Scarce Corgi Toys: how scarce is scarce?

Some models appear to have had a very short production or sales period. Using the data from the 'Little Red Book' that accompanied the Great Book of Corgi, I have made some lists which might be of interest. I should say at the outset that these will not by any means be a complete list of the 'rarest' Corgi Toys as the data takes no account of variations in colour, wheel type, interior or whatever, so real rarities like the Mercedes-Benz 300SL with wire wheels will not appear. I have also excluded all the Gift Sets which will mean models like the Mini Marcos GT 850 in blue does not appear, its numbers included in the figure for the white 305 issue. There may also be some scarce items produced right at the end of one of Corgi's companies' operation in 1982 which may have ceased in 1983 but I have no production numbers. Lastly I have excluded those which were shown as selling more than 100,000 to make the lists a bit more manageable.

So let's look at the first one. This shows those with the shortest period between the date of issue and end of production. Now, models will have been in production some time before issue, of course, and I only have an end year so all I can say is that these all seem to have been available for dealers to order for less than a year.

You will immediately recognise several of these, like the RAF and US Army Land Rover, the Sun Rally Models and Army equipment but some may be surprising. 

However, one needs to look more closely and put these into a descending order of numbers known to be sold as, despite a short period of availability, some models did still sell very well and are not exactly scarce now.

Now you can see that the military items top the bill with some very low numbers indeed. In amongst those low numbers there are some surprises, notably the Bedford Milk Tanker (the second issue with a TK cab) and I was surprised to see the Scammel Car Transporter so high too. Perhaps they were more often sold as part of a gift set.

Unfortunately, the sales numbers are not available for the following models from the first list. So some of these may well have sold more than 100,000 and may not be particularly hard to find, whilst others could well feature near the top of the list above. 

I can only write from my own experience but the following models from this third list should be included in the 'scarcest' group:

305 Mini Marcos GT850

387 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Coupe

304 Chevrolet Camaro SS350

349 Morris Mini-Minor 'Mostest'

(apologies for it showing as a Mini-Cooper above)

We know the orange 345 MGC GT is scarce but I suspect that the overall numbers of sales for the MGC GT will have been more than 100,000. So this list is by no means exclusive but it is about the best I can do with any evidential backing by way of data.

One model that does not appear is the 406S Land Rover which appeared in a box briefly in a very bright yellow in 1962 but for which I have no data at all as it is omitted from the Little Red Book, which, amusingly, has no data for the 438 either, other than being issued in March 1963 in Gift Set 17!

Excluding models which are known to have sold over 100,000 does mean that I have listed some which may have sold 90,000 of course. This may seem a lot but it does certainly seem to be the case that those with sales of less than that are becoming harder to find in good condition and most of those shown with sales of below 70,000 do seem to be those that we regard now as 'scarce'. One does have to wonder, though, just how many of those tens of thousands have yet to surface, (or perhaps I should say, descend - as in from an attic) as old collectors depart this world. Could it be the case that a good proportion of models are sitting somewhere and simply haven't made it to market yet? We can be sure that anything less than 10,000 has to be safely 'scarce' and is going to be expensive but just what might be the proportion of, say, the 99,000 Studebakers sold that are tucked away somewhere? Might there be 10,000 somewhere still to arrive at auctions or in Ebay listings? Or, conversely, how many became wrecked and were discarded over the last 60 odd years?

I have heard talk of auction houses having quite substantial numbers of collections that they might be holding back from the market for exactly the reason that releasing them all now would diminish substantially current values. Writing this has raised quite a few questions in my mind. I think I shall stick to my own experience as a guide, coupled with my research on variations, amongst which is where I believe the real rarities lie. For these, though, I can produce no numbers. All I can do is say that, for the list I shall produce one day in a future article, they will be models that were issued but of which I have seen only a mere handful at most in the last ten or so years. I feel that ought to merit the term 'scarce' despite any data other than my own observation.

By way of example, just try and find a 418 Austin Taxi with free spinning wheels but no driver.

Where have all the layouts gone?

 

No, it wasn't me who paid what would have been at least £2700 including delivery for the Silverstone Gift Set 15 earlier this week. As I said in the article at the time, something like that is going to be purely for resale, hopefully at a profit, to be tucked away in a cupboard and probably for quite a while too. It's not even very nice to look at with that rather dull old cardboard outer box, so hardly something to put in the front of a cabinet either. It wasn't a bad price, though, but not something I can get excited about.

What I have very much enjoyed, however, has been seeing my Garage Layout display every morning and doesn't that just demonstrate the difference between a tedious box and a real display and represent just what we remember by way of emotions and enjoyment from Corgi Toys all those years ago.

Regrettably, I have had to put it all away now as my wife is returning from Ukraine at last and I had set if up somewhere most convenient for me but rather not so for her. So, if it is not going to be displayed it occurred to me that it might be something someone might like to buy. I don't particularly want to see it go but the funds would help me acquire the elements I need for the Silverstone Set which is my next big challenge. 

I believe that the only items missing are a tiny oil can and I seem to have a different chap squatting next to the Ford Consul. Corgi's catalogue has someone in blue overalls and mine may be from the Racing Characters Set in a slightly different position. The shop building does have its rear drainpipe - it fell off and I have only just noticed - which I will reattach and it is undamaged. The two Fords have plenty of playwear so, if the cars were needed I would have to replace those. I genuinely have not seen this layout (or a Silverstone one come to think of it) in all the time I have been doing Corgi things so it seems to be something a little special and that someone out there might appreciate.

Further down I have added a link to an album of lots more photos which are better than the previous group.

On the subject of layouts, here are the two mats I have.

I am unable to get any more of these but will investigate whether it might be worthwhile having a batch produced. These are a flexible but quite thick plastic and lie nicely flat (the Silverstone one has only just been unrolled and that small curl to the left will go after a while) but I suspect they will be expensive to make. Rather less expensive would be card but that would need to be thick and have some well-engineered folds so that it can be stored easily but still lie flat when opened. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who might be interested in buying these mats and what they think about the material to be used.

Having said that, I am reminded of my own declaration that I have not seen a display in all my days - and how unwilling I imagine people would be to break open new kits, even if they could find them, never mind attempt the task of painting which requires a somewhat steadier hand than most of us may now possess! I may, therefore, have just succeeded in making my mat business idea a failure from the start!

However, in the event that there are a few people with all the bits but nowhere to put them, or prepared to bravely go where no adult other than some Corgi promotions staff have been, and make up all the components, I will carry on making some enquiries.

Click this picture or here to see my album of Garage Layout photos.

Going Going . . . Gosh.

 

A colleague mentioned an auction that will end as I am writing this. It was for a very nice, complete Gift Set 15 Silverstone Set. I say 'complete' but I read that it lacked one of the six tubes of enamel paint! The glue is present, though, so I think we can call that as complete as complete can be for this set. It all comes in a big cardboard box which never looks very inspiring but now costs rather more than the 72/6d it did in November 1963. That was £3.62½ for those readers who wonder what on Earth that price denomination means. And that's just short of £100 in 2026 money terms, so that set was not something you could have popped out and bought with your pocket money, nor even something most of us would have been likely to receive as a birthday or Christmas present. Whilst around 8000 did get sold, you can imagine how many now exist in any vague form of completeness. Indeed, I think the only sets that we find coming on the market now will be ones that didn't get sold but were discovered as good old 'old shop stock'.

Anyway, that one particular £3.62 and a ha'pence-worth is now at £2200 and I would expect it to have some way still to go in an upward direction after I publish this. My colleague sent me a message when it was a mere £925 and I have to say I was most tempted. Despite having had a very successful week with lots of customers apparently discovering my website and my own store, (as opposed to Ebay where I have to charge at least 15% more to receive the same net amount), I have a suspicion that I will not be able to afford what this eventually goes for.

I also have to ask myself what I would do with it. I have written before about how much enjoyment I have had by recreating the Garage Layout from all the Gift Set 25 components that I now have, and how I would love to do the same with the Silverstone set. But there is no way that I could envisage opening up all those kits . . . well, if I had two sets then I could, especially if one of them had a really grotty old outer box, missing cars, paint, glue and brush. Then I could, as long as my wife agreed to do the painting. (She's the Ukrainian artist, brilliant with tiny detailed work who painted the most impressive lady in the Telephone Box that I have ever seen, if you missed a previous article).

So, not envisaging doing anything with this large cardboard box other than admiring the label and wondering how one could flatten out the layout mat, I would have to hope to find someone willing to pay even more than the vast sum I would have had to shell out, not forgetting the auction house fee which will add another few hundred. So it would all be rather pointless and if all I am going to do is make some money then I would probably be far better off investing in some scarce variations, which is what I had intended to write about in the first place.

Look at these - all recent completed sales, not wild hopeful estimates, for models which I actually already have in stock myself (in most cases). I was so surprised at the prices realised that I have had to look again at what I was selling mine for and adjust accordingly, very much upward.

That's £1063, including fees and tax. Now mine is by no means mint. It has lost some paint but is quite sound otherwise. Photos do seem to show up the faults, though, and the car sitting on my desk looks very attractive still. And it isn't £925. or even £1063.

That is a staggering £2185 to get it into your cabinet at home. Again, mine has seen better days but may well have better rear suspension than that one. It has lost paint - not so obviously in this colour, so still looks nice on display. This isn't £2185 either.

Extraordinary. This one breaks £3000 once you've paid your fees and tax. Now I have to admit that I don't have one with a lemon interior. This price, however, is more than I would have expected for a factory colour trial. I can only assume that there is a collector who is trying to get one of every Jaguar Mk X and money was simply no object for this one. Well, if you happen to be missing a quite scarce kingfisher blue variant with red interior, here is mine. And it isn't even 1/10th of the price of that one.

The Jaguar 2.4 seems almost cheap at what would have been a total of £575. I have one with a grey base and did wonder whether it might be a little scarce. I wasn't thinking £575 scarce, though. 

Another one that is almost affordable at their auction! A mere £536 for what I found a most strange model when one turned up amongst some I had bought some time ago. I came to the conclusion that Corgi had the white bodies for the 211M lying around when the M models were abandoned in late 1959 but in early 1960 only had the 211S bases available as that would have been ready for distribution. So a batch of white bodies got attached to a 211S base but got no suspension or interior so remained as a 211 of sorts. It didn't occur to me that anyone would pay that much, however. It does now, of course, and mine is nearly a match for theirs - but a lot cheaper.

You may have noticed that the boxes for these models are all pretty standard. Whilst the Rover does appear to have a generic box with a stamped number I am pretty sure that there would have been that edition in a normal 252 box. I shall have to find the Jaguar one. The others should be around somewhere.

These are just a few of the wonderful variations that I have in stock and I merely show these because I saw how similar items sold for so much. I shall have to feature a few more before long and try to encourage collectors and investors to check with me before parting company with huge amounts of (not necessarily in the case of the latter group) hard-earned money to line the pockets of QDT and Vectis directors.

I mentioned the layout mat along the way. That is something I shall be writing about soon, along with some more views of the Garage layout (which will have to go back in its box next week before my wife returns from her trip home).

It's 7pm and I need to go. Please someone bid more than £2200 or I shall be very tempted . . . just because I am sure it would sell for around £4000 with some more effective publicity. For the auction house, though, there's not much incentive to do much - they'll only get a few hundred more at best.

Corgi Toys @ 60: Ford's Tractor and Conveyor Set and Cortina alone

 

It's August 1966 and Ford is the brand for both the new arrivals this month 60 years ago. The first is the reappearance of the Ford Consul Cortina Estate. This was first issued in January 1966 with golf trolley, golfer chap and caddy on a nice tray. Now it's  catalogue number #491, just the car, and 2/1d cheaper (that's two shillings and one penny less than the eight shillings for #440).

It's a very pretty model with its clean-looking almost white interior and lovely metallic blue, red or dark grey paintwork and chrome front and back. 

Most issues had small shaped wheels but towards the end of production cast wheels were fitted. These are not particularly rare on the metallic grey models but quite hard to find on red models and vey rare on blue models.

The second Ford was the 5000 Super Major Tractor, now towing a trailer to which the elevator mechanism first seen on #64 Jeep FC-150 in June 1965.

In the attractive box the models sit on a nicely illustrated display with a driver on the tractor and a bag of six plastic sacks. Turning the handle moves the black rubber belts to transfer items from one end to the other. These belts may often have become brittle and broken by now and, whilst replacements are available, they cannot be fitted without cutting and then somehow joining the ends together again.

This stays in the order lists through to 1971 and can be found with both variations of the Tractor's rear equipment design.

Corgi Model Club: Kingfisher Blue

If you had a Corgi Toy in 'kingfisher blue' in the 1960s you were very lucky. It was most likely to have been a Jaguar Mk X but it could also have been a Chrysler Imperial. The last time I had one of these on my desk was over 10 years ago, when I found this really nice example when I was slowly working through the American section of Corgi's issues to review and document for my then very new Catalogue. I wish I had not let it go all those years ago - I have not seen another since, not even one I cannot afford! So it is a delight to see the latest Corgi Model Club issue, even if they have simply repainted the red one from May/June 2024. It just looks and feels right, and there is something about that wonderful colour . . .

Now, let's take a closer look at this and what the Club say about it.

First of all, it comes wrapped in tissue-like paper with a couple of L-shaped pieces of foam to help protect the screen. The certificate specifies this as the kingfisher blue edition. They get that bit right.

They seem, however, to be unaware of the origins of this model, 

If thy had looked in the 1969 Corgi Catalogue they would have seen it on page 13.

This was planned as model #507, a new Bermuda Taxi to replace the ancient Ford Thunderbird. It would carry the same funny detachable roof as the Fiat Jolly and Thunderbird and a couple of suitcases in the boot, with a suitably well-tanned chap behind the wheel.

That model, however, was never actually 'available later' but a batch of Chryslers had been prepared and these have reached the market. Now, bearing in mind that the 1969 catalogue would not have been produced much earlier than mid-1968 and the #246 model ceased production in 1967, it must have been the case that this batch were put into whatever remaining #246 boxes were around and, as the box talks of a 'surprise in the boot' they popped a golf trolley in there too. It would have been too late for dealers to order but I guess they reached a few somehow.

There is a notable difference between the kingfisher blue and the red editions which tends to confirm this. That is the two holes just behind the passenger compartment where the roof canopy poles would have been placed. These are not present on the re-issue.

There is a further marked difference between the original and the re-issue and that is the colour of the base. The re-issue, understandably, keeps the deep grey of the 2024 re-issue whereas my original had a much lighter grey finish.

For all the mistakes in the description, I have to say that I do like this re-issue and I may get a second so that I can make the two holes, change the base, install a canopy, driver and cases and create my very own #507.

Corgi Toys Gift Set 25 (now almost complete)

 

I have now completed the Garage Forecourt layout for Gift Set 25. There are lots of pictures that I have now added to my earlier post. Below I show my attempts to reproduce the three 1965 Catalogue images. They're not quite right but pretty close!

You will spot one or two 'extras' in these and in the other photos in the earlier post! Looking at the catalogue pictures, there appears to be something like an oil can as well as a watering can. I only have two watering cans. If anyone has a spare oil can let me know! Or maybe they did issue two watering cans. The post with a sort of hook looks like an air dispenser and I wonder whether that should have a tube attached? Otherwise I do believe this is complete. 

The construction and painting has been completed to a high standard and I believe this was originally a kit made up for a display by a Corgi dealer in the States. I have a similarly well-made Chalet kit for which there is some provenance in this respect and the two items came from the same collection. Whatever the case it is extremely rare to find the items built and painted and all in such good condition. In many years of looking, I cannot recall seeing anything like this anywhere, only unmade kits.

By chance the models I happen to have here in stock do also match those illustrated in the catalogue, with the correct fixed shaped wheels on the Chevrolet and two Fords. Whilst the little red book accompanying the Great Book of Corgi refers to a black Bentley, all the illustrations I have seen have the green and cream model. Perhaps in the box, however, you might have received either.

I do not have the alternative BP transfers nor paint, brush or glue but the layout is a delightful reminder of how things once were.

Something as attractive as this is a remarkable addition to any Corgi collection and, although not as valuable as the whole lot in their original box(es) which sell for £4000 or more, I actually prefer this as I can look at it and smile every day.

I am not in a hurry to part company with this but if anyone is interested I will consider offers.