First Batch. All have gloss black bases, overspun rivets that puncture, but not pierce, the baseplate and very distintive rivet profiles that differ from both standard French and English Dinky Rivets.

The rest of the recently acquired South African Assembled models all in one post.

Thanks for looking 

Dave

Again, an amazing acquisition, Dave, the collection as a whole, and the South African rarities in particular!

Acquistions of mine of the last month or so pictured below. The no. 980 American market Express Horse Van is a shiny beauty which will replace a poorer example. I found the nice two tone low line cream and tan no. 172 Studebaker Land Cruiser at the Namac Fair, Houten NL, yesterday. Again, another huge and very pleasant meet for many like-minded collectors and dealers from various countries. My earnings by selling some replaced models were easily sufficient enough to buy that one. It is one of the more acceptable two-tone colour combinations of 1956 (in my eyes). I don't like the other maroon with cream version that much. Anyway, a nice addition to the green and blue examples. I took many pictures this afternoon, for the descriptions in my collection catalogue. Three below. Kind regards, Jan    

Dave thank you for photographing and sharing your very beautiful South African collection. Jan all very cool additions. That Express Horse Van is blindingly beautiful. The beautiful shine shows off well in the photo.

Jan Oldenhuis

Minor stuff compared to the goodies on display here recently, but ...

I recently obtained this Studebaker for a reasonable price. It can replace a very battered brown one. The door handles have been touched in, but the rest of the paint is original as far as I can determine.

Meanwhile I had somehow ignored Dinky's lovely triple-gang mower until recently. Thanks to a Facebook post and a recent Auto Jaune article, I noticed just what a lovely model it is -- and I guess I over-compensated slightly.

Arrived today - much later than in previous years - the first printed copy of my 2021 catalogue supplement! I will take this sample with me for display at the AGM in Peterborough, next Saturday. Kind regards, Jan  

Looking forward to meeting you, but just to clarify the date is Saturady 9th July 2022 in Peterborough. It says your comment was 7th June and was worried I had missed the AGM.

Please could you give the location and postcode and the time the event opens.

David

Hello David, nice that you intend to attend the AGM!

For extensive information I can refer to page 3 in the April 2022 issue of The Journal and the loose leaflet with agenda included.

I will copy the Journal message below.

Looking forward to see you there, kind regards, Jan

Thank you for the infromation my intention is to be there, am really looking forward to the event and to see what if anything I can contribute..

David

A rare new addition to my collection this week.....actually two, but I will focus on just one for now.  Many of you know I retired from active collecting a few years ago, but I still make an occasional purchase when something special stirs me.

   And so I found this wonderful example of the 24a Chrysler New Yorker, in the harder to find metallic blue color.  It is virtually mint, with perfect white tires, and a like new crisp box.  This will replace a less than stellar red convertible that I acquired in 1959. I will also elaborate more under the proper heading for it.  But I am quite happy with it!
      Terry

Splendid.

Enjoyed the AGM, met some very informative experts and some models that I bid on but lost. Hope to be more involved in the future.

David

Hi David, wonderful to have met you in person for the first time, and the other Dinky friends after at least three years. I love your stories about collecting and the fresh ideas that you introduced about the DTCA.The AGM and the get-together, presentations and sales of Dinky Toys were wonderful once more after such a long time. I bought the two different Streamlined Buses and the bright Telephone Call Box from Bob Burnett, and the Robot Two-Face (angled) plus AA Motor Cycle Patrol from Peter Hall of the ACME Toy Company in Birmingham. With Dave Busfield I visited the Coventry old toys fair on Sunday and made acquaintance with Barry Potter. As a little souvenir I spent 4,00 pounds on an Oxford Diecast mini Dinky Caravan. A lovely weekend indeed!

Kind regards, Jan   

Two long desired models arrived today. The white no. 546 Austin Healey was assembled in France, but the previously used 'Assemblé en France' is replaced by 'Made in France' for this model. Many replicas are around today, but this one is the authentic Dinky. It came from Haarlem, the Netherlands. The lovely no. 24n Traction Avant Citroen 11BL is the early version, with tinplate front bumper and the spare wheel at the rear. It came from Calais, France. A snapshot attached. Kind regards, Jan  

Jan--Some more quite nice additions!  That early Citroen is not very easy to find, especially here in the US, where they were never imported.  I found a decent example years ago, but not nearly as nice as yours.  Looking forward to further posts of it along with your usual lovely photographs.

    Best regards,  Terry

Hello Jan,

A nice pair to be added to your collection.

"Made in" and "assembled in" must not be mistaken.

The Austin Healey # 546 as well as the Aston Martin DB 3 # 506 are embossed MADE IN FRANCE because the moulds have been used in Bobigny like the Alfa Romeo # 185 and other French moulds have been used in Liverpool probably to enlarge the range available on each market.

These are not to be mistaken with the Renault 16 # 537 / 166 and the Dyane # 1413 / 149 the tool of which have been sent to Liverpool when the Bobigny factory closed. Why have they not been sent to the Calais factory will remain a mystery. Both these models are the only ones to have been cast in three different factories of Bobigny, Liverpool and Ibi, Alicante.

The tools for the 24 series Packard and Studebaker have also been used in Bobigny in the 1949 / 50.

Thank you, Terry and Jacques, for your appreciated comments!

Another Namac/Houten Fair took place today. I had a stall with a friend. Sales were rather modest but the atmosphere was great, once more meeting many like-minded fellow enthusiasts, as usual. I was happy to add a nice high line red/turquoise Hudson Commodore Sedan to the collection. Just unpacked and photographed. Kind regards, Jan 

From Amfreville-la-Mi-Voie, France, a nice Hotchkiss-Willys Jeep avec conducteur, a transitional no. 80bp/816 of 1959, and still with the early convex wheels (the way I like them). A nice complement to my initial 80b and the whole French military 80 range. The only casting difference with 80b is the hole in the driver's seat. The box picture is very slightly different too, not only as the driver is concerned. Both are drawn by Jean Massé, the 80bp/816 box signed 'J.M.' only. The plastic driver is removable. By the way, am I the only one collecting Dinky Toys here? Kind regards, Jan 

There are three versions for the Jeep with driver :
1) ridged hubs, smooth Ø 15mm. tyres, no tow hook, reference 80 bp then 816 from 1959
2) ridged hubs, smooth Ø 15mm. tyres, without, later with tin plate tow hook, reference 816
3) concave hubs, treaded Ø 15mm. tyres, with tow hook

and four different boxes :
1) remaining 80B boxes with additionnal 80 BP stickers en each end
2) 80 BP box
3) dual numbering box
4) 816 box

There is a casting difference where the depth of the seats has been filled in.

wow! It's been a long time since I hadn't been hanging there. The South African models blew my mind !!!
Talking about British / French made models, I recently acquired this one which is not quite bad

And the underside, sorry the embossing is so light, I haven't been able to take a better picture

Erwan

The picture can be improved to a certain degree.

Taking photos of the base plates is a bit special, mainly the glossy ones if you want to avoid light reflexions. What I do is first go outside to get the best light and hold the model in one hand and the camera in the other. This allows to search for the best light. Then using photoshop I can adjust the light, remove the fingers and reframe the picture.

Here is a modest new arrival, sporting the unusual painted, concave cast wheels.

This Porsche 356a coupé is a German icon. It's a pity that no forum topic has been created about this car yet.

This car was used on the highways of the Netherlands in the 1950/60's by the (AVD) General Traffic Service of the National Police (Rijkspolitie). Every motorist was in awe of these fast cars when you saw them approaching in the mirror at high speed. To illustrate, some photos from this nostalgic traffic era and a replica of this car from Minichamps.

Jan Oldenhuis 2 September 2022

Some of you who use Facebook may have seen my most recent acquisitions. Nothing too exciting as far as I can see but bought from a local gentleman at an advantageous price. I've held off posting here as I've been away from home for three weeks and can't access the collection.

Hopefully, other will get pleasure, as I have, from seeing these models.  They have expanded my collection and added a couple of items that I didn't previously own. In this instance it's the two 23d Auto-Unions, both with pre-war wheels and drivers. I presume these are early post-war examples. There are one or two pre-war items - a 29b Streamline Bus and a 25f Market Gardener's Wagon. 

The Junkers Bomber in wartime black is a nice addition albeit it has a damaged undercarriage leg. There's a Britains field gun among the items and a nice Dinky 161b Anti-Aircraft Gun.

I'll post more photos when I'm home again.

Additions of the past  few weeks together. The no. 454 Trojan Van ‘Cydrax’ is an improvement. I have an example of similar quality, but that one is unboxed and will be sold. For the first four of this series this is no obvious problem because they were sold separately initially. But the Cydrax and the Brooke Bond Tea versions were always sold in their individual boxes. The Pullmore Car Transporter is no new addition, but its box is. The box in which I bought it in 1994 was heavily repaired, creased and grubby. The box I managed to find now is almost perfect – and exactly the same with dual numbers 582/982.

The no. 319 Weeks Farm Trailer is a strange bird in my collecting policy, it is too young, from 1961, but it is so fine and I got it almost ‘for free’, as it is very common.

The no. 60t Douglas DC3 Air Liner was a very old desideratum. It is pre-war only and the only Dutch owned (KLM) plane ever produced by Meccano. I bought it from a Dutch fellow-collector for a very fair, friendly price, complete with a good box, gliding game eye and gliding game leaflet, plus three additional, differently dated gliding game leaflets as a bonus.

Collecting also means uncollecting. After 22 years in my ownership I thought the time has come to part with my 73 unique sheets of original Meccano/Dinky factory drawings and lists – before something unwanted happens to them. So, I was in Liverpool yesterday to transfer them officially to the collection of the Meccano Business Archive, housed in the Merseyside Maritime Museum at the Albert Dock. The Archive and I signed the transfer agreement and both of us are very happy with this solution, safeguarding them for future generations, professionally kept and available to any serious researcher. I hope other owners of such documents will be inspired by my example.

I made hires scans of all of them years ago already. Some images are already available for registered users on this DTCA website, the remaining ones will follow soon. Kind regards, Jan    

Jan -- what a wonderful thing for you to have done! I too hope that other collectors follow in your lead.

Not that I am planning a trip to Liverpool, but is there any way to find out what other sorts of holdings the Meccano Business Archive has? I am impressed you even found out about them; certainly they seem to have no Internet presence that I could see ...