Dinky Toys Model 29g and 281 Luxury Coach

As I have mentioned before on this blog, Dinky Toys were produced in both France and Great Britain.  The toys were originally meant to supplement the Meccano and Hornby trains, but soon after their introduction in Great Britain around 1932, they gained in popularity among the kids of the time...so much so that they essentially became their own product line.

According to Mike and Sue Richardson, in their fantastic reference on the subject, Dinky Toys and Modelled Miniatures, the term dinky actually is a "colloquial adjective of Scottish origin, meaning 'pretty, neat, of engaging appearance'".  And todays example certainly fits that description!

This is a model 29g or 281 Luxury coach.  The model was produced as the 29g from 1951 through 1954...and then renumbered as the model 281 from 1954 through 1959.  I frankly do not know how to tell the difference between a 29g and a 281, so I am not totally sure which vintage this one is.  But it doesn't really matter, does it?  It's a beautiful toy!!

When I originally got into this hobby, I was primarily buying and selling to make a few bucks and have some fun learning about these toys.  But I never had the heart to get rid of the buses that I acquired.  They are just way to cool to look at!

Until next time....

1958 Dinky Toys France Catalog

In collecting Dinky Toys, one of the more useful things to seek out are the original catalogs published by Meccano.  Books have been written on what was offered and when, but these catalogs allow you to date the toys using source material published by Meccano factory.  With the catalog I am showing today, I also have the price list...so you can also get an idea of what the kids (and their parents) were paying in 1958 for these little gems.

Seeing this catalog makes me want to go back in time, order the complete catalog, and then return to the present!  Above is a page out of the catalog that features some of the Dinky Toys available at the time.  The catalog also shows Dinky Supertoys, Hornby trains, and Meccano erector sets.  The 24A Chysler New Yorker (the convertible on the lower left of the left page) is a present day classic, and came in a number of color combinations.  Collectors will pay top dollar for the rare colors.  At 410 francs, it was one of the pricier models in its day (at least compared to the other cars offered here).

So...how much was 410 francs in 1958?  Well, that's rather complicated as that is the year that the French re-valued their currency and went to the "new" franc.  I looked for an answer online, but none was clearly available.  If anyone has a good answer here, I would love to hear it!

Until next time...

Hornby Dinky Toys and Meccano Magazine

In 1999 my wife and I moved to Paris, France for a year.  Since I was removed from my standard collecting categories, I took the opportunity to look at some new areas that were readily available in town.  (Yes...one can find American comics in Paris, but there are only a few shops, and the pickings are slim and expensive).

While attending an auction at the Hotel des Ventes on rue Druout, I ended up buying some toys.  Thus began my education on French toys...and especially French Dinky toys.  

Dinky toys were made by the English toy company Hornby, the company that created Meccano erector sets and Hornby trains.  The toys were made in Britain and France, but each factory made cars that appealed to the kids of the country they were in...so they are really two distinct lines of cars.  A brief search on the internet will give you more than you probably want to know on the history of Hornby and Dinky Toys...there is a fanatical and dedicated collector community for these cars in Europe (mostly older men who played with them as children).  But these cars stand on more than nostalgia.  They are very well made and well crafted toys.  

That aside...this magazine I am featuring today is one of the publications put out by the French factory at Bobigny.  It was mostly made up of real life engineering stories, science future (this issue has an article on going to the Moon or Mars), and other articles that would appeal to the technically minded kid of the time.  On the cover is a picture of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter...one of my favorite aircraft.  The feature article inside is on the state of military aviation at the time.  On the back, a couple of classic Dinky cars...a racing Ferrari and the Chrysler "New Yorker".  Both of these toys are very collectible today.

I bought quite a few of these toys in my adventures at the Druout auction house.  At the time, I sold most of them on eBay to American collectors..since eBay was fairly new and did not have a French site.  American collectors did not have ready access to these toys at the time, so I was able to fill a need and learn a bunch about the hobby at the same time.

Looking back into my archives in appears I sold one of those Ferraris, a French Dinky 23J, in February of 2000 (with the box, no less).  It wasn't in perfect shape...but still really cool!  Writing this post has brought back some great memories...it was a bunch of fun hunting these things down and learning their history.  I will post some pictures in the future of the cars I kept.

Until next time...