Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i Collectors Gazette

Warwick and Warwick’s last sale of 2024 saw plenty of interest in the diecast section – and witnessed some particularly fierce bidding over certain lots. Typical was a collection of 1/24 scale cars that included a CMC Audi 920, a Franklin Mint 1911 Rolls Royce and a Duesenberg J, together with ranges from Bburago, Hot Wheels, Maisto, Motor Max, Opel, Polistil, Small Wheels and Welly: the lot raised £1,550. A similar collection of 1/24 models from Bburago, Leo Models, Mebe Toys and Mondo Motors sold well, reaching a price of £1,250. Corgi items included the James Bond Toyota No.336, Kermit No.2030, a Porsche No.397, and a Volkswagen Polo amongst others: £1,400 was the winning bid. A maroon Rover 2000 TC, a Ford Consul Cortina, the Chipperfield’s circus crane truck, Circus…

Mattel has announced the 2024 winner of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, the world’s largest travelling car show, during the virtual Global Grand Finale held in November. After taking home the top spot during the 2024 Chilean tour stop, a home-built race car, nicknamed La Liebre, secured the global victory and will be inducted into the Hot Wheels Garage of Legends. The Hot Wheels design team will now transform the life-sized car into a diecast car for collectors and fans to enjoy in 1/64 scale. In 2013, Giuseppe Casagrande and Maurizio Moschini co-founded Cars and Coffee Chile as a nonprofit organization to grow the car community and culture ure in Chile. The La Liebre project began as a method of promoting their organisation and engaging local automotive enthusiasts. After acquiring…

Have you ever had a car where you had to leave the engine running until you got home, because there was no guarantee it would fire up again? Or one you always had to park on a hill to bump start it? Tell that to a Tesla driver today and they won’t believe you. Of course, cars have improved beyond recognition since then, when we were grateful for windscreen wipers and radial tyres. It seems like a lot of 1960s and 70s cars just weren’t fit to drive the length of the country without a full service, a network of AA phone boxes and a patrolman on a BSA with a sidecar full of spares. Mind you, problems were simpler back then. The most bizarre mechanical issue I had in…

Hello! Can you introduce yourself to our readers? Hi! I’m Nicola, I’m the former Production Manager for all things collecting here at Collectors Gazette. What fun collectable have you found in your attic? I have here, the original copy of Yahtzee from my childhood days. This version was published by MB Games back in 1978 – although a quick Google tells me it was originally published in 1956! The box even had our original marked scorecards from when my parents, brother and I played it 30 odd years ago! Whose was it? Can you remember who bought it for you? My parents bought this in a toy shop in Lincoln in 1983 and gave this to my twin teenagers recently. They considered this beneath them (“it only has 6, 6-sided…

Item: Corgi Gift Set 41 Transporter Set, complete with 6 cars Condition: excellent with only an odd mark, outer box is solid and complete Sold for: £630 (27 bids) Item: LEGO MRI Scanner (4000041) Condition: a rare set never sold in shops, excellent, brand new and sealed Sold for: £875.56 (23 bids) Item: Mattel Hot Wheels Redline Zowees gift set (1972) Condition: mint and still attached to their black original thread inside the inner plinth Sold for: £280 (28 bids) Item: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Sheriff Deadpool Minifigure Condition: mint SDCC 2018 Comic Con exclusive Sold for: £1000 (32 bids) Item: Tri-ang Minic Vauxhall Victor Condition: good lightly play worn and contained within original box 1 of 20 Sold for: £304 (21 bids) Item: Schuco tinplate Charlie Chaplin Condition: very…

When one watches these reality TV shows regarding antiques road trips and so forth, they all look like a heady mix of Jack Kerouac and Lovejoy all rolled into one. OK, so I may have embellished the premise a little! The US versions do feature fantastic landscapes great characters and some great finds too. All of it condensed into an hour or so of programming. Of course, there’s no such thing as reality TV. It’s 60 hours of mainly mundane footage condensed into one. With researchers going ahead to set up the route, the dealers and every one of the finds, it’s hardly ad hoc… Even the deals taking place on camera have been prearranged before the shoot. One such show features two experts going around the country in different…

Trains, Planes and Automobiles’ December sale featured an eclectic mix of collectables. A Micro Models diecast International Ambulance in grey, and in very good condition with a very good box, made Aus$160, whereas a Minic tinplate clockwork British Road Service Van, in green and exhibiting a little wear and rust, raised Aus$210. Another British lot was the Electric Models 1/18 scale plastic battery-operated Vauxhall Velox, in sombre black. A few minor scuffs and scratches were noted. Again untested, but in a fair to good box, it sold for Aus$200. The ATC (Japan) tinplate friction-drive Bus "D.C. Transit", in green and white, bore some scratches and scuffs to its paintwork (mostly on the roof), and some small dents were visible on its body. Despite a little rust on chromed parts and…

A few issues back (Collectors Gazette, July 2024 to be precise) I wrote an article aimed at the newbie, one who was just setting out on the collecting trail. The (sometimes arcane) language of the swapmeet and the online toy description did, to my way of thinking at least, require some explanation. Having penned that article, my thoughts turned to the auctioneer. Let’s be honest at this point: increasingly, these days, old toys are being consigned to auction houses. These eminent establishments used to major in antiques but nowadays, for some at least, more lucrative is the collectable toy market. All of which brings the copy writer into play, as someone who is tasked with making the latest intake of childhood memories so irresistible that bids will come in thick…

Hi folks! The dawn of 2025 has seen me reach another milestone in my life, as I celebrate my 50th year of toy collecting. It was way back in 1975, as a young art student, that I began searching junk shops and jumble sales, mainly for 45rpm records to begin with. But I soon noticed the emergence of old toys in the shops too which set me off buying obsolete diecast models. In those days there were plenty of second hand shops around and I was able to acquire many of the old diecast toys I fondly remembered owning as a kid. They were almost all diecast and predominantly Dinky and Matchbox, with the occasional tin Pocketoy or Minic here and there. You could pick up some great stuff back…

FAIRS 19 JANUARY • Newton Abbot, Ray Heard, 01823 480097 • Lincoln, J & J Fairs, 01522 880383 • Potters Bar, Joe Lock, 07866 641215 • Tenterden, SRP Toy Fairs, 07739 998012 • Wickham, Steve Clements, 01380 725322/07732 330305 26 JANUARY • Shepton Mallet, Bulldog Fairs, 07379 578083 • Port Sunlight, Jackson & Jackson, 07967 681080 • Spalding, J & J Fairs, 01522 880383 2 FEBRUARY • Malvern, Bulldog Fairs, 07379 578083 • Gateshead, Jim Corr, 07504 035955 • Rayleigh, SRP Toy Fairs, 07739 998012 6 FEBRUARY • Theydon Bois, Joe Lock, 07866 641215 8 FEBRUARY • Musselburgh, Jim Corr, 07504 035955 9 FEBRUARY • Kempton Park, R M Toys Ltd, 02392 262446/07957 823507 15 FEBRUARY • Matford, Exeter, Bulldog Fairs, 07379 578083 • Oxford, Richard Atkins, 01869 347489 •…

The end of year British Toy Auction event was notable for a group of Pelham Puppets. These puppets frequently turn up at swapmeets (often with tangled strings), and some of the range are extremely collectable indeed. A complete collection of unboxed, large scale Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarves included Snow White (who was approximately 76cm tall), with her dwarves of 45cm tall. The set came with display names and was taken to £500 (plus premium). An unboxed early 20th century vintage clockwork tinplate BP wagon (approximately 16cm in length) in a worn condition, with a clockwork motor and key, was accompanied by an additional cab from a similar model. This achieved £190. From Sutton’s Locomotive Workshop came a boxed 00 Gauge BR green Sulzer Type 2 Class 24…

BRITAINS KANE DUMP TRAILER Scale: 1/32 Price: £27.99 Ref: 43368 Britains has provided its Kane trailer with a sprung drawbar, two 2-stage rams to tip the body and two rams to open the tailgate. www.britainsfarmtoys.co.uk CORGI MODEL CLUB RAC INTERNATIONAL RALLY B.M.C. MINI COOPER ‘S’ Scale: 1/42 Price: £34.99 Ref: 333 Based on a car driven by Tony Fall and Mike Wood in 1966’s RAC / SUN Rally. Corgi added a sump guard and gave it an impressive six jewelled headlights.  www.corgimodelclub.com GT SPIRIT FERRARI F40 - 1987 Scale: 1/18 Price: £145 Ref: GTS914 A limited edition release which is bound to fly off the shelf. The interior attention to detail is impressive, as are the Ferrari decals on the body work.  www.gts-models.com OXFORD DIECAST 1955 CHRYSLER NEW YORKER DELUXE…

Matrix Models has announced a forthcoming release of the iconic Rolls-Royce Phantom VI Landaulette in 1/43 scale. This stunning model comes in three customer-commissioned versions: a 1972 silver/black for Gabonese President Omar Bongo, a 1973 maroon version for Mrs. V. Gillard, and a 1975 pale blue/white model for H.R.H. Princess Nora Mohsen al-Angari. The Phantom VI, with HJ Mulliner coachwork, first debuted on the Phantom V, is renowned for its convertible rear design, ideal for state occasions. Matrix has also revealed the 1934 Maybach Zeppelin DS8 Cabriolet by Spohn, available i in black/bronze, white, and maroon. Prices for both are yet to be announced. Order now through Spacroft Models (www.spacroftmodels.co.uk), or your preferred retailer.…

PART 3 In my second article we saw the Corgi figures increasing quickly during 1963, also bringing us the figure of the Corgi dog. 1964 certainly had some new surprises in store too… NO. 9011 & 9012 1915 MODEL “T” FORD, BLACK AND YELLOW BODY • Issued January 1964, 306,000 + 1969 sales (combined 9011 and 9012) produced The first models in the Corgi Classic Series of Veteran and Vintage class vehicles. As Marcel van Cleemput puts it, there were so many cars to choose from for these models but in hindsight he felt that Corgi made the right choices. The Classic range did however not become the success that was hoped for and was discontinued 5 years later, bringing us, next to the “T” Ford, also a 1927 Bentley,…

The story of Micromodels begins in the years just before the outbreak of World War Two when a company called Modelcraft Ltd was established by Herbert Stennett Coleman in premises on Grosvenor Road in West London. It initially printed large scale plans for modellers to construct hand-built models and also supplied printed paper accessories for use in model construction. These were the days when building kits and scratch built models from pre-printed plans or scrap materials was an extremely popular pastime, with fathers and sons often working together to ease the boredom of those long dark winter nights. Just after the outbreak of World War Two, somewhere around 1940, Geoffrey Heighway joined the staff of Modelcraft and soon rose through the ranks to become its chief designer. Despite it being…

I conic cars usually begin with an outstanding idea, and these generally emanate from great designers. The Issigonis Mini is surely the World’s favourite small car and meets all the necessary categories. With an original price tag of just over £500 it was a car that most people could aspire to - a car for everyone. This particular journey begins in 1962 with the release of the Morris Mini Minor by Corgi Toys. It was issued as model No.226, 26, and is most commonly found in lilac blue or pale blue and later in metallic maroon, though it is also listed in red. Produced in a scale of 1/42, it had the latest Corgi suspension system - ‘Glidamatic Spring Suspension’, an interiorior and steering wheel. The interiorior was vacuum formed…

Britains set 39 Royal Horse Artillery six horse gun team, collar harness, first version with shafted limber and gun with bucket seats, with four seated Gunners. Condition very good, officer missing, 1897. Sold for £240, C&T Auctioneers, December. Britains set 144 Royal Field Artillery first version with six horse collar harness team, centre pole limber, gun with bucket seats, four seated Gunners and mounted Officer. Condition very good, one seated man with RAMC armpatch. Sold for £320, C&T Auctioneers, December. Britains set 317 Royal Field Artillery, at the halt light harness six horse team with limber and gun, two seated men and mounted Officer in original un-numbered box. Condition very good, box good to fair, 1928. Sold for £340, C&T Auctioneers, December. Britains set 145 Royal Army Medical Corps, four horse Ambulance, first…