Blue or green?

 

At first glance, seeing this photo might make you a little excited at the prospect of a 351S model being available. The blue shade looks about right and, even though it's not in great condition, you may be tempted to investigate if this were shown in a sale catalogue or auction listing.

Then take a look at this one. I would find it difficult to resist buying this one as it looks very much like it could be the scarce shade of green found for a short time in the early Agricultural Gift Sets with an all-yellow platform trailer.

The extraordinary thing is that they are all the same model! It is a very ordinary deep green 438! I have not doctored the photos. Apart from being reduced in dimensions, they are straight from my camera, taken in daylight, although admittedly February daylight and I had a light on in the room on the ceiling above them.

This really does demonstrate how careful we must be or, at least, how we must be prepared for disappointment! The difference is quite remarkable and the model sitting on the desk in front of me as I write looks quite normal and obviously deep green.

Maybe it is just my eyes, the effect of other items nearby or just my brain wanting to see something that it is looking for! Perhaps you see no particular problem and don't really understand why I am writing this. But if you are in any way like me then I am afraid that we will each need to ask sellers for some alternative photos, ideally taken next to some other model but, as that's a lot to ask for something that is probably going for about £10, we shall simply continue to take chances and hope!

This was actually one of two models I bought a few days ago after staring at the screen for ages. I even downloaded the seller's photo of the models and ran it through some editing software to try and determine what the 'natural' colours might have been. That indicated that they were even more definitely blue! Indeed, I had to reassure myself that they weren't rather dirty examples of the Pony Club edition!

The pair did only cost £10. And that included postage. I didn't expect much. I didn't get much. Just two deep green 438 Land Rovers. One as above that is complete and, being all original, might get me my money back. The other I have made into something else - just for fun!