2 Fine Toy Sellers on the Helmswell Antique Centres

Friday, April 11, 2025

Sunny but cold

4° C / 39° F

Two Fine Toy Sellers at the 

Hemswell Antique Centres

I've written a post once before about the Hemswell Antique Centres in 

London,Great Britain. The Group consists of four buildings inside, there are all kinds of stores selling antiques.

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the Hemswell Antique Centres

For today's post, I chose 2 merchants selling fine old toys.

Description:

Boxed Dinky Toys 158 Riley Saloon

1954-1956

Made in England by Meccano

Length x Width x Height

9.5 cm x 3.5 cm x 4 cm

3.75" x 1.38" x 1.58"

 

Description:

Length x Width x Height

25 cm x 11 cm x 6.6 cm

Mettoy Tinplate Limo with push and go working motor

Description:

Length x Width x Height

20.5 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm

8" x 3.9"  x 3.9"

Tinplate Open Tourer by Muller & Kadeder

A rare tinplate open tourer from the German manufacturer 

a company that was not known for its' Autos,it made many other cars.

This model dates from ©1912. Working wind-up motor

Description:

1930's Mettoy tin plate touring car, with working clockwork motor

and driver still in place.

L x W x H

35 cm x 14 cm x 13 cm

13.78" x 5.5

" x 5.1"

A Return to an Exellent ebay Seller

Monday, May 6, 2024

20° C / 68° F

Cloudy with Sunny Periods

A Return to an Excellent eBay Seller

Masters Vintage Toys, Inc.

(vintage-toymasters)

If you haven't been visiting my blog, I'm glad to tell you that I've been returning 

to everyone who have helped me since 2011, and am writing new posts about them. So,

for today, I'd like to introduce toy to Masters Vintage Toy, Inc.

It's not an "original introduction" as I just recently returned to write a post about this excellent company on March 11,  2024.I must have been tired 2 days ago, when I did a search and found Masters Vintage Toys, Inc.again. I had searched to see whom I have written about, and up popped this excellent company on ebay. I looked at their store, and I was  amazed at how many small-sized old toys they had listed for sale on their website.

When you go to their store this is their introduction:

"We sell a wide variety of vintage and antique toys including toys from the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's. We have one of the largest antique toy stores on eBay, so please be sure to check out our store to find that must have item that you have been missing from your collection. We are constantly purchasing new items from collections, estate sales, auctions, flea markets, etc. so be sure to check back often if you do not see the item you are looking for."

They have a large inventory with a broad range of prices 

depending on the rarity of the particular item, the condition, 

and if it comes with the original box.

On this visit, they had a large assortment of Dinky toys.

What I like about  Masters Vintage Toys,  Inc. is that they present a lot

of excellent photos for you, the buyer to look at the item for sale. 

Their photos are separate.

What I did is to assemble from 4-6 images together in 1 composite photo.

Descriptions below:

Dinky Junior Renault Dauphine

Below:

1940's Dinky # 25d Petrol Tank Truck,

Petrol White Letters, Original

Below:

DinkyNo. 103 Austin Healy 100 Sports Car

With Original Box, Nice

Below:

1930's Dinky #25B Covered Wagon Truck, Original

So that's it for today.

Thanks for dropping by, and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you might be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman,

and I an always be reached at:

toysearher@gmail.com

More Nice Dinky Toys

Tuesday, December6, 2016
Cloudy with sun
-3 Celsius  26 Fahrenheit

More Nice Dinky Toys

Please click here to visit this fine ebay merchant

Dinky Toys, which were first known as Modelled Miniatures were first introduced by Meccan (British) at Christmas of 1933, and ended when the factory closed in 1979. During the 46 years that these toys were made, millions and millions were made for the enjoyment of children, and later on for the enjoyment of collectors. The idea for these small die-cast toys were from the inspiration of the Tootsietoy Toys that were already being made in the USA.

Within a short period of years, these toys were the most popular in the world, and the name "Dinky Toys" entered the lexicon of the English language being defined as any small toy vehicle - car or truck alike. There were hundreds upon hundreds of different car and truck models made during the timespan of the company. There were even airplanes and farm machinery toys.*

* Citation:  Dinky Toys and Modelled Miniatures By Mike and Sue Richardson

New Cavendish Books, 

London, England, 1986

(revised edition)

I've taken a cross-section of 10 Dinky Toys from Vintage-Toymasters on ebay,  and there is no direct correlation between the age of the Dinky Toy and its' value as a collectible. In other words, the oldest toys are not necessarily the rarest or the most-costly, were you to but them on the open  marketplace. In all cases, these toys have appreciated in value over the years, and their prices to purchase are relatively high compared to their original costs.  As usual, having the original boix that the toy came with, appreciates the value of the toy.

Most of the toys are between 3"- 4" (76 mm-101 mm) approximately.

If you carefully look at the above toy, you'll notice some hairline cracks at the front hood area. Early die-cast molds had some problems due to the nature of the metallic composition of the toys. 

In later years, the  metallic composition of the different metals was improved, 

so that the cracks were no longer a problem. Nevertheless, the toys do sell for their

 asking price due to their value as collectible toys.

French Dinky Toys

Monday, December 5, 2016
overcast with snow
-1 C  30 F

French Dinky Toys

Please click here to visit this fine British merchant

Dinky Toys appeared on the market in December 1933, but were called "Modelled Miniatures" until APril of 1934. THe production of Dinky Toys was begun at the same time in Liverpool, Britain, and in France at Bobigny. Both locations produced cars, trucks,buses,military vehicles, aircraft and ships. WHen WWII started, production stopped for the duration of the war, and reappeared in 1945,but there were no new models . New models started in 1946.*

Citation: www.dinkytoys.ch/history.htm

THe boxes are easily distinguished because the writing was in French.

French Dinky 24-Y Studebaker Commander

Circa: 1955-1957

Length 4 3/8"  110 mm

French Dinky 548 Fiat Familiale Estate Car

Circa: 1960-1963

Length:  4 3/4"120 mm

562 Citroen 2CV Van 'Wegenwacht'

Circa: 1965-1968

Length:  5 1/4"  130 mm

33-C Simca Glazier's Truck

Circa: 1955-1961

Length:  5 1/16" 128 mm

888 Richier Motor Grader

Circa: 1960-1965

Length: 7" 178 mm

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Have a great time of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

More Nice Dinky Toys from ebay seller Fredtoys2727

Friday, December 2, 2016
Overcast
4 C  37 F

More Nice Dinky Toys from

ebay seller Fredtoys2727

Please click here to visit this fine ebay merchant

I had written the first post about Frédéric Chemin on  October 9, 2016. His excellent photography had caught my attention, and at the time, I was introducing Dinky Toys. I like these small toys because they remind me of Tootsietoys. In that respect, I've included 1 Tootsietoy for comparison to the other Dinky Toys.

Frédéric likes to buy  toys that are in very good condition.  If you visit his ebay store, you will see that most of his cars are in that condition.

Below is a Tootsietoy. Both the Dinky Toys and the Tootsietoys were die-cast from a mould. 

Tootsietoys are larger than the Dinky Toys, and  except for the sets of Tootsietoys, you never see individual toys in boxes. In the  1930's both companies also made cars specific to their respective countries Dinky Toys were British and European,while Tootsietoys were American.

Dinky Toys also sometimes suffered from the nature of the metal casting. On some toys, you will notice small cracks, and in some toys much more visible cracks, and small pieces of the casting that have come off. In the Tootsietoys, occasionally, you'll see the cracking, but not as frequent as Dinky toys.

In that respect, Frederic has truly selected his toys very carefully.

So that's another post.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

The Very Rare Dinky Toys

Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Partly Sunny with Clouds
9 Celsius / 48 Fahrenheit

Some Rare Dinky Toys 

Please click here to visit this fine store on ebay

I've been searching for Dinky toys lately, and came across the ebay store of Mr. Ali Modiri.

He's been selling many Dinky Toys  on  ebay but I didn't  pay attention to his asking prices. 

On the last set of downloads from  ebay I saw the price of one of this toys and was amazed. 

I then decided to check all of the prices and was even  further amazed. The toys on this pay are selling in the hundreds of dollars, while the immediate one below is an exceptionally rare Dinky Toy. The asking price is  $ 3750.00 USD or a best price. 

I do remember when I started to write this blog, that I met an avid collector of Dinky Toys. At the time, he had a garage full these wonderful toys, and in fact several of them were in the hundred's of dollars. I hadn't realized that Dinky Toys could yield such prices.  The person who had that collection was a very knowledgeable collector who had collected for many, many years.

Collectibles are items that people collect, and if there is a demand for them, someone is going to pay the asking price. Even now, Mattel's Hot Wheels are yielding high prices, especially when the original packaging is intact and in excellent condition.

I especially like how Ali takes lots of excellent photos for each of his  ebay listings.

Not only that but the image sizes are great to work with, when I whiten up the foundation and background.

You can clearly see that not all of the Dinky Toys presented today are very old. What's interesting is that some of the later year models in fact are extremely rare and the asking prices are quite high.

The early year models are 2-digit number, while later models are 3-digit.  I don't have any information as to the year of production or circulation of these toys.

So the next time you're at a garage sale, take the time to search for toys. 

You never know what will turn up. And get there early, because the people who do buy and sell

toys do know what they're looking for!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Still More Dinky Toys

Monday, November 7, 2016
Sunny and Clear Skies
9 Celsius / 48 Fahrenheit

Still More Dinky Toys

Please click here to visit the Special Auction Services Website

Please click here to visit the specific auction on the-saleroom website

I already posted about the Special Auction Services' auction on Dinky toys, and for today, decided to add many more photos and descriptions from this auction. The auction was for the Dave Robinson Collection, who is (was) a collector of assorted brands of small model toys. When you go to the specific  link immediately above (the-saleroom), you will see many other brands of toys that we don't see here in North America. The collection was auctioned off in 2015. I decided to select only the earlier diecast models from the auction.

It's interesting how the Dinky Toys resemble Tootsietoys and vice versa.  Of course, in the 1930's and 1940's there were cars that were popular in Great Britain and the USA at the time. Naturally then, the toy companies would reproduce model die cast toys based on the popularity of the "real" trucks and automobiles of the time.

I thought I'd add a "twist" to this post. The surprise is the immediate 4 photos below, 

which are Tootsietoys from the 1930's, which are my favourite small model toys. 

Of course, I think I like Dinky Toys enough to make them my second favourite small toy models!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com