To all Just wanted to let the rest of you know that fellow DInky Toys collectors Jose Heraud and Jonathan Angel, will be traveling to our area and meeting at our house on Saturday, April 28. We will spend the day discussing our love of Dinky Toys and our collecting interests, and I will have my modest collection out of its cabinet, and on open display on tables. You may ask why this is worth mentioning....well, here we have no more toy stores, boot sales, or even toy fairs, so the opportunity to get together with esteemed fellow collectors is rare indeed. We will surely take some photos and I post after our momentous visit. After our day long meeting, I am treating the group to an outdoor grilled dinner, with fine Napa Valley red wine, and, of course, more Dinky talk. Best regards, Terry
I'm now counting the days!
To add to what Terry said, yes, it is unfortunately rare to encounter a fellow Dinky collector in the States, especially here on the West Coast. The distances make it difficult (impossible?) for any shops selling antique toys to thrive, and it has been more than 20 years since eBay killed off swapmeets.
Thanks to Terry's hospitality, this will be practically a "once in a lifetime" event!
That will be a great meeting, no doubt! I started meetings like that in 2004 and it was always a pleasure for everyone to see like-minded enthusiasts, both Dutch and from abroad. Jose attended in 2011 and 2017. Have a very nice day, and we look forward to see some impressions posted! Kind regards, Jan W
Terry, Jose and Jonathan,
Wishing you all a great meeting. Pity it isn't after 3 May as Lina and I arrive in Los Angeles on that date and then we change to United that will take us to New York, well actually, Newark. Back to Los Angeles on 21st and then to Australia the following evening.
Kind regards to you all and I can well imagine that you will have an absolutely "fair dinkum" "dinkyholic" gathering!
Bruce (150)
20182704/0130/1190
Bruce——That is a shame.....that would have been incredible if you could have been in the mix with us! Will you be in LA long, or just passing through briefly? I want you and any other DTCA members to know, you always have a standing invitation to visit us when passing through LA. we are about 45-60 minutes south of the airport, near Huntington Beach area.
Would you have some amount of time when you return on May 21? We will certainly have a grand time this Saturday, and it will be interesting, as we three have similar, but also different Dinky backgrounds, with Jonathan being a younger and later collector. We are also going to see several wonderful automobile collections this next week, plus I will take Jose and his wife, Nancy, for a spin in my 1930 Model A Ford Town Sedan.
Best regards, Terry
Bruce, thanks for your kind wishes. I think Jose arrives in Southern California today, and as for myself, I am poised in a motel on the edge of the great wen, having persuaded my little Ford van up Tejon Pass.
Terry has moved his collection from display cases out onto trestle tables for us to examine. Little does he know that whilst I may not have pushed Dinky Toys around on a carpet accompanied by appropriate engine noises for a few decades now, I have not forgotten how!
Jonathan (754)
Greetings Terry and Jonathan
Terry - so you live in the Huntington Beach area. I know that location very, very well. In 1981 Lina and I stayed with dear friends, Adolph and Helen Leirer who lived at 16132A Malaga Lane. Adolph was a pilot in the 22nd Bomb Group that served in the SWPA during WW2. We were again guests of Adolph and Helen several years later. We also stayed with friends who lived in Seal Beach, not all that far from HB, Patti and Tom Hall.
On our way home, we are booked in a motel in the LAX area on 21 May, checking out the following day to catch our flight back to Brisbane that departs that night. I will send an email to you with the complete details.
Jonathan - good to know that you have not lost the art of providing the appropriate sound effects when handling those precious items.
Incidentally, I usually depend on emails with details of the latest Posts, but the last one I have received was on 18 April concerning Factory Errors. Do either of you receive messages from the webmaster on each new Post on the website with the exception of your own and if so, do you still receive any emails?
My brain is in a bit of tizzy as we are trying to decide on what to see in New York. We already have tickets out to the Statue of Liberty but missed out on going up the statue. We were last in NY in 1981.
I know these images have absolutely nothing to do with Dinky Toys, but thought I would throw them in anyhow! Here we are beside a 1929 Ford Trimotor at Browns Field, San Diego, 22 August 1981. I had just returned from my first and only flight in the Tin Lizzie as it was affectionately called. I am not sure who the fellow is, as he certainly had more hair in those days, but check out those bronzed legs!! Complete with socks at half-mast!
Then two days later, Adolph took us to where Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" was "hiding", complete with netting to cover it from prying eyes from overhead aircraft. The aircraft is now in its own circular display building.
Sorry about those time-capsule pictures!
Bruce (150)
20182804/0015/1191
Bruce
That is amazing that you stayed with friends, in the past, so close to where we live! We have been here since 1976, in the same house.
And yes, I do get e-mail notices on posts, but sometimes I do not actually see them right away, and, if real busy, may forget to respond as well......a kind of senior moment.
Possibly I can drive up and visit with you a bit when you are passing through on May 21.....please keep informed!
Best regards, Terry
I finally got to meet fellow collector Jose Heraud, and his wife, Nancy today, after they flew in yesterday from Pennsylvania. We spent several hours at another local toy collectors house, in nearby Newport Beach. Some of you may have heard of him in the past as a serious Dinky collector....his name is Philippe de Lespinay. Besides being a toy collector, he has also been an early, serious innovator in slot car racing at the highest levels, raced motorcycles, was involved with racer Dan Gurney for several decades in various capacities, has Indianapolis car invovlement, and has pursued many, many other interests in a well filled lifetime. Years ago, he sold off most of his Dinky collection to Keith Harvey, and has since focused on pre-war Tootsie Toys and vintage tinplate Toys. Jose and I got a personal tour of most of his displayed collection, which is simply incredible to see. The variety and quality of all the items is simply of the highest level. Those early, pre-war Tootsie Toys are just beautiful, and he has many mint, boxed sets, many of which have never been removed from their boxes....just stunning. Tomorrow, Jose is joining fellow DTCA member, Jonathan Angel, who has driven down almost 400 miles from N. California, in meeting at our house, for a rare celebration of a lifetime of Dinky Toys collecting for each of us. It promises to be a fun-filled day, with lots of conversation and shared memories. Below are a couple of photos....one of Jose, Nancy, and I, with Philippe; and another with Philippe holding one of his precious boxes of pre-war Tootsie Toys. Best regards, Terry
I am sorry that I did not arrive in time to meet Philippe de Lespinay too, as he is one of the legendary collectors I first heard of decades ago. He has also lived a life so many of us would envy -- designed toys most of his life, worked for Heller, Revell, Matchbox, etc. etc.
I don't know much about prewar Tootsietoys and should read up on the subject. What is singular is that the early Tootsietoy Grahams, for example, were so similar in quality and construction to Dinky Toys -- to the degree that Tootsie took legal action against Meccano Ltd. and made them change their chassis design, if I recall correctly. Yet having made toys that rivalled Dinky in quality, post-war Tootsie descended into producing rubbish. (OK, maybe the word "rubbish" is too strong, but certainly Tootsie's concentration on simple "dime store" toys was to Meccano Ltd.'s benefit.)
Off to Terry's in several hours. The weather is everything we hoped for -- the sun and air are amazing here!!
Jonathan is quite correct.....here is that photo of the three of us, basking in the afterglow of a nice dinner, complimented with lots of Dinky Toys discussion between Jose, Jonathan, and myself. It has been a long standing dream of mine to host such a meeting with fellow collectors. We discussed many facets of our collecting, as well as pointing out some of our favorites. All in all, a great time was had by all!
Best regards, Terry
It must have been a wonderful day for you, boys, playing with all those Dinkies. At the same time it must have been a hell of a job to take them all out and put them back again. Meetings like that are delightful, an important part of the hobby! Kind regards, Jan
Jan—-Thanks, yes we did have a very nice time meeting each other for the first time, and also with considerable Dinky discussion. Jonathan is a bit younger than Jose and I, so his collecting era is a little later than ours, which makes it interesting. He also now has several vintage Dinky Toys display cases, which I am hoping he will share here.....they are simply wonderful!
I have not yet put my models back where they belong, but that is looming very soon. I need to thoroughly clean and dust all the glass shelves and doors first.
Best regards, Terry
May I suggest a change of title for this thread to : Meetings between DTCA members.
Several such meetings have hapened in the States, in the Netherlands, in Jersey, in France and even in England but so far there is no thread to advertise and report such meetings.
More meetings may hapen this year.
In the meantime, last week Richard and I met at his place, the meeting was short because lack of time but the discussion was tight. Several subjects were dealt with but not the only one on the agenda which was the #972 Coles 20 ton. This will be the main subject for our next meeting in a few weeks.
Jacques, I love your optimism regarding this. Yes, the title of the thread should be changed -- though here in West Coast USA, the times of being able to get together in person seem quite distant, what with the coronavirus, firestorms, and political unrest. What an awful year.
At least I can sit in my Dinky room to try to forget these things, but it is sad not to be able to share with other collectors. Terry and Jose were planning to visit me in Northern California but of course had to abandon their plans. I hope it will still happen some day.
Most optimistic to have the new thread title (thanks!), and those nice pictures are warm reminders of better days.
Another small DTCA meeting occured here in May, 2018, in Southern California, when fellow members Bruce Hoy and wife Lina met me and my wife Cindy for dinner near LAX. They had a layover here on their way home to Australia, so it was a great opportunity to actually meet each other after several years of corresponding. Here is a photo of the two of us, along with Bruce's ever present travel companion.....his Dinky Toy DeSoto Fireflite.
Thank you to whoever changed the title of this thread. I hope that the covid will let us travel in the near future, I have plans to travel and meet members.
Kia ora
For several reasons, my plans to travel had to wait two years before coming true (see my Sept 2020 post above) but we are slowly coming out of the covid crisis and long distance travel is still not easy.
Now I am offering possible dates for DTCA meetings with Kiwi collectors.
December 5 at the Holliday Inn Auckland
December ? Wellington
December 19 at the hotel Ibis in Christchurch
If any member is interested to meet me then, please get in touch with me.
All the best.
Jacques
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