Jensen's Minis: Myth or Mystery?

Update 14 August:

More new findings have meant I need to make changes to this article!! I have tried to keep the original text and show the updates as best I can in a combination of strikethrough and italic text.

There has been some correspondence recently on the Corgi Model Club's Facebook page about a number of items people have seen which they have branded as fake. What they don't tell us, however, is how they know, how we collectors can distinguish a fake from something genuine. Nor, it seems, do they make much of an effort to do something about it. So I decided I would make an effort and start in the matter of the 'Jensen's' promotions.

From what I could gather at first from talking with people who were either at the factory or who knew staff who were involved in these matters, there was only one promotional issue for Jensen's and that was a light blue Hillman Imp. I have one and it looks like this:

These are really scarce and sell for huge sums and it is easy to tell whether they're genuine - the colour being a good start! Corgi did have a practice of using different colours or shades when making special promotional models for firms. This one does have original transfers but, even if they had been replaced, it would still be valuable. Having excellent transfers available, however, has led to the red Austin Seven and pale blue Morris Mini-Minor also appearing over the years with them being paraded as 'rare promotional' issues too.

Now, when I first wrote this article I proceeded to conclude that all those Minis were fake or, at best, factory samples, agreeing largely with the apparently well-qualified people at the Club, and I wrote to one auction house with a blue Mini at £1600 for sale as shown below. I have, however, now done more elementary research and discovered examples of the blue models which have been auctioned some years ago. One had a Georg Jensen leaflet and another a Jensen card included in the box and one red model for which Vectis refer to a 'J' label on one end flap (but, frustratingly, don't show this!)

I must say that I have some doubts about this last one illustrated above. Although it is described as having the Georg Jensen card inside, the box has the British 3/3d price in pencil. Surely, a promotional item will not have landed up at a shop where a shopkeeper would add the price?! So the jury is out on this one. No, I've made up my mind. It's a fake. The 'Jensen's logo is not related in any way with the Georg Jensen jewellery firm! (see below) A Jensen's card could be relatively easy to acquire - there is no other description of this bit of provenance - and the car and card could have simply been popped into a spare box some guy had lying around. That is not to say the model isn't genuine but I wouldn't have felt comfortable buying it at £800 or whatever it sold for in 2007!

As for the other two, a leaflet, whilst not that difficult to print these days, may be good provenance. There is no 'J' on the other blue one's box which argues against this one but it does have an 'A' marked on the base apparently and perhaps that has some relevance. It is also a distinctly pale shade of pale blue and, perhaps, pale enough to be 'different' as most people have been saying it needs to be.

For the very pale blue one, the fact that someone appears to have put a Georg Jensen leaflet in the box smacks of an attempt to add provenance when there was known not to be any. So this one, which had been the one contender for the real thing so far, is now dismissed and whoever bought it should really have known better than to part company with over a grand without checking which Jensen was Jensen's!

That colour difference, however, does not help us with the red one which looks pretty much the same shade of deep red that is commonly seen elsewhere. the 'J' label that this one has is the sole bit of supporting evidence. Once again, a label is easy to make and I am inclined to have doubts as this is also the only one I've seen with any element of difference to a bog standard 225. 

The red one, we're told had a J label at one end. That would make some sense as Corgi would have wanted to identify those designated for the firm but it is not, unfortunately illustrated, nor have I found any reference to this anywhere else, which I would have expected by auction houses keen to attribute some degree of certainty for their prospective buyers. A couple of knowledgeable people in the Corgi Model Club have also referred to the transfers shown and reckon that they are not as well-defined or delineated as the originals were. So it looks like this one, too, is a fake.

Every QDT 225 example lacks anything by way of label, leaflet or even card and they have a variety of base and wheel types too.

The aforementioned colleagues at the Model Club also refer to some original Jensen's transfers making it on to some Minis. This complicates matters a bit. Whether this was done as a deliberate move to add some Minis to the 'Jensen's' range is unclear and it may just as easily have been someone who thought he'd create a few just for fun at the time. So, whilst none that I have seen illustrated to date seem real, it is conceivable that there will exist Minis with genuine Jensen's transfers. However, their value cannot possibly be more than a typical factory oddment - maybe £150-£300 - and certainly not of the £1500+ we've seen.

I have written to QDT and the text of my email is below. My voice, however, is but one in the distance and I cannot provide "Chapter & Verse" on the matter as definitively as I would like to. This needs a specific and final conclusion with someone coming along with evidence about the Jensen's discussions at the time, either from the firm or from Corgi. Or, dare I say it, someone may appear with hard and fast proof that there really was a 'Jensen's Mini' (other than a factory sample) and all the writings and conversations I have read and had so far have been wildly wrong and QDT and Vectis are in the clear, after all. Although not on this particular item as illustrated below - it is wrong on so many counts - but maybe for some others they've handled.

It does seem to be the case that if a Jensen's Mini exists then it needs to be a very pale blue, have free-spinning shaped wheels, a later base type and to come with a specific Georg Jensen leaflet (or possibly a card) in a box that has  might have a 'J' label that does not have 3/3d on an end flap. Then I might consider it.

I expect the auction house staff simply didn't know any better, although the fees charged by auction houses really ought to cover a bit more research. I expect the owner, on whose behalf they sell, may be oblivious to the fact that he paid a fortune for a fake years ago too and he or she will be rather disappointed by this news. But that's life. We all make mistakes.

To their great credit (and cost, as fees on £1600+ would have been substantial), I have just received a reply from QDT to say that they have decided to remove this item from sale this morning, erring, as they have said, on the side of caution for this model.

 

"You have an item described as above at this link.

After extensive research I have had to conclude that there was no such model made as a promotional item by Corgi. They did produce a Hillman Imp in pale blue with the firm's transfers but not the Mini in either red or blue form.

It was their practice, when producing such promotions, always to insist on a different colour or shade of colour from the original 'normal' issue.

The particular model that you have shown here is also a very early 226 model, with the first type of base (holes near the axles being the most obvious indication) and smooth fixed wheels whereas any promotional items for the firm would have been created at a later date when free-spinning wheels and later types of base and base text design would apply so this cannot even be regarded as a possible sample made for illustration at meetings with Jensen's.

It is generally well-known amongst informed collectors and those of us in contact with ex-Corgi staff that these 225 and 226 models are fake, being easy to make with excellent transfers available to buy. They have been produced over at least the last decade to my knowledge and have acquired an aura of being genuine purely because organisations like yourselves and Vectis, amongst others, have given them credence and collectors, assured by your and others' reputation in the field, have been willing to pay highly for these 'rare' items.

Now, even a fake, of course, can be valuable and it is not for me to say that these models should not be put up for sale, nor that a price is or is not reasonable. What is wrong, however, and which also must have legal and reputational problems for you, is the assertion and implication that these are genuine. Even the leaflet is a later type that would not have been included at the time of a genuine 'Jensen's' promotion.

I accept that your staff have acted in good faith and may well have been taken in by this model's history but, now that the matter has been brought to your attention, I would strongly suggest that this item is withdrawn from sale or, at the very least, has its description reworded. This will, no doubt, come as a surprise to its owner who may have bought it in good faith. It is also, however, conceivable that the owner is aware of its history and can provide some provenance as a sample or something other than a rather a sad and, to me, obvious fake.

Andrew Hill"

I should add that I would be extremely suspicious of any Ebay-advertised Jensen's Mini. You should be pretty safe with the Imp, though, but still watch out for resprayed editions.

I have also written to Jensen's. Whether anyone there will have any recollection of a promotional arrangement with Corgi from the earl 1960s I doubt. But someone has to try. My first letter was to the jeweller! I fell for the 'Georg Jensen' references in the Vectis and QDT listings of old until a colleague put me right on that! Researching the logo design, it appears that it is now owned by a German Meat firm.

Is this the same firm, or an earlier version of it) that the Hillman Imp (and maybe Minis) were promoting? I find it unlikely that a completely different organisation could have a near identical logo.

I am also aware that I would now have written to QDT in a slightly less definitive vein regarding the existence of a Jensen's Mini. That particular Jensen's Mini, however, was questionable enough in many ways and deserved to be withdrawn.

QDT have since replied to say that they are also conducting some research - and this is understandable as they have more reputation to lose than I do. So far, it is not looking good for the Mini but, as this is now the third update I have had to make to this article, a fourth may yet be required!