Chris---Thanks for clearing that up!  I should have assumed you were talking about a military version, but there was no mention of it in the first post.  And to complicate things, the Richardson's apparently were not aware of a pre-war version as they make no mention of it in either of their books.  It must be quite rare....congrats on such a wonderful find!
     Terry

I finally completed my set of 283 Red Arrow buses by obtaining the more unusual (and more unrealistic) metallic red version. (It of course has been a long-standing gripe of mine that Liverpool used metallic red for various fire department vehicles as well. Did they really think children were that stupid? The metallic red paint chips easily, too.)

The auction lot came with a "Green Line" single-decker too, of course assembled by somebody from the kit version, but done very nicely.

These items arrived in the past few weeks: a new 2022 version of my annual calendar, three instruction leaflets and a Royal Mail Van plus accessories. The calendar is the fourteenth already since Dave Busfield and I compiled the 2009 75th Dinky anniversary calendar for the DTCA. I continued this privately, for my own, since 2010. The instruction leaflets are of the Camion petrolier saharien, the French no. 888, the no. 956 Turntable Fire Escape, and the no. 571 Coles Mobile Crane. The Royal Mail Van is a lovely prewar example, as are the postmen and the letter boxes. Scarce (if complete, undamaged) as the latter are, I appreciate them most of all. The Air Mail Car - staged here, but not belonging to these newcomers - has its rightful blue letter box companion at last! Kind regards, Jan 

                                                                                  original 292

                          
                                                                                        kit 2023

Johnny,

Your Greenline single decker is not made from the kit, it is an original 292 with a very different green from the kit.

Jacques -- I am sure my single-decker was spray-painted, not painted using the vial of paint that was supplied with the kit ... but might the builder simply have purchased the darker shade of paint himself?

Naturally, I would like to believe it is an original 292 but I remain skeptical. I will say however that the paint has been applied very nicely. The white-painted baseplate appears identical to my Red Arrow versions.

This lovely little Jeep arrived today. Not pristine, but nicer than the photos make it look -- and such a lovely color scheme!

Some cranes arrived Saturday to do work around the house ....

The Civilian Jeep and the Grue Salev are favourites if mine too. I'm still looking for the pale green Jeep. Nice models, Jonathan!

I took pictures today of some recent arrivals. The French Renault Autobus parisien is the jewel amidst some more modest items. Though a little bit chipped it has no damage to the vulnerable tinplate roof, like rust, dents or any other deformations. Some paper documents too: the French 1962 Dinky Toys catalogue and the red 1959-60 Dinky Toys Collector's license. I wasn't aware that it is so small, 10.2 x 6.7 cm only! Two ship models slipped in between the Dinky stuff: a Queen Elizabeth class 'super Dreadnought' battleship and H.M.S. Furious, a very early British aircraft carrier, both made by Wiking on the 1/1250 scale.   

Jan,

Your Renault bus version 4 is a beauty, it is so rare in this condition. The collector's licence is also up to your high standard.

A licenced Dinky Toys collector at last! Kind regards, Jan 

Hi all, herewith my season's greetings. Let's hope we can meet again in person, individually or at the AGM in 2022, after the last one, back in 2019!

And some nice Christmas gifts:

The very early post-war red Speed of the Wind with black driver is a special one, the same as Terry's, but this one with black tyres.

The original French Esso Station is far more difficult to find than the abundantly available Atlas replicas.

The Renault Dauphine is very nice, with a poor/fair box, but very affordable compared with many seen around.

The almost perfect unboxed plastic wheeled Cooper Bristol was a real bargain, a replacement for one I sold not long ago.

Kind regards,  Jan 

Jan--Lovely additions, and yes, your Speed of the Wind looks just like mine, but for the tires.  They must not have had that black painted driver very long post war.  And your French Esso gas pumps is also very nice, especially with those vulnerable, very thin hoses.  By the way, earlier boxes for it had the word "miniatures" printed on it.  I think I have one and will post it later.

   Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!
        Best regards,

            Terry

Jan--Thought you might like to see the earlier box for the 49d Esso Gas Pumps, with the quaint wording "miniatures" on it.  That wording was also on the very early boxes of the 24v Buick Roadmaster, and I also think the Simca Aronde.

           Best regards,

                Terry

Correct, Terry, thank you, mine is the later box indeed (although hardly visible on the quickly taken group picture above). Kind regards, Jan

New this week ...

Wow, Jonathan, these are really beautiful and rather uncommon French factory items!

The detailing ... and the zamak wheeled Peugeot ...

Congratulations, Jan 

An excellent model of the Peugeot 402 on which the French tool makers showed their expertise from the very begining of Dinky Toys by reproducing the Peugeot Lion on the rear wheel spats.

Congratulations Jonathan.

Jacques

Several recent arrivals for 2022 ...

Jon—very nice new additions! That two-tone Oldsmobile was a great buy, and those road signs are nice. Have not seen the 2 level box before. Was that a later version?
Terry

Jon—very nice new additions! That two-tone Oldsmobile was a great buy, and those road signs are nice. Have not seen the 2 level box before. Was that a later version?
Terry

Thanks, Terry! I had not been aware of the two-level box before, but it couldn't help but catch my eye. This is the prewar box; in fact, due to an article by Peter Golden (avaialble as a PDF on this site), I know that the version of it I now have comes specifically from 1935. As for the signs themselves, they can be distinguished by the fact that they have open triangles on their tops -- these were later filled in.

Unfortunately they can also be distinguished by the fact that they have metal pest (which you can see on a couple of the signs looking like white powder). They are definitely brittle, so unfortunately I won't be taking them out to play with them!

As Peter noted, the signs tend to self-destruct, and many of the two-level boxes have had their contents replaced with the postwar equivalents.

Hi Jonathan, unfamiliar as this Road Signs set may seem to you, you will see it illustrated on page 67 of DT&MM and on page 65 of the GBofDT. You really found a great one, and with the 'Meccano Dinky Toys' brand name even slightly earlier than the set mentioned in these Dinky bibles! Kind regards, Jan 

I happen to know these books virtually by heart

Here are some new acquisitions. The Red "Falck" Land Rover is battered but it seems to be harder to find than the white version. Between the two, signs of cheapening are the disappearance of the jewelled headlights and the simplified wheels ...

The other two models below are prototypes dating from the sad last year of 1979, for the "Customized Ford Transit" and "Customized Corvette."

A rare Land Rover amongst the rares.

This is the fifth and last version known so far of the Falck breakdown car. The most common one seem to be the first version with the diecast hubs.

Here is my list of the Falck versions. Any comment or correction, please shout.

Congratulations.

My Falck Land Rovers correspond to 1 and 3 in Jacques' list.

Falck Land Rovers 2.jpg

My red one is in worse condition than the one illustrated and also has even less appropriate wheels!  Not much use as a tow truck either, as the hook is missing...

Rather many new arrivals since early January, a collection in its own right: some replacements, some additions.

A collector friend sent me a nice wallet as a present a few weeks ago: ‘On the Road again, Dinky Toys 1934-1966’, containing thirty 15 x 21 cm postcards, showing Dinky Toys (some Atlas) in colour, positioned in a contemporary real world black and white scene. Cleverly done by graphic designer Henry Cannon.

Two scarcer colour Loudspeaker Vans came in, the fine brown one an addition, the near mint green example a replacement. Another duo from different vendors are the Field Marshall Tractors. The early silver wheeled one is an addition, the more common green wheeled tractor a replacement for a lesser example in the collection. Both near mint.

A bargain fifth no. 153a Jeep arrived, the 1948-1952 fifth issue with paint ring, higher bonnet and extended casting gates. With it came the huge British Road Signs set, the box not perfect but the contents are. A very fine set.

Also belonging to the accessories category is a green mini trade box with Cook’s Men. There were five present, but by adding my loose single one the half dozen is complete. Perhaps noteworthy that my single example has some details (collar, letter) painted white, whereas the same details on the others are a shade of green.

A more impressive trade box is the one containing four 27f Estate Cars. Two were correct, the other two were not, but I replaced an incorrect 344 by a correct single loose 27f in my collection and sold it on the Houten fair yesterday. So, still one 344 left to be replaced. Well, the sight of the virtually perfect models inside is very fine in my opinion.

As a side line, two ship models were added, all from Germany. Fine prewar 1:1250 Wiking cruiser models and one Mercator ‘Wilhelm Gustloff’, sadly representing the greatest sea disaster in terms of casualties, over 9.000 refugees killed, torpedoed in the Baltic Sea in the final days of WWII.

Bought last week in an attractive second life shop in the province of Gelderland, a wooden 'Mini Toys' petrol pump, very useful as an accessory in our toy garage booklet in progress.

Yesterday, after lock down no. ?, there was a Houten Namac Fair again. A happy meet, I had not seen some stall holders and fellow collectors for quite some time. Rather few of them came from other countries, and the number of attendees was modest anyway, because of the extremely dangerous, stormy weather these days. From the revenues of sold replacements it was easy to buy the virtually mint/boxed yellow Chrysler New Yorker, a companion to my red one.

Kind regards, Jan