A Fine Collection of Matchbox Toys Comes to The Lloyd Ralston Gallery

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Overcast with Rain

3 ° C / 38° F

A Fine Collection of Matchbox Toys

Comes to The Lloyd Ralston Gallery

One of the ways in which I select my next blog is to see when the last time was, 

when I wrote a blog post for the person or company. As it turns out, the last time I wrote about the Lloyd Ralston Gallery was on August 3 of this year. 

Wow, how time flies. This post is close in time to August 3, nevertheless, to see so many Matchbox toys at one time, most certainly merits a post!

This auction is set for December 14, 2024. There are lots and lots of 

Matchbox toys, and it appears that they came from a collection. There are plenty of toys in the collection, and it's quite interesting to see so many 

Matchbox toys at one time.

Matchbox was a name of the Lesney Products company from Britain. It started in 1953, and was purchased by Mattel (USA) in 1997. The name of the company (Matchbox) was created from the size of the toys, which were small. As such, they might fit into an actual matchbox  containing matches

for lighting cigarette or cigars.

Please click on this sentence to redirect to a more detailed  biography of the MatchBox Company

Description (Above)

" Contains orange Prime Mover w/green engine covers. 4 3/4" (12.06 cm),

blue Trailer with 2 removable ramps 8" (20.32 cm), yellow & red bulldozer

w/ green movable treads, 4 1/2" (11.43 cm)."

Circa 1958

Description (Above)

" Contains 47A2 Brooke Bond Tea, 5B2 Double Decker Bus, 40A3

Bedfoird Tipper, 35A2 Marshall Horse Box, 25A2 Dunlop Van, 

60A3 Morris Pick Up, 11B3 Road Tanker, 21B2 Long Distance Coach, 

original box worn & taped, w/insert, ca (circa) 1959, C8-9."

Description (Above)

Matchbox Moko 27C1 Cadillac 

with original box

Circa 1960

This particular toy came in several different colours, 

and  have a high-price value, depending on the condition,

 and the colours.

So that's it for today. 

Have a look at the collection. It's quite interesting,.

and AI'msure you'll find something that gets your attention.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

and I can alwaysbe reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

Thanks for dropping by, and have a great part 

of the day or night, wherever you may be.

Lesney Toys

Monday, May 15, 2020
Sunny and Clear Skies
19 C  66 F

Please click here to visit this fine website

Lesney was founded on 19 January 1947 as an industrial die-casting company by Leslie Smith  and Rodney Smith , who are not related. The company existed from  1947-1982. The name of the company came from the first 3 letters of Lesney, and the last 3 letters of Rodney. Rodney left the company in 1951. Because of a poor economy in Britain in the early 1980's the company was forced to close down. The first models were based on the Dinkey design, and the sizes of the toys were sm all- hence the name "Matchbox".*

*Abridged history version  from Wikipedia

I just checked on ebay, and there is a lot of people there selling lots of the Lesney toys, and the prices are quite high. I'm sure in Great Britain, where the company was founded, has a very big demand for these small toys.

Down Under (Australia) there is also. a demand. I visited AntiqueToyWorld, whom I wrote about a while ago,and they are also selling these Matchbox toys. Of course, if the original box is included, the value of the toy rises.

Matchbox Lesney 19a MG TD Coupe

Matchbox Lesney 

55A DUKW Amphibian

Dinky Toys 237 Mercedes Benz

Racing Car

I included the above Dinky Toy as a reference 

to the relative size of the Matchbox toys

Matchbox Lesney

19c Aston Martin Racing Car

Matchbox Lesney Moka Conestoga

Covered Wagon Red Barrels

Thanks for Dropping by,
And have a great day or evening. 

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com

More Lesney Matchbox Toys

Friday, December 8, 2016
Sun with Cloud
-4 Celsius  21 Fahrenheit

More Lesney Toymasters

Please click here to visit this fine ebay merchant

Matchbox is a very small type of toy that literally fits into a matchbox, hence the toys are called Lesney Matchboxes.  The original company was started by 3 people, Leslie Charles Smith and Rodney Smith and Jack Odell (who subsequently left) started the company in 1953.The company name was devised from the partial first names of the two Smiths. Their first  best seller was the toy  model coach of Queen Elizabeth II, who made her coronation travels in  the original coach . This sold more than a million toys.

The impetus for the size of the toy was based on Jack Odell's daughter. Children in her school were only allowed to play with toys that would fit into a matchbox. Mr. Odell had one of those "Eureka moments", and got the idea to manufacture toys that would fit the size of a matchbox. The first toys were the Elizabethan coach, a dump truck, and a cement mixer. Subsequent toys were mostly  modelled after British Cars, with future models being American, and even included farm machinery, and busses.

By the end of the 1960's, major competitors, such as Mattel USA) started to compete with Lesney. Mattel's small toys were called "Hotwheels" and were quite popular. They weren't as realistic to scale or design to those of Lesney, but children all over the world wanted them. Eventually Lesney went into bankruptcy, were bought up by an other company, which also went bankrupt, and Mattel in 1997 came to own the Lesney brand of Matchbox.

Like all collectibles, the Matchbox toys are in strong demand, and sell for a fair amount of money on ebay and other toy-selling websites. Some of the Matchbox toys can demand up to $ 5000.00 USD or more!

*Please click here to read the whole story about Matchbox from Wikipedia

Moko Lesney Matchbox Toys

Monday, November 28, 2016
Overcast with snow 
1 Celsius 34 Fahrenheit

Moko Lesney Matchbox Toys

Please click here to visit this fine ebay seller

Gotham City Toys is a successful ebay seller.

In his own words:

" I love collectible nostalgia.One of a kind,hard to find, and unusual items are the best. History is fascinating and period pieces are like a window into the past. Don't you love to hold an item that was here 50-150 years ago?"

Matchbox is a popular toy brand which was  introduced by Lesney Products in 1953,and is now owned by Mattel, Inc. The brand was named as the original die-catch Matchbox toys, which were sold in boxes similar in style and size to those in which matchboxes were sold. Subsequently, the brand would encompass a broad range of toys including larger scale die-cast models and various non die-cast lines such as plastic model kits and action figures"*

* Citation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchbox_(brand)

1959 Lesney Moko Matchbox # 20

"Ever Ready" Truck

1958 Moko Lesney Matchbox # 43

Gray Wheels Hillman Minx

1958 Matchbox # 50

Gray wheels commercial pick-up truck

Mark VIII

 1959 Moko Lesney Matchbox

Regular wheels - Ford 3 Ton Service Ambulance

 1959 Moko Lesney Matchbox # 68

Regular wheels Austin MK2 Radio Truck

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com