That's a lot.

 How do you put a price on something you might only come across once in a Blue Moon or, as is more likely at my age, once in a lifetime?

There was some discussion on a Facebook page for Corgi collectors recently which caught my attention but the outrage expressed by some individuals was what has made me write today. There was an original leaflet which would have been issued with the Corgi Toys Gift Set 15 with a price if £750

The tube of glue would set you back just under £600.

This is the Silverstone Gift Set which had a number of buildings to construct, several packs of figures, a layout mat and several models and which would make a fabulous display. This and a similar Garage Gift Set 25 are probably the most sought after items in the whole range and only very rarely do they appear for sale and even then it is likely to be a complete set in a box which has been preserved like that since day one.

Any collector trying to recreate the set with individual components will be setting out on a quest that may take years as these items, the mats and one or two others from the Garage gift set just never seem to appear. I think I have seen some glue before but never an instruction leaflet and that will be in about 10 years of looking.

So just how do you value something like this? It has to be simply what someone will pay you for it. I suppose we could put a top value on an item as a bit less than the price of a complete boxed set. They go for around £7500 when they do appear, possibly more as they're almost always at auctions where I forget that buyers will have to fork out up to another 30% or so. That could take a set to almost £10000.

So that's one way to get one of these items and then sell the rest of the set. If you think that someone will buy your set for £9250 then the leaflet's cost you £750 but if you think it may only now sell for £7500 then it's cost you nearly £2500.

There are many collectors now who really don't worry about money terribly much. They are at an age where they don't need to work and may have a good pension or two and comparatively small outlay having paid off mortgages long ago. They may have inherited a house or two from parents, uncles or aunts for good measure. Or they may just be rich from successful business, careers or fortunate investment. For these people, whether they pay £250 or £2500 may well have very little difference in the impact on their finances. Yes, they can make life a bit difficult for those of us who have a modest income and plenty of commitments still, and we might manage £250 if we save for a month or two but couldn't envisage spending £750, never mind £2500 - but that is life and I do not begrudge anyone their wealth nor do I feel any need to complain about the prices some people demand for genuine Corgi material.

I may chuckle at some, smile at others or even briefly be shocked at the many brazen attempts to extract a ridiculous sum for a Corgi Toy, but I mostly just take the view that it makes my prices look quite reasonable in comparison! (Although I admit that I do have several items which I simply don't really want to part with and so they may carry rather heavy price tags too!)

These folk who are getting hot under the collar and risking bursting blood vessels over the Gift Set 15 item prices would be far better advised to direct their wrath and abuse towards the annoying people who deliberately try to deceive and cheat by creating special issues which never actually existed or repairing damaged items and claiming they're original. In the former category I put things like red spot Whizzwheels on models which never had them fitted, the 'Jensen's' minis and leaflets or special boxes for 'special issue models' which are pure invention. 

One target could be a chap who lived, maybe still lives, in Cottingham in the north of England who has made vast sums flogging stuff he has created and now uses a small auction house in South Yorkshire. For a while many apparently unique or very scarce items would appear regularly but only in this small area and all the big auction houses like Vectis and QDT fell for his products. They found their way into many prestigious collections where, of course, new owners would feel convinced they were genuine and many were thus innocently sold on to others and still appear now from time to time when we sadly have to advise sellers to knock a few zeroes off their prices.

Talking of zeroes, this is, at the time of writing, the most expensive Corgi item on Ebay UK:

Now, anyone want a Lotus Esprit #269 in a red box for a mere £16000? It looks like the same dealer as has the Gift set instruction leaflet and glue (not the chap from Cottingham) has acquired the rights to sell a big collection as they have virtually taken over the top fifty listings for the most expensive Corgis on Ebay. Hmmm. . . I think I'll let that one go.

Varieties of the Series I Land Rover 109" WB

It's all about the handles. The handles at the back of the Land Rover which appear on early models but disappear at some point. Initially I thought that they went when the shaped wheels started to be fitted but now that I have found smooth wheel editions without handles, it must have been afterwards.

Here I can show you examples of each type: smooth wheels with handles, smooth wheels without handles and shaped wheels without handles. So far I have not found any shaped wheels with handles but you never can be sure about these things. (All I need say is look at some much earlier articles on the RAC 416 model when one attempts to use logic to figure out when something might have changed!)

Those are the varieties for the yellow / black and blue / cream editions. Technically, there was never a green '406' as it was only issued in Gift Set 2 with a canopy and a pony trailer but I thought I should include it and this follows the same theme of three types.

I had to steal and image from QDT for the smooth wheels without handles edition. I need to find one of these for my own collection. Clearly it is something that I have missed and I may well have sold several without appreciating that I needed one for myself!

The same three varieties can be found for the RAF 351 edition too.

For the RAC416 model I have found five varieties:

smooth wheels, headboard, handles

smooth wheels, headboard no handles

smooth wheels, no headboard, no handles

shaped wheels, headboard, no handles

shaped wheels, no headboard, no handles

The mystery is, of course, whether there are any shaped wheel Series I Land Rovers with handles. So far, none have appeared across the range so it does look as though there aren't going to be any but, as I said before, you never know . . . unless, that is, someone out there can identify the introduction of shaped wheels as being significantly later than the change of casting to delete the handles. My guess is that will have been the case so I shall not spend hours searching for what may never be found but I shall still take a second look at these models as and when they appear!

Here is the 416 Tours Secours model. Both my example and my friend Andi's have handles but the one illustrated by QDT doesn't so even this scarce item has at least two varieties.. It is so scarce, though, that finding out whether there are more varieties is going to be difficult! (I had earlier thought find one with handles would be difficult but first Andi wrote to me to remind me about the one he has in Eilum, Germany, and when I checked my own records I see that mine also had them!!)

And here is a real Land Rover (albeit a slightly shorter wheelbase) and you can see what I call handles. Now I think about it, maybe they're better described as 'steps' but I will go back and change everything later! Hope you will bear with me on that.

The Farming Models Gift Set 22

 

One day I will try to gather all the items for the lovely Gift Set 22 Farming Models. The very first set was issued in September 1962, before the deep green 438 Land Rover was available individually. In those early sets was what I call a 'farm green' Series II Land Rover which would have been a 406S had it been issued in a box on its own. These are hard to find now and most that I have encountered appear to have had a pretty hard life on the farm too!

The Land Rover tows another item unique to this set - an all yellow 101 flat bed trailer. The first ones would have had fixed shaped wheels which will be about as scarce as the farm green Land Rover. Later they had free-spinning wheels fitted but I don't know whether this would have been before the deep green 438 started to be used or after. One would guess that, as the deep green 438 appears on the shelves in December 1962 it would also have been put in the Gift Sets once stock of the farm green edition had been used up.

Only 31000 of these sets were produced, according to the records, which isn't very many. By comparison the 351S RAF Land Rover is supposed to have had 25000 produced and you know how hard is to find those now!

The other components in the Gift Set 22 were initially:

• 1111 Combine Harvester
• 53 Massey Ferguson Tractor with shovel attachment
• 51 Massey Ferguson Trailer
• 55 Fordson Power Major Tractor
• 56 Four Furrow Plough
• 1487 Milk Churns
• 1490 Skip & 3 larger Churns to fit on the rear of the Massey Ferguson
• 3 Drivers, each different, for the tractors and Combine Harvester.

Despite its low sales, the set remained available until 1965 and, along the way, changes were made to what was in the box. 

• The normal 438 replaced the farm green 406S
• The 60 Fordson Power Major replaced the 55 version
• The 61 Plough replaced the 56 version
• The 57 Massey Ferguson Tractor with a Fork attachment may have replaced the 53 with a Shovel attachment but I'm not sure. I have only seen sets with the later item but it was not available when the set was first made available.
• The 62 Tipping trailer replaces the 51 Trailer but that will only be late in production as the trailer only gets issued in February 1965 and none of the sets I have seen illustrated seem to have the raves.

So most of the other components are fairly easy to find. It could be a bit of a struggle to find the different driver for the Combine Harvester but the other two gents will be with the later issues of the Massey Ferguson tractors in sets or in the box for the Fordson. You don't see many of the big milk churns or the skip but as a 1490 set they should appear from time to time and the 1487 block is common.

Now there's something that the Corgi Model Club could help us out with!! We haven't had anything agricultural from them yet.

I haven't looked to see whether anyone does a reproduction box but I am sure one will be available, if not both. That does mean you need to be careful, though, and make sure you get the right items for whatever box you find! (I will update later with more about this).

Lastly, you'll see that I have found a way to add some nice backgrounds to images! This is AI at work and most impressive it is too. One of my first efforts is below with the lovely 273 Rolls Royce with Golden Jacks. I have just packed up my silver over metallic blue edition which, interestingly went to an Andrew Windsor! So I had to use the slightly more common cream over muddy blue but it still looks good.

Farewell to the Classics

The word Classics has been used on several occasions in Corgi history but the 'Classics' I refer to here is the series of early 20th Century jalopies which started with the Model T Ford in January 1964. There were only nine models:

January 1964 9011 Model T Ford in black open with two figures

January 1964 9012 Model T Ford in yellow open with two figures

February 1964 900/9001 Bentley 3 litre 1927 Le mans in green with RN3 decals, hood and driver

February 1964  900/9002 Bentley 3 litre 1927 Le Mans in red with hood and driver

July 1964 9021 1910 Daimler 38HP in red open with four figures

November 1964 9013 Model T Ford in blue with hood and figure

April 1965 9032 1910 Renault 12/16 in primrose

April 1965 9031 1910 Renault 12/16 in lavender

May 1966 9041 1912 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

A Daimler with a hood was featured as 9022 'Available later' in the 1966 and 1967 Corgi catalogues as well as 9014, a Model T Ford Lyons Tea van but neither reached the store shelves. I had a factory sample of the Daimler and you'll find articles about that in the archives.

The Rolls Royce was adapted in a pretty terrible way for The Hardy Boys, an American band I'd never heard of, and that did make the stores as #805. The Bentley also had a revival in January 1966 in The Avengers Gift Set 40 with a folded hood and Steed at the wheel in red with gold or steel wheels or another shade of green with red wheels and then a further extension with Jeeves at the wheel of another shade of green Bentley with folded roof, reddish interior and Bertie Wooster standing beside it in #9004. There was a dreadful version of the Renault for Basil Brush too as #808 which I have just been reminded about although I would have preferred to forget that one!

I have never been a fan of these models. I do respect the excellent production quality and detail but they didn't interest me at the time and still don't move me. I have to see quite a few Bentleys as I am a big fan of The Avengers TV series and deal with many Gift Sets but that's it. The others I purchased when I started the catalogue so that I could document them and look for variations and I have acquired several since when they have arrived with something else. I seem to have acquired half a dozen Rolls Royces but don't recall paying for any!

I have spotted a few variations, like the radiator and lights on the Model T Ford appear in bright shiny chrome, a dullish brass colour and a very bland grey metal finish. The Daimler appears occasionally with bare metal side lights and horn which should be chromed. There are gold or silver or both colour wheels on the Rolls Royce, and one model I have has a black exhaust whereas the others are grey. There is a primrose, rather than bright yellow, edition of the Model T Ford that I have but I have a feeling that was a factory sample and not an issued model. A Daimler, which I think is a factory sample has rubber tyres, much more pliable than all the others which appear to be plastic (and not just hardened rubber).

That's all I've noticed, though, and now I've decided that they simply have to go. Prices are really quite low so to get rid of them I am going to have to quote very small prices. Those that are in nice condition with the correct figures (but no boxes) will be just £12.50 and the others where the figures are missing just £9 or less for any not in close to mint condition. There are a couple of factory samples - the primrose Ford I mentioned and a Daimler with soft rubber (not hard plastic) tyres, both missing windscreens - which will be a bit more.

Before I put them on sale elsewhere I thought I'd give anyone reading this a chance to have some as they're nearly all in excellent condition and the prices are definitely reasonable. These prices are in my own web store rather than Ebay where they'll be a bit more to cover the fees.

Rover 2000 variations

Well, I seem to learn something every day! I have just noticed, after more years of collecting Corgi Toys than many people have been alive, that there are two types of window in the Rover 2000. So far, I have only seen the two varieties on the steel blue 252 model but I expect we'll discover it on the maroon edition and, perhaps, the Monte Carlo 322 model. I shall now have to check all my models and hope the photos I have taken of others over the years are good enough to show me the difference.

The difference is in the window unit which has a line included to indicate where there would have been separate panes in the real model. The Austin A40 had this to indicate what was then described as a quarter light at the front. I remember that there are two types of 230 Mercedes 220SE Coupé too but this is the first time I've noticed it on the Rover 2000.

Then I looked at the two Rovers more closely and discovered two badge styles and slightly different front grilles too!

The top is the 252 model without window unit lines and has a different shape of badge to the second model as well as slight difference in how the grille lines have been dealt with. I also took a look at a 322 model and find another variation here with a much less well-defined badge. (you can also see a surprisingly poor alignment of the additional jewelled lights! I remember being very annoyed with myself when I made a similar error when drilling holes in a 252 to make a reproduction 322 International Rally model but maybe I should not have worried as this happens on the genuine models after all!)

So, as well as window lines we also now need to look at the badges! I had not expected to need two steel blue 252s in my catalogue. I was prepared for a colour difference as some do seem to be blue-silver and others more silver-blue but so far I have been unable to have two different shades side by side so I may be imagining that.

So far, all my 322 models and the maroon 252s with cast wheels have had the lines in the window units. I have not checked the badges but will update this another day on that topic.

Corgi Model Club: Austin A60 Corgi Motor School

 

The Corgi Model Club's release for April 2024 is something even us oldies will not be able to resist playing with! It's the Austin A60 De Luxe Saloon as the Corgi Driving School car complete with the enormous red thing on top which is not really like anything I remember seeing on driving school cars in those days but it does serve the purpose of allowing us the steer the car around our layout roads.

It was nearly 60 years ago, in June 1964,  when the original was released and it was very popular. We had had steering on the Bentley and Mercedes-Benz 220SE, far superior to anything that Dinky could offer, but this was one further step forward.

The re-issue is excellent and nothing strikes me as incorrect other than the prefect painting by Chinese children. The pleasantly pale blue colour is spot on and every aspect looks great. It even has the poor suspension at the front and very low ground clearance which, with the small wheels, made use on anything other than a smooth surface hard work.

The L plates are transfers not stickers and are exceedingly cleaner than any I have ever encountered! The letter L also looks slightly taller than it should be, or perhaps it is positioned closer to the edge and Corgi logo than on an original. I do not have an original to hand but it doesn't look quite right to me. These are minor points and do not detract from the overall excellence of this issue.

When I decided to spend a little money rebuilding my own collection in 2012 I knew nothing about Ebay and the only place I thought I might be able to buy models was the NEC, where model toy events were held from time time. I visited one with a friend and this Austin A60 was one of the first two models I bought. An original in very good condition but no box cost me £25. The other model, incidentally, was a Bentley Continental in black over silver, excellent and with a decent box but I paid a crazy £225 for that! But that's another story. I eventually discovered more reasonable prices.

In the box with this model you will find two chunks of plastic foam to protect the bonnet and boot and the car itself is wrapped in a larger piece of thin soft paper. There is a single-sided sheet with instructions how to steer the model and another with red highlighting, entitled the Corgi Junior Highway Code, with some examples of how to do something, just like was illustrated in the real Highway Code in 1964. There is even a guide to indicate the width of a typical road in the same scale as the model so you could make your driving tests more realistic for activities like three-point-turns and reversing around a corner.

I honestly don't remember seeing these documents when I had mine at the age of 11. I did manage to hang on to most of the boxes in those days but seldom the documents included. 

How long, I wonder, will it be before we see a 255 edition in Left Hand Drive and a darker shade of blue? As I recall, the L boards are in the same position so it is merely a different interior and finish that is required. Of course L may not mean a great deal in other countries other than America and the British Commonwealth but it still sold pretty well abroad from the figures I have read. About 1 million were made of both types and a third were LHD. Despite that number, they're quite hard to find now in the UK in decent condition although I suppose if you have a friend in Europe they'll be able to help.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Simca 1100 Coupé and a Milk Float

 

April 1964 sees a Simca 1100 Coupé arrive on the shelves at your local toy shop.

It probably won't have been the blue on in the box, however, unless you were incredibly lucky, as the vast majority of this issue were in a liquid silver type of finish.

It was a very simple model and one of a couple that had been intended to start a 'low price' range - models that would be attractive but much cheaper to produce and so could be sold for lower prices. The other model was the NSU Sport Prinz. I would imagine that the silver finish would have been more expensive though so maybe the blue ones were for that initial cheaper release idea. Suffice it to say that the blue ones are very scarce and sell for several hundred pounds whenever they do appear.

All models had a RN8 stripe decal on the bonnet, extending over the roof and onto the boot. They had an interior and suspension, shaped wheels and that's it!

The other release this month 60 years ago was 466, the Commer Milk Float. You will, of course, recognise this from the Gift Set 24 Commer Construction Set but this has its base attached and cannot be removed, with a different design so the two should not be confused.

No milkman was in the box with this one and the colours were always pale blue and white, with a red interior and suspension. The wheels were aways shaped on this edition. Much later, in 1971, there will be a Co-Op promotion through which you might have been able to send some vouchers and get one of these models with Co-Op stickers on the doors and all those models had cast wheels and were supplied in a blank brown box. It is a different model, albeit just a way of using up old castings, I guess. There was also a Co-Op van and Scammell Truck in the same promotion, but more about that in a few years' time. For now I just wanted to make it clear that the April 1964 edition did not get cast wheels and, whilst it really does look like a Co-Op edition, it isn't.