Thursday, April 11, 2024
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Dinky Toys
Dr. Edward Force
Revised 7th edition
(A Schiffer Book for Collectors)
Book Size:
Width x Height x Thickness
9" x 5 7/8" x 1/"2
22.8 cm x 14.7 cm x 1.8 cm
This is the second book from Schiffer Publishing Ltd that I have the pleasure of writing about. Like all people who collect different collectibles, the world of toy collecting has a large group that collects toys. Dinky toys was very popular from its' beginning, and continues to be so. If you've been following my blog over the last 13 years, you'll understand.
Dr. Edward Force was a renowned author of books about toys. As well, he was a collector who had amassed a very big collection over time. This is his second
book that I am presenting on my blog.
The world is at a loss for this well-respected Doctor (PhD), toy collector, and fine author of books.
Introduction ( From the Internet)
The history of Dinky Toys started with Meccano. Meccano Ltd was a toy company famous for making construction kits from metal parts that were assembled with nuts and bolts. It was started in 1898 by Mr. Frank Hornby. In 1934, Meccano introduced Dinky Toys which replaced a production line titled
Hornby Modelled Miniatures (Source: Brightontoymuseum.co.uk)
The new toys that were introduced by Dinky Toys were different kinds of vehicles
in a scale of 1:43. That meant that each unit of 1 is 3.5 inches or 90 mm. They were made of die-cast zamak (a zinc-aluminum alloy) . However, I did find 1 reference that stated that the allow was mazac, a composite alloy of magnesium, zinc, and copper. The toys were originally manufactured in England from 1934-1979.
The factory in Binns Road in Liverpool England closed in 1979.
This book , like the other Schiffer book that I previously wrote about,
is an excellent reference book for collectors. Of course, anyone who collects some times such as Dinky Toys will enjoy this book as well. There are lots of superbly-done photographs. The reason that I mention that the book is for collectors, is because there is an extensive and detailed section of the book. This section, contains an encyclopaedic compilation of details of referring to Dinky Toys beginning in 1934 and continuing into the 1980's.
Dr. Force's Book is the 7th edition
There are 2 sub-sections in the book that identify
2 different systems for cataloging the vast collection:
"The Old System of Catalog Numbers"
pp 142 - 164
&
"The New System of Catalog Numbers"
pp 199
There is some information on Dinky Toy Action Kits, Hong Kong Dinky Toys,
and models inspired by Dinky Toys.
At the end of the book, there is a price guide
pp 204 - 224
Below is a typical excellent photo of a group of toy.
The written part refers to the catalog numbers.
The page below is the same as the page above.
What I did was add some arrows that refers to catalog numbers
in "The Old System of Catalog Numbers"
"This system developed in the 1930's and remained
in use until 1954 in Britain and 1959 in France".
The page below is the same as the page above.However,
"The newer Dinky Toys catalog numbering system was
introduced in 1954 in Britain, though it had its' origins earlier.
As I mentioned before, this book is for collectors, although anyone
can buy the book. The extensive detailed information, helps collectors, by providing lots of information relating to different colours, and of course, the different years that models were made.
If you ever collected stamps, you'll easily know what I mean.
Moreover, different colours in stamps made at different times (years), can
produce rarities. As such the values increase based on that rarity.
It's probably no different with Dinky Toys.
The world of Dinky Toys is still is around through people who love to collect
things. I never had Dinky toys though. If I had, I would have played with them in the parks and sidewalks, I doubt they would fetch a good price today though.
While I was writing this post, and doing a bit of research, I came across
an article about a recent Dinky Toy auction sale.
