The Corgi Model Club: Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be

 Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be was a musical from 1960 set in the 1950s and when Corgi Toys first appeared in your local toy store. It was also a popular expression bewailing change and telling whoever was listening that things weren't as good as the person remembered them as being. Now I'm sure they weren't talking about Corgi Toys but it is something that I have been wondering about for a while now.

The nice, shiny re-issues from the Corgi Model Club have been models I have largely welcomed with great enthusiasm. Indeed, many years before they started I had written about how nice it would be if someone were to re-make Corgi Toys and do so sticking as close to the originals as possible. I really liked the idea and, whilst a Musical Ice Cream Van had never appealed to me at all, I signed up as soon as I heard about the new venture in 2019. Soon more interesting models started to appear and I eagerly awaited each month's issue.

Now I am less enthusiastic. Something's changed but it is not easy to define.

We are now getting the Batmobile re-issue, and a matt black version at that for us members. I have to say that there really is a lot of enthusiasm for this one, which people have been asking the Club to do practically since they started. I'll be happy to take it as it will be quite a good investment, only members getting the matt black version. I'm not sure how many members there are now but even 10,000 or so will make this substantially less common than the original and so desirable. 

For different reasons, the paint finish not being very satisfactory, members receiving the first issue of the James Bond #261 Aston Martin who didn't take the offer of returning it for a free shiny replacement, have a model worth around £150 now and I would anticipate that we'll see similar prices for the member-issue Batmobile too soon.

Apart from these exceptions, though, I am beginning to wonder why we are all buying these re-issues. I know I just joined up without a second thought and was fascinated to get the first re-issues and examine the differences, photograph them and write articles about them. It was nice to have an immaculate model on my desk. For a while. But then it went back in the box never to be seen again. It's in a cabinet with what is now 46 others and I am not sure that I'd get my money back if I were to sell them. In fact I am not sure any would sell very quickly unless I offered them exceptionally cheaply so I am starting to wonder whether I really do need to spend £40 on a re-issue of an amber Oldsmobile Toronado when, I do have one, two actually, of the original 1968 Corgi models and they're both in pretty good condition. They're missing a box but good reproductions are cheap and good. The thing is - I can get an original for quite a reasonable price. You can have one of mine for £60 today if you like and I reckon that's a far better thing to have on your desk than the one with plastic lights, perfect chrome, flawless paintwork and Made in China on the base that also comes in a rather too shiny box.

And this is what is beginning to trouble me. You could get all the models being re-issued by the Corgi Model Club as originals! Some might cost a little more but you will then have a charming example of a model you may have once played with, or that one you always wanted but parents never bought for you and it will be a rather better investment than the modern re-issue. Yes, it will be more difficult to find some of the models and the Ice Cream Van is likely to cost you quite a lot more but a small sacrifice of condition and box and it could become viable and the fun can be continuing to look for a better one to appear one day.

With the Corgi Model Club issues, once you have one, that's it. It couldn't get better. It is already in 'shop fresh condition', assuming the delivery people behaved themselves (and I suppose even Chinese children workers have the occasional 'Friday afternoon' and make mistakes). The only purpose I can come up with for these things is to put on a shelf or display somewhere and so replace the original which should be preserved away from sunlight, tobacco and dust. To maintain a Corgi in sight and to talk about with visitors is a good idea - but that's about it. I very much doubt it will increase in value whereas our originals most certainly would normally be expected to hold theirs in real terms with significant increases for some.

I also wonder, though, about the impact these many thousands of re-issues might be having on the market for originals. One might argue that bringing the models to a wider audience's attention - and adverts even appear on my phone these days! - will enhance interest and therefore prices of originals. My view, however, is that this is very much outweighed by the fact that a collector looking for a perfect edition of a Corgi model will see these available at around £40 and may not, therefore, be inclined to bother about paying what would invariably have been at least two or three times that price for an original in top condition. So he will buy the re-issue, not my original.

There are collectors like this who will only buy the most perfect example which they'll hide away somewhere and maybe seldom see again. For them I guess the Model Club re-issue is an attractive option and certainly beats my one with chips on the bumper and tyres with flat spots where being sat in one position for 60 years has led to that result. 

My play-worn original models, which I would usually have expected to sell quite readily for around £30 simply don't look as nice and don't have a box for the same money. And my good condition items or interesting variations now have a considerably reduced market. There are always going to be collectors, of course, who will want the originals and who will prefer a play-worn original to any reproduction from China, however accurate and shiny it might be. 

I have to say that that these Chinese things really ain't what Corgis used to be.