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--14c and 401Coventry Climax Fork Lift Truck (1949-64)

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Dinky Toy Sales, Ordering, Promotions, Retailing etc. (cont...)

dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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John and Jan--Thanks to you both for showing all of those wonderful signs; they so well capture the feeling of that era and are just classic...I love them. So nice that many were rescued and not all were lost to the trash bin. Hopefully some more will surface here!
Best regards,
Terry

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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Greetings all

Just another little cardboard, self-standing sign, used either on a stock shelf, counter top, or within a Hornby Dublo train layout in a shop window, its size being 178mm x 58mm.

The recent additions to this thread from John and Jan are greatly appreciated - adding to the overall story of Dinky Toys.

Kind regards

Bruce

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dinkyfan
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Bruce--
Just classic.....good stuff and thanks again for showing all of these... I love them!

Best regards,
Terry

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buzzer999
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Here is a box of Dinky Toy aluminium Price Tickets and a cardboard sign similar to the one shown by Bruce.

Ramsey's is incorrect with their description of the box of price tickets, they state a quantity ot 200 tickets. Mine should have 123, 5 are missing. I have never seen one of these containing 200. After examining the contents and the prices on them my box was issued in 1955.

The cardboard sign is 177mm x 60mm, more about this later,

Dave

DavidT
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These Dinky price tickets are realy good have a few but never seen the box or as many.

David

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
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Further to the above the Dinky Toys sign was one of three owned by a colleague of mine and he sold me the one shown with the price tickets. They are all the same size and obviously were a set of three.

They are all made from cardboard and have a folding pice at the rear which allows them to stand freely.

They have the reference numbers DT 6/1, DT 6/2 and DT 6/3 - I notice that Bruce's sign is referenced DT 6/C, I suspect that his is also part of a set of three.

Dave

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buzzer999
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Here is an example of a Price Ticket.

They are made from aluminium approximatey 0.6mm thick and are 32mm x 12.5mm.

The two 12.5mm 'legs' can be bent backwards to allow them to be free standing in either the shop window or a display cabinet.

This one is for a Hudson Commodore and 2/9 was the price in 1955.

Every ticket in the box had an individual number and this is number 15.

Dave

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buzzer999
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A 1950s Toy Shop Dinky Toys window display.

What child walking past this super shop display will have been able to resist looking in here??? I certainly couldn't have ignored it.

It brings back very happy memories.

Dave

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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buzzer999 wrote:
"Here is an example of a Price Ticket.

They are made from aluminium approximatey 0.6mm thick and are 32mm x 12.5mm.

The two 12.5mm 'legs' can be bent backwards to allow them to be free standing in either the shop window or a display cabinet.

This one is for a Hudson Commodore and 2/9 was the price in 1955.

Every ticket in the box had an individual number and this is number 15.

Dave"

Dave

You are quite correct with the price of the Hudson Commodore in 1955. Actually it was from February 1955 to the end of January 1956. In February 1956 the price rose to 3/- which remained applicable until at least October 1956 or even as late as January 1957.

I wonder if Meccano produced a small sticker with a new price that could be used to cover the price on an existing metal price ticket?

Kind regards

Bruce

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buzzer999
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Hi Bruce

Before I acquired the box of tickets I had bought quite a lot of single ones on E-bay and I have never seen any with more than one sticker on it.

It is my belief that the box contents changed every year to include new models and to delete discontinued ones. That certainly happened with Dealer Order forms.

An annual range change such as this would also allow price adjustments, if nessesary.

These are my thought, like a huge amount of other Meccano/Dinky things we will probably never know for sure.

Point of sale items and publicity are a particular passion of mine as I think Meccano were excellent in the marketing aspects of the business. The quality of literature, catalogues etc. is in my view unsurpassed.

Dave

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dinkycollect
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These were also available in Dutch.

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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buzzer999 wrote:
"Hi Bruce

Before I acquired the box of tickets I had bought quite a lot of single ones on E-bay and I have never seen any with more than one sticker on it.

It is my belief that the box contents changed every year to include new models and to delete discontinued ones. That certainly happened with Dealer Order forms.

An annual range change such as this would also allow price adjustments, if nessesary.

These are my thought, like a huge amount of other Meccano/Dinky things we will probably never know for sure.

Point of sale items and publicity are a particular passion of mine as I think Meccano were excellent in the marketing aspects of the business. The quality of literature, catalogues etc. is in my view unsurpassed.

Dave"

Dave

One can see the difference in costings with the Order Forms and all the other paper ephemera, but it must have been enormously costly to produce a new box of alluminium price tickets each year. Does your box have anything on it that can equate to a calendar year? I have never seen a box of unused price tickets such as yours as all of mine have been procured loosely, some used, others unused.

I too am in full agreement with your final paragraph. Meccano was particularly conscious of promoting its products as its sales and marketing literature attest. How the Company nurtured its Agents and how they were appointed was a credit to them. It is a shame that competition resulted in complicated products that were ultimately to lead to higher prices and to its downfall, apart from other factors. It is interesting to see how opening doors, windows, boots, bonnets etc soon lost its appeal with toy makers. Had Meccano reversed the trend and returned to simple, well-made, authentic realism, thus lowering its prices, it could have saved the company - who knows!

The number and variety of leaflets, catalogues, flyers, printing aids has also been a passion of mine and it is very satisfying to learn that I am not alone!

Bruce

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buzzer999
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I have a decent selection of Factory Drawings, Dinky and Meccano paperwork, Leaflets, Catalogues, Point of Sale material etc. etc. I love them all because they nicely round-off the collection.

Referring back to the price tickets the printing you see on the top of the lid is all that there is on the box - sadly no dates or reference numbers whatsoever.

It is the range of products and their prices that has enabled me to be certain, beyond doubt, that it is from 1955.

These boxes only come up for sale about every five years or so, consequently they are pretty rare and usually expensive. The lid is a little split on mine but I am happy I now have one. I may be able to get a better one in the future who knows?

Dave

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
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This sort of set has probably been made in 1955 only with a set of stickers for 1956. It would have been too expansive to make one each year, the dealers would not have bought them.

If we had the 1955 and 1956 Dealers catalogue or news letter we would probably have the answer.

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
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The box would originally contain a quantity of blank aluminium tickets with no prices on at all. That way there is no need to date the box whatsoever and it can be used for any year.

The self-adhesive tickets were supplied on A4 sheets and were specific to the range and prices for a particular year. This principle is mentioned in Ramsey's and since I posted the picture of the box on here this has been independently verified by another collector.

This would have kept the cost of producung these important point-of-sale items to an absolute minimum.

I am just about to go out but when I return I will post another photograph to reinforce this way of making these items.

Dave

DavidT
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I wondered why but assumed it was for the reason you gave as I have blanks of these pricing tabs.

David

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Dinkinius
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Dinkinius wrote:
"dinkyfan wrote:
"Bruce--
Great explanation and pictures showing just how that sign worked. And I think it did work pretty well....I like the orange behind those letter cutouts....makes is really stand out. Where and how did you happen to find that? Very neat!
Best regards,
Terry"

Terry (and Dave)

Thank you both for your most appreciated words regarding my sign. Each time I am sitting at my computer, trying to think what to type, my eyes go up to the sign, perched on top of my monitor, and in no time I either think of what to type, or, get sidetracked into things belonging to Dinky Toys!! :laugh: :laugh:

I bought a small quantity of dealer selling aids from an auction conducted in Sydney a number of years ago. You will be seeing more of these in the time ahead. I would have bought the lot, except I had a fierce competitor out there who out-bid my "ridiculous" bid amounts. I scored most of mine when the seller had two of the same item for sale and no doubt my competitor picked up the second example.

The only downside, is that not long after acquiring my lots, I experienced a serious deficiency of capital for a much needed project, so some of these ended up on eBay Australia! :( :( So all I have left are just a few, but what I think, are quite nice to have! The next one to be posted is one of "the pick", and although there was only one example in the auction, my competitor did not pose a problem, due mainly to it not being 100% without flaws.

I hope I have whetted your appetites to see what is coming! :whistle:

Kind regards

Bruce"

Referring to my second last paragraph above, this is the item I have called "the pick" simply that as an advertising item designed for the promotion and sale of new Dinky Toys in the 1950s and 1960s it is still in use in the 21st Century, as I use it on my table at the various swap meets I attend in Australia, although my attendance has been somewhat lacking in the past couple of years.

Bruce

AND HERE IS THE SAME SIGN IN USE IN THE 21ST CENTURY!

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
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Nice item Bruce, I have never seen one of those. Is printed on card or paper or ? and is there something behind such as a foldable stand ?

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
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Here are four of my price tickets.

I have just realised that I have two distinctly different types of ticket:

One has a label which could be attached in two different ways to a blank ticket and the other actually has the information printed directly onto the label.

I have no way of knowing how many years these boxes of price tickets were available, I do not remember seeing them in any of the toy shops I visited. However I always lived in small or medium sized villages which had small toy shops - usually newsagents who also sold toys and games.

I suspect that these boxes of tickets went to larger town and city shops with a higher turonver.

I am also a member of the Hornby Railway Collectors' Association and in their journal they also comment about discovering new information in almost every issue. I guess the Meccano boy are the same.

Dave

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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dinkycollect wrote:
"Nice item Bruce, I have never seen one of those. Is printed on card or paper or ? and is there something behind such as a foldable stand ?"
Jacques
The sign is made of a sort of rubber/plastic material and I am uncertain as to how it should be displayed - stuck to a wall or window with the sticky side at the back which at present is covered by paper. The back is rather dirty and has a number of large hairs stuck to it! The plastic surround that can be seen on my swap meet table is a plastic photo frame I bought from K Mart in which the sign can be shown.
The print number is 71638/3, so it is possible there is a /1 and /2 in a similar format. Its dimensions are 193mm x 162mm.
Bruce

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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Just a small addition to this topic – part of the July – August – September 1963 Dealer Bulletin which was a very large single sheet, three fold three colour leaflet, but no print number. It advertised the new Dinky Toys available during these months, the 196 Holden, 117 Caravan, 114 Triumph Spitfire, 975 Ruston-Bucyrus excavator, 137 Plymouth Fury, 944 Shell BP Fuel Tanker and the 448 Chevrolet with trailers.

Included in the Bulletin were two new dealer display stands that were available in oak finish or pastel blue and a cream enamel finish one that could hold 69 models and another capable of displaying 124 models. These are shown here and it would be nice to pick up either nowadays for the price advertised here!.

Bruce

(150)20160318/836/0207

DavidT
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Hello, have been going through my price lists from 1945 - 1954, basically the post war prenumbering period to try and understand when models were available. I am assuming that the dates when first shown are the dates that the models were available and the reverse when the models no longer had a price were no longer in production. Recognise that many shops may well have the models still in stock because they have not sold them before the next price list publication, so arguably available in shops after the price list published dates.

Unfortunately do not have any price lists for the years 1946, 47, 48, am sure they will be available somewhere. Also only have one price list for 1952 the March one,, 16/352/120  C6624. Was there one issue latter on in the year?

Have produced a spreadsheet with models and prices, which I think shows the introduction dates and when counte will show how many models available at that point in time, to me interesting.

Do not know how to introduce this type of information on to this site, there must be a way..

David

DavidT
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DTCA Member

Again reading this thread, have found it interesting and perhaps can contribut. I do have in my possession many (50ish) of the invoices and statements and the sample invoices mentioned previously from 1952-1965, most are dated and cover the range of products available at the time, ie Hornby dublo, Dinkys and Meccano itself.

Was very pleased when I purchased them as they do give a certain history of one particular shop.

David

kasvd
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DTCA Member

This weekend a bought a nice illuminated Dinky Toys sign.

It looks home made from around the 80's.

The seller was unaware of it's origine.

Does any member recognizes it? 

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