A tale of two Emmas.

This is the first totally original The Avengers Gift Set 40 that I have had, I probably won't see another for a long time so I shall make the most of this while it's here. It is also a good opportunity to revisit the bits and pieces to watch out for.

The outer box is not particularly bright but it is complete and has no significant signs of wear. the flaps and edges are sound. As a reminder to anyone thinking about posting this set to anyone, the box does have two sharp dents on one side where the Bentley seems to have taken a run at the inside of the box somewhere between an auctioneers in Bury St Edmunds and Astcote. Such careless packing may also account for the small tear in the front offside wheel cut-out on the inner tray, which looks quite fresh.

Otherwise, the inner plinth is nice an clean and the colours are fresh and bright. The inner card to support the base from bowing towards the centre is missing. It nearly always is but it is a good idea to put something in there to prevent any further wear. Ideally, make some indents for the wheels too. You can do that by simply inserting the card and drawing round the inside of the holes and using a sharp knife for the cut-outs. They don't need to be too tidy as no-one will see them.

This set has the green Bentley with red wheels. That seems to be the one that gets the highest prices in the main and I think it is quite a lot less common than the red one. Whilst Steed did always have the green Bentley, his didn't have red wheels but it is as close to being accurate as you'll get in the originals.

Some commentators refer to this as the 'first edition' of the set but I am not sure about this. Yes, the box has a green Bentley illustrated but all the publicity material I have seen featured the red one in 1966. So I tend to think there were probably several variations used from the start - certainly in the first year or two. From what I can tell, the variations that were issued in sets would be the green with red wheels, red with red or silver wheels and an unusual red with gold wheels. Interestingly, the green Bentley only seems to appear with red wheels in original sets.

Mrs Peel's Lotus, of course, is always white which makes life a bit simpler. You will find late sets with cast wheels on the Lotus but I think that is the only variation.

I believe the umbrellas are original. It is not so easy to tell now, though, as some reproductions are excellent. In my view, if they're that good then it doesn't matter - we can never know without carbon dating or something! The things to look for are the lines where the brolly has been rolled up (furled) which should be clear all the way round, the handle should be evenly blobby without any furry bits and the point sharp and not with surplus plastic attached. Another simple check is to lay them next to each other and they need to look identical in size and design. Obviously that last check doesn't distinguish the reproductions but you'll get the idea.

This Lotus is very good. I have spotted small chips at the back and two very small nicks on the driver's side; one on the door and another on the rear wing. I wonder whether these, and the rear chips, had in fact been caused by the movement inside the box when in transit. Those auctioneer packers have a lot to answer for - especially as I had made it very clear to the owner and them how important it was to wrap the cars carefully (and ideally separately to the box as there was no packing card with this set).

The suspension is sound. Phew! The screen and windows are good too and the interior cleaned up well as it had been a bit dusty. The paintwork had also been quite grubby. It has cleaned up very nicely and it is possible that another go will bring it up a little more white as it has a definite creamy shade. I am assuming this is mere age and not tobacco! I am also suspicious of the very pure white examples as I am pretty sure the car should be slightly cream.

Keeping this set original, I haven't added the HNK 999C number plates but I have offered to do so if a new owner would like them.

There was a problem with the Lotus, however. The steering wheel had become detached. Again, that may have been as a result of crashing around in transit but I can't be sure. I have re-affixed it and it would be extremely hard for anyone to spot this but, nevertheless, I have to own up to this. There are too many false 'originals' being advertised and that annoys me a bit. I am looking for another Lotus Elan to provide in this set but they are not easy to find in as good condition. So until something better comes along that's how it has to be.

The Bentley is super. There are usually some chips on the side of the rails but this one has none. The hood is original, as is the screen and the vulnerable horn on the driver's side. Although it is possible to replace wheels, there are no signs that these are not as originally fitted.

Steed always needs to be looked at carefully. He is less likely to go missing than Mrs Peel and is not that easy to take out so the chances are that he will be genuine if everything else is good. His suit and hat should be grey and not a brown shade of grey and definitely not glossy as some reproduction figures can be. This has some wear on top of the hat, leaving a pink patch beneath, which I have seen before on several sets. Some people have been known to drop Jeeves in the seat and say it's John Steed but they're just stupid and you'll spot that easily!

Mrs Peel, however, can be a problem. This set arrived with the character on the right. I have my suspicions that she was a reproduction. The base is quite a bright green and the trousers have a single black decoration. All the replacements I have used have had similar features to that one. The one or two characters that I have had that I have had good reason to believe were originals, and by far the majority of sets auctioned by professionals like QDT, have a darker, more drab, green base and three fine black lines on Mrs Peel's trousers.

The one I prefer as original is also slightly taller. They each have very similar finish, though, with identical buttons, jacket folds, hands, hats etc. So I don't know. I would be surprised if they are both original but I suppose it is possible. I am going to settle for the one with one band being a very good reproduction, though, and have donated my original to this set in its place.

I also removed the CRI 479 number plate!

So this set has been quite a challenge to document and prepare in many aspects. I will continue to seek a good Lotus Elan but do feel that I can sell this as one of the very genuinely original sets out there. It isn't cheap though.

I should soon be able to put together some non-original sets which will be rather more affordable! One thing I have realised is just how good the reproduction boxes can be! If this one had been any cleaner it really would have been difficult to tell the difference.

An old yellow 1101 Bedford Car Transporter in Pretoria

The sharp-eyed out there will have spotted that the cab is from an 1100 Low Loader but this still makes a nice pairing. Perhaps its new owner in Faerie Glen, Gauteng, may have some other cabs and trailers to make correct models with. Whatever the case it looks a nice place to go and someone should mention to the driver that the drive on the left over there.

Another yellow 406S Land Rover

It's missing some paint and the hook is a little out of shape but this is a rare Land Rover. It is 406S, indistinguishable from 438 apart from the colour, and was issued when Corgi updated their Land Rover models in 1962.

The 1963 Corgi Catalogue has no less than six Land Rovers. Printed in 1962, it shows the Chipperfields model from Gift Set 23 and 19 but the green 438, blue 416S, navy 351S and fawn Gift Set 2S model with Pony Trailer are all shown as available later. So it would appear that 406S appeared in early 1962 but must have been withdrawn before the catalogue was printed, to be renumbered 438 and issued in a more rural green.

The 438-based issues all had canopies too whereas I believe that, like the 406 before, the standard 406S model did not have a canopy. The first release of the Series 2 Land Rover was in April 1962 for Chipperfields. My guess is that the 406S would have been issued at around this time too. I have seen a 406S box but the chances of now finding one of them must be extremely slim!

With so few of these around it is extremely difficult to put a price on them. The numbers must be very small and I would think they must have been rather fewer than the 25,000 351S issued. The RAF version is hard enough to find as it is!

With two similar models now, I am happy to sell one so get in touch and make an offer if you would like one. The pictures each link to my catalogue site where you'll find more information and lots more photos.

Corgi Flying Club. A Land Rover, Nipper Aircraft and a very wide trailer.

I only bought this because I needed an example of the darker blue Land Rover with a lemon interior and grey steering wheel. This was in the States and the postage was more than the price of the set. It is complete and in a box although the later Corgi boxes were pretty poor affairs. This one has the card insert with nothing that I can see to stop the contents moving around other than an elastic band or two around the aircraft pieces.

It did arrive with only minimal crushing and a hole in the cellophane and still looks a pretty good item to display. With the dreaded Whizzwheels, though, this 1972 edition is an uninspiring version of the Land Rover and why on Earth a trailer needs Whizzwheels is beyond me. Fine for those cars kids might be expected to fly down some track or along the parquet flooring but no-one could seriously expect them to want to race Land Rovers with trailers!

Orange was clearly in fashion still with the bright canopy and matching aircraft body. The wings could be either white like these or a creamy yellow colour. The cab can be blue or clear. I shall not be running around madly looking for those variations as this is just not something that really makes me leap up and down with enthusiasm. There is some play craft, at least, here with the aircraft which can be stacked in the section of the trailer and then taken off and made up again.

The trailer itself is a ridiculously wide affair which would cause trouble along most of the lanes I know near airfields. I can imagine most of these will get pretty chipped over time so this is a delight to find as new. The same trailer, incidentally, gets used again in Gift Set 5 in 1973, in red and still with Whizzwheels.

Monte Carlo Gift Set 38. Very valuable cardboard.

These three arrived on Monday and will be on their way to Church Gresley before long as a collector friend has already reserved them! These are three really nice examples of the 321, 322 and 323 models from 1966 which also comprised the Monte Carlo Gift Set 38.

The Rover is near perfect with just one small chip in the front bumper but a lovely shine to the gorgeous deep cherry paintwork. It has always been one of my favourite models. When I packed all my old models away many years ago the Rover was one I kept out to put on a desk or window ledge but, strangely, it disappeared at about the same time as I started doing this catalogue thing. I found another but reluctantly sold that and then found two more. One, with a few chips, has been sold but the other very good one I am hanging on to. This one, however, is the best I've seen for a while. It really shouldn't have the PLY 922 registration but that can be taken off.

The Citroen has a wonderful fresh look to its paintwork and is virtually unmarked with its original aerial still in place. Many have lost theirs! It has a slight crack in the rear screen but that is not very obvious.

The Mini has a small chip in the roof and its Racing No. 52 transfers have cracked. It is, otherwise, in excellent condition.

These three in an original Gift Set 38 box seem to be one of the collectors' favourites, making prices in excess of £2000! I might dream of coming across a decent original box one day but would probably have to wait a very long time indeed! Instead, there are one or two suppliers who offer reproduction boxes and inner display plinths. I am unsure of their quality, though, and would be interested to know who has bought any and what they have been like. One I've seen advertised looks as though it has been scanned from a somewhat crushed original.

I shall not now need the box for these three but I do have another set which I might put in a replacement box once I have established which is the best to buy. It may not add a fortune to the overall value - indeed it will only add the cost, £20-£30, to the value - but it might add a bit more to their appeal.

Looking at the prices the original sets make, I reckon that original box could be worth not far short of £2000 on its own!! Does that make it the most valuable of all of them? They do seem to make higher prices than even the rare military items and The Avengers, Bond etc. which is a little surprising.

Avro Bode. Read All About It: The Blue Bedford CA Van.

I saw this blue Bedford CA Van in a pile of adverts and wondered what it was. At first I thought it might be the Corgi 422 one without any yellow. I know they came in all sorts of combinations of yellow and a similar blue so the idea of one being all blue wasn't that impossible! From what I could tell it wasn't a repainted item so I looked around a bit further. The seller had it with some other items and didn't provide any clues either and it wasn't something anyone would find other than by chance. Google Images came up with the answer: AVRO, a Dutch broadcasting company, had a magazine called Avrobode or maybe Avro Bode and they had come to an arrangement whereby Corgi made 650 of these as a promotional thing.

That sort of made sense as 421 on general release was an Evening Standard van.

They would have had black paper stickers on the sides which were missing on this one, the merest tears remaining. From some decent images I found of one on an auction site (priced at £2000!) I was able to recreate my own labels which I am really pleased with as they are pretty much undetectable as replacements unless you start examining the paper and glue.

It is the second type of van with the revised front and single screen and dates from 1960. With only 650 produced this is a seriously scarce item. Mine is in excellent condition. There are signs of wear but no chips or dents. I have no idea what it's worth. If you're interested then make an offer.

A Break for Commercials

458 ERF Earth Dumper

453 Commer 5 Ton Refrigerated Van

Adding to one of the groups that I had been ignoring, two more commercial vehicles from the old days arrived last week. One was the ERF Earth Dumper, a long-running model that lasted from 1958 to 1966. This example is one of the earliest with its fixed smooth wheels and it does look pretty dated. It is in good condition, many of these got a lot of use moving real earth or other stuff that left them chipped and generally messed up. The rear section lifts and stays up on the ancient supports, not bad after nearly 60 years.

The other is one of the first batch issues in 1956, a Commer Refrigerated van, although that's one big van. With lovely fresh transfers for Wall's Ice Cream on the sides and really clean cream paintwork and a darker blue cab, this is quite a good find. It is always satisfying to find some of these very early items in good condition and I am slowly filling the blanks.

The main item still outstanding is the ERF Moorhouses Jam lorry which looks similar to this one. There are a few around but it's a matter of finding a good one. There are also some Karrier Shops that have passed me by and I still can't get excited about. I sort of hope they'll just appear one day. The blue Karrier Bantam I shall have to get, and there's a Bedford Tipper truck that replaced the ERF shown here. They're very common but no doubt there'll be some variations to confuse me. I also see the Ford Thames Ice Cream trucks at very high prices so they'll be a while appearing here I fear.