Dinky Toys

Dinky is one of the most popular names in the toys collecting field, but with a vast array of types made in the firm’s 45-year history, where do you decide to start?

Dinky toys, antique dolls and a life-sized Dalek will be among the lots offered in Mitchells’ first ever ‘Vintage & Antique Toys’ auction at their Cockermouth saleroom later this month.

A vast collection of nearly 3500 diecast models fetched £120,000 at west country auctioneers Piers Motley. The lifetime collection of John Kinchen had been “well known in the Dinky world for decades”.

Pre-war delivery vans advertising commercial brand names have long acquired trophy status in the Dinky toy market.

More than 2000 objects from a Dorset toy museum will come under the hammer in November.

This Dinky pre-War delivery van advertising Maison De Bonneterie’s flagship department store in Amsterdam will appear at Vectis in Thornaby, near Stockton-on-Tees on October 17.

VECTIS have auctioned some exceptional Dinky collections over the past decade, but what made the David Ireland collection sale stand out was quality over quantity.

SOUTH Africa’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961 brought with it hefty import taxes on finished luxury goods: a difficult moment for Meccano, for whom the colonies were key markets.

THIS mysterious liveried Austin A40 Dinky van made for the Spanish company Omnisport sold for £6400 on the phone to a British collector at Wallis & Wallis in Lewes, East Sussex on June 8.

Pre-war delivery vans advertising commercial brand names have long been the kings of the Dinky collectors’ market. This was reinforced on March 10 when Vectis of Stockton-on-Tees sold the so-called 5th Avenue Collection, which included examples bearing well known and long-forgotten brands.

The continuing strength of the privately-fuelled market for unusual or quality toys in good condition saw Wallis & Wallis of Lewes boast healthy selling rates by volume in their specialist November and October toy sales.

THERE was plenty to tempt toy collectors in the provinces in late January and early February with over 1000 wide-ranging lots catering to all tastes and offered in three different sales.

A former chief executive of Vernon’s Pools hit the jackpot at Vectis (10 per cent buyer’s premium) on May 8-9, when the specialist toy auctioneers dispersed just over 2000 lots of his Dinky and Corgi vehicles at their Buckingham salerooms for a total of £350,000.

One of only a few thousand produced, a 1935 Dinky Coachcraft, streamlined van, led this specialist toy sale in Sussex at Wallis and Wallis on 18 March.

This bright red Dinky Holland Coachcraft streamlined van was one of only a few thousand, which in terms of Dinky’s prolific production rate is very few, to be made during their single year of production in 1935.

Two rather different toy sales went under the hammer early last month. October 4 saw Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) put some 465 lots predominantly devoted to dolls under the hammer while six days later Bonhams & Brooks (15/10% buyer’s premium) offered an even bigger, more general 630-lot mix of playthings ranging from Dinkys and lead figures to dolls, soft toys and tinplate.

Jean-Vital Remy was one of the most determined and assiduous Dinky toy collectors. Over a relatively short space of time – around 15 years from the mid-1980s – this Belgian enthusiast built up an enormous assemblage of French and English Dinkys spanning the entire production period. His desire for comprehensiveness and determination to acquire pieces with unusual colour or design variations made him a formidable adversary when it came to buying, whether at auctions or in shops or fairs.