Chipperfields Circus could come to your town

I don't usually mix selling with news in these articles because I know that can be irritating. However, I have acquired some very nice Chipperfields Circus models and, not being a huge fan of that range, I am keen to raise some money to enable me to progress the Silverstone Layout project. So here is an opportunity to get nearly all the Chipperfields models at a really attractive price. 

Each item is also listed individually in my store at the prices shown in the table below. You can also check their condition and whether they have boxes in those listings which have plenty of photographs.

If you would like them all, however, then they're yours for just £499 + postage. This is a limited time offer and will be withdrawn on 31 October or if any of the components are sold individually beforehand.

• 487 Land Rover Parade Vehicle with original box £80
• 503 Giraffe Transporter with adult and baby giraffes and original  box £60
• 1121 Circus Crane with original box £80
• 1123 Circus Cage Trailer with original box £80
• 1130 Horse Transporter with all horses (rare green top section) £120
• 1139 Circus Menagerie with all components, cages and animals £140
• 1144 Circus Crane with Rhino and Cage £110

All these items display beautifully - none have been played with and they appear mint or very nearly mint. Only the Scammell Crane has a fault - a cracked screen. That could be repaired without removing the base but it is hardly noticeable so I have left it totally original.

You may not be interested in Chipperfields models but you may either know of someone who is - or even someone with some Silverstone buildings available, ideally made-up but I don't expect there to be many of them so I will consider building them myself from kits. I cannot recall as I write whether I need to paint anything with these. If so, I have a 'resident artist' who will help in that respect! I don't need the cars, just the buildings and any components, not that I recall there being any other than the structures themselves and various characters that I have already.

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 Kits

 

I was fortunate to find four #602 Corgi Kits last week. All are complete and probably had never been opened, with instructions, a membership form and unopened bag of pieces inside the original boxes. Whilst the contents are the same in each case, each box has some faults but nevertheless I would be happy to have any of them in my own collection and I'll keep whichever one remains.

The one above has creasing at one end.

This second one is the best and nearest to what we'd describe as 'excellent' with just very slight creasing at the bottom left.

The third box has one edge on which the glue has dried and a small piece of clear tape has been applied. There are creases on the two long sides and one crushed corner, with some marks on one side, maybe where a pen line has been rubbed off. 

The fourth box has one edge on which the glue has dried (but no repairs attempted) and there is a small crease where one corner has been slightly crushed.

Original instruction sheets can be hard to find now as they tend to get lost and I think I may make some copies. The paper may be hard to match but I will have a go and they may be useful to someone one day.

I can resist the temptation to keep one and make up the telephone boxes because I already have two excellent examples as part of my Garage Set. That reminds me - ever since I received the lovely layout mats for the Silverstone and Garage Sets I have not managed to find time to recreate the Garage Set display with all the pieces that I do have. Now that my wife is away in Ukraine and, even if she wanted to, couldn't get back very soon, it could be a good opportunity to do so without it being in anybody's way. So that will keep me occupied for a week or two - including finding the correct cars and building a couple of the garages - Model Club issues, of course, which are a perfectly acceptable substitute in my opinion.

Writing this has also highlighted the fact that I have not listed the Corgi Kits in the Catalogue at all! That's very remiss of me. I know that it took me a long time to get them all, and I never did get built examples of the Timekeeper's Building or complete Pit Buildings. However, I did have nice examples of complete sets in original boxes and should be able to find the pictures. Adding a section to the Catalogue should be easy enough as there were not any variations to worry about, or, at least, none that I am aware of and I can't imagine much that could have changed anyway.

The kits are great and original complete examples are expensive. You'll find my prices in the shop or just get in touch.

These AA and RAC Telephone Box sets that I have for sale are not cheap but the proceeds will go towards the money I am trying to save up for the any Silverstone Set buildings which I need to find again now I have the layout mat to display them on. Sets do appear occasionally but made-up buildings seem very scarce and, of course, not every owner was careful with the construction. It is a bit of a dilemma as I would probably prefer to make one myself and have my artist wife add any paint or decoration required. That does mean, however, spoiling a valuable original set, which bothers me. Now, if the Model Club were to reproduce all the Kits then that would be a marvellous thing! When you think about it, they have tended to want to reproduce the less common model variations on the basis that people would be happy to have a copy for £30 or so when the real thing maybe several hundred. (Let us let lie the matter of their seldom actually getting the specification right for these variations.) Reproducing Corgi Kits follows the same logic but with the bonus that the parts would be dead simple to make, being mere cheap plastic and they only need to pay some children in China or Bangladesh to put the pieces in a plastic bag, not build, paint and decorate as they have to do with model vehicles. They did the Batley Leofric Garage brilliantly. I wonder how sales went?

These mats incidentally, were produced for me by a chap called Wolfgang who regularly contributes quite authoritatively on various Corgi online groups. They're heavy duty plastic rather than fabric but have the advantage of laying flat and without any creases. Having said that they have been rolled up for a few years so I may have to encourage them to lay flat again. If he happens to read this perhaps he could let me know whether he can still get these made and I will provide a link for anyone who might like one. I should have an email address somewhere and will get in touch with him, if he doesn't respond to this, once it comes to light.

Now I appear to have given myself quite a few tasks. More news on how I get on to follow. What we really need are illustrations of the completed models and the layouts which I'll try and dig out or prepare.

Those big Gift Set play mats

 

Every Corgi collector would love to have these wonderful Gift Sets but if they want one complete in a box then they'll need several thousand pounds. So not many of us do have one. Thinking about it, if I did have one, I have a feeling that it would all almost certainly stay in the big box and, apart from an occasional peep inside to show friends or as a reminder of where all that money had gone, that's where it would stay.

I am quite happy to forego the big box, the paints, brushes, glue and even the packing and boxes inside. Because what I really want is to have the stuff displayed - probably initially as closely as I can manage to how it appears in the catalogues! That would be something, indeed. So what I really want, and which may be somewhat more affordable, are the cars and buildings. The cars will be easy. The buildings, ideally, would be well-made items which someone has taken a bit of care with and which have all the transfers in the right place. Not so easy finding them, though, so it may be necessary to find some kits and make them, or finish myself. Still not easy but feasible with a bit of research and patience and a few hundred readies. A few hundred, though, not a few thousand.

Oh, there's something I've forgotten isn't there? Yes, the mat. The big green and brown and white thing that everything needs to be placed on. Without the mat the display really doesn't work at all well. Until a little while ago, those mats were a non-starter. I mean, no-one has one other than those fortunate people with the whole set. If one did turn up then I have a suspicion that it would have a permanent fold mark or three and would refuse to lay flat. It would probably have a faded appearance apart from one or two rectangles which had never seen the light of day until I opened it. So even one turning up might be a disappointment and I felt as if I would have to forget this idea of making a couple of displays after all.

Then along came someone who had every little piece of a Garage Gift Set 25 and who had made a wooden base which was not a bad interpretation of the play mat. I bought all his bits and the board and it looked pretty good. It wasn't quite right, though. Those incorrect dimensions spoilt the overall impression so I started looking around for a reproduction mat which the chap said he had heard someone in Germany was making.

After a lot of searching I came across Wolfgang and, sure enough, he gets a printer to make these heavy duty plastic-of-some sort mats which are exactly the right size and spot-on with the areas and colours printed on them. Postage from Germany to the UK was a lot and they weren't cheap either but they are good quality and look like they'll survive a good few years without fading or scratching.

I now need to find the buildings for the Silverstone layout and just three individual garages for the Garage layout (and maybe one or two cars). It will still take some time but I do feel this is something achievable and actually something that other people will get to see and appreciate too.

Whilst I am happy to recommend the plastic mats, you may like to print your own on some card as a cheap and cheerful way of making a start on a project like this. I am thinking, therefore, about making a good PDF copy of each mat available by download from my web site. If you're interested in having one or both of the files then let me know. I don't think I can provide them free, though, so tell me how much you'd be prepared to pay. I say this because, with a decent quality file, a professional printer could quickly knock out mats like the ones I have purchased or even create something very much like the material one included with the original sets, a range of items which could appeal to many collectors, even those who don't get round to getting the buildings or all the bits and pieces.

The illustrations below are just low resolution screenprints and would be ill-defined when printed at the correct full-size dimensions but I include them as many of you may never have seen them other than partially covered at an angle in a catalogue and have wondered, as I did, what they actually looked like.

This is the Silverstone track section from Gift Set 15

This is the Garage Forecourt layout from Gift Set 15

Corgi Kits from Batley to Chalet

I have been looking at the kits that were available, mostly between 1961 and 1969. As well as being components of the two big Gift Sets that every collector would love to acquire but which few will ever even see, the Silverstone Racing Layout and the Garage Layout, they were sold individually.

The plastic pieces required painting and gluing together so if we do find any that have been made up now the appearance of the product is very much down to the skills of the youngster who made it. Buildings ought to be OK but I'm not so sure about the telephone boxes. The later public and police boxes came with characters that needed to be painted and they would be quite difficult to get right for most of us. I can see very few of these kits for sale in made-up form in my early searches. I guess that those listing them on Ebay, for instance, will not necessarily know they are Corgi or even kits so perhaps by using those two search terms I wouldn't get a great many anyway now I think about it.

I would like to get hold of examples of all of them now but suspect this could take a while. I can find most of the unmade kits in nice original boxes but I wouldn't want to spoil those - and, anyway, they're extremely expensive!

My spreadsheet lists now include the kits 601 to 611. I think that's all of them. Here they are for quick reference:

601	Batley Leofric Garage
602	AA and RAC Telephone boxes
603	Silverstone Pits
604	Silverstone Press Box
605	Silverstone Club Hose and Timekeeper's Box
606	Lamp Standards
607	Chipperfields Circus Elephant Cage and elephant kit
608	Fuel Station Building
609	Fuel Forecourt Accessories
610	Public Telephone and Police telephone boxes
611	Motel Chalet

Below I include illustrations from the 1961 and 1965 catalogue pages. As and when I can find some decent complete models then I will add those too but I fear that could be some time. Of course, if anyone happens to find some reasonable models, or even part-completed items, that they can let me have at a modest price so that I can feature these things better, do get in touch.

Silverstone and Garage Characters: All Present! Hopefully Correct.

The final character arrived today, a year or so after I wrote about these in this article. So I hope I can describe them as all present and correct. There are a couple of similar-looking chaps but a colleague drew my attention to the position of his arms being different in one set to the other. Interestingly, I see boxed sets for sale with quite the wrong people in - and that didn't help my search! I had to trust only those illustrations where every character remained attached to his or her sprue.

I hope that someone will now find these illustrations useful. I shall, in due course, provide individual pictures too.

1501 Racing Drivers & Pit Mechanics

1502 Silverstone Spectators

1503 Race Track Officials

1504 Press Officials

1505 Garage Attendants