sold for its estimate of £110 while a Dinky 513 Guy Flat Truck with tailboard, the first cab type featuring a grey cab and flatbed with black chassis, wings and hubs, sold for £120. The Dinky Vega Major luxury coach with purple paintwork and a blue interior raised £110, exceeding estimate. Shackleton Fodens are always popular and the FG 6-wheel Platform Lorry (with blue body and red wings, a grey chassis and fuel tanks) in a blue and yellow box, together with a Dyson 8-ton Drawbar Trailer (again in blue, red and grey) in red a…

CORGI MODEL CLUB MGA SPORTS CAR Price: £33.99 Scale: 1/45 Release: out now With a simple casting, it was nevertheless given a detailed interior, a rudimentary clear plastic windscreen and silver painted headlights, grille and bumpers. ›› www.corgimodelclub.com CULT MODELS AUSTIN MAXI 1750 Price: £216.99 Scale: 1/18 Release: out now A superb addition to Cult’s growing reputation in capturing the British Motoring archives. It oozes period detail and will certainly please fans. ›› www.cultmodels.com More new releases reviewed at ccofgb.co.uk CORGI MODELS GERRY ANDERSON’S STINGRAY Price: £39.99 Scale: FTB Release: out now This model can’t help but make you smile, great memories of a television favourite! With a slick finish, it comes with a detachable stand and two missiles. ›› https://uk.corgi.co.uk/ ARTITEC RENAULT 56 TRACTOR Scale: 1/87 Price: around £35.00…

Excalibur Auctions, has announced the unprecedented success of its recent memorabilia, comics and vintage toys auctions. Featuring a stellar collection of memorabilia from a galaxy far, far away, this event captured the imagination of fans and collectors, resulting in remarkable sales and record-breaking bids. The auctions, held in January and February, showcased an extraordinary array of Star Wars items, each with its own unique appeal and significance. Among the standout lots were: January 2024 - Lot 274: A Palitoy Star Wars Jawa Figure with Rare Vinyl Cape. This rare and highly sought-after action figure, complete with its original vinyl cape, sparked fierce bidding wars among collectors. Being in very good condition and exceptionally rare, it achieved an astounding final sale price of £19,050 (including buyer premium February 2024 - Lots…

This month we look back on a year when a major heatwave hit Europe during the summer period, resulting in some 70,000 deaths. In contrast, Asia, North America and Peru all suffered severely cold weather. El Nino was making the metrological headlines; and there were two earthquakes that recorded over 6 on the Richter scale, one in Algeria, the other in Iran. There was tragedy in the UK when a Central line underground train crashed into the tunnel wall at Chancery Lane tube station, in London, injuring 34 people. On a more positive note, the Bullring Shopping Centre was opened in Birmingham and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was safely delivered of a baby girl. IT was also a feature of the year, which saw the launch of the social networking…

Corgi Major No 1127 Simon Snorkel Fire Engine, released in September 1964, was a superb replication of one of the very latest types of fire engines in use at the time of the toy’s release. It is a perfect example of Corgi’s ability to engineer in miniature to the highest standard and at the same time incorporate top notch playability. Initially packaged in a Styrofoam moulded base with a very attractive box lid featuring excellent artwork of the unit in action, the model would be sold in the less appealing, but more sales point friendly, window box during the later years of its life up to its withdrawal in 1976 The boom rises and lowers by way of a beautifully engineered pantograph mechanism that keeps the yellow cage at the…

Lansdowne Models (Brooklin) LDM 108 Bentley 4.5 DHC, maroon body. Mint including green lift off lid box and inner card packing. Sold for £80, Vectis Auctions, February. Tri-ang Spot On 107 Jaguar KKSS, green body, grey interior and tonneau, cast spun hubs. Excellent plus lovely bright example. Sold for £70, Vectis Auctions, February. Tri-ang Spot On 114 Jaguar 3.4 Litre Saloon, light blue body, cream interior and steering wheel, cast spun hubs. Good plus to excellent (some very small marks on edges). Sold for £70, Vectis Auctions, February. Tri-ang Spot On 119 Meadows Frisky, dark turquoise body with black roof, blue interior, cream steering wheel and cast spun hubs. Good plus bright example. Sold for £30, Vectis Auctions, February. Tri-ang Spot On 157 Rover 3 Litre saloon, grey body, cream interior and steering, chrome…

BTA’s last auction attracted the wealthy railway enthusiast, if prices realised were anything to go by. A Bassett-Lowke limited edition O gauge A3 Pacific 4-6-2 Flying Scotsman representing the 1969 USA Tour Atlantic Crossing was equipped with two tenders. In excellent condition, it sold for £500. An ACE Trains limited edition O gauge 9F 2-10-0 loco and tender, numbered 92214 and labelled Leicester City FC, was finished in gloss blue. This was taken to £400 while a top bid of £380 secured the O gauge 4-6-2 loco and tender, a Bassett-Lowke A3 Pacific model representing the Prince Palatine in BR blue. This run was limited to just 100 models and the train was nearly mint. For something completely different, the McFarlane Toys Spawn – Jaws included the famed shark attacking…

Teddy bears and LEGO hit the heights in February at Vectis, when an eclectic range of lots went under the hammer. A selection of Portobello Bears Romanov family artist-designed teddy bears by Amy Goodrich, depicting the Russian Royal family, gained a lot of interest from collectors. Made exclusively for Teddy Bears of Witney, and one of a strictly limited edition of ten, this lot was knocked down for £2,327. On a totally different tack were some Star Wars themed sets went under the hammer. A Lego Star Wars 10018 Darth Maul - Ultimate Collector Series – dated to 2001, within a near mint sealed pack, was estimated at £400-600 but was actually taken to £2,450. The Star Wars 7163 Republic Gunship, a 2002 issue, within an excellent sealed pack, almost…

Just £10.99 for 3 issues when you pay quarterly Packed with inspiring, in-depth articles and informative reviews which will keep you entertained month after month! ›› Get inspired with the latest auction, toyfairs and event news ›› Handy tips and price guides ›› The latest releases from all the major manufacturers in the industry including Corgi, Oxford Diecast, Matchbox, Hornby, Airfix and LEGO For more details visit: https://ccofgb.uk/CGSpring2024 or call 01778392480 and quote GAZ/SUBS24 SUBSCRIPTION OFFER JUST FOR YOU!…

When I were young in the early 70s we all kept in touch with the latest music with weekly papers like Sounds and Melody Maker. Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Atomic Rooster, The Strawbs; I could go on. And one day there was a large advert for discounted mail order records. This was unheard of, the sort of thing you really noticed. Suggestive graphics, edgy name; Virgin Records. Little did we know we were witnessing the start of a mega-brand which was to encompass finance, broadcasting, broadband, air travel… and trains. RAIL PRIVATISATION The mid 90s were strange times for rail travellers and enthusiasts. Having already sold off most of our utilities, the Tories were circling around British Rail like vultures around a sick horse. The new Labour government of 1997…

Although primarily a tin box maker, Metal Box of Mansfield, formerly Barringer Wallis & Manners (BWM) was for several decades Britain’s largest producer of tinplate toys. From around 1914 through to the 1980s the BWM and Metal Box factories at Rock Valley, Mansfield and Oddicroft Lane, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, manufactured millions of tin toys yet rarely receives the recognition it duly deserved as a toymaker. The story begins way back in the late 1830s when David Cooper Barringer began making mustard flour in a small water mill on the banks of the river Maun previously used to grind Black Lead and Washing Blue. Barringer packed the mustard into wooden barrels for distribution to local grocers. Following David Cooper Barringer’s death in 1861 the Rock Valley mustard mill was purchased by his…

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Hi folks! I have to say I’ve been really fed up with all the wet weather we’ve faced over the past couple of months and it’s still throwing it down with rain as I sit at home writing this article. Not only has the rain impacted on all the outside fairs and shows I attend, but it’s also effected my country walking with so many footpaths and trails being flooded or too muddy to negotiate safely. Let’s hope that the skies dry up a little as we ease our way into early spring, when the new outdoor car boot season kicks off once again in earnest. Despite the poor weather I have made quite a few lucky finds over the past few weeks, one of which was a super copy…