Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

  On 10/09/2023 at 12:00, junkyarddog said:

Some of yesterday Majorette finds.

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All very nice - but the Bay gives me WANT FACE the most

[junkyarddog]

  On 10/09/2023 at 13:08, bunglebus said:

All very nice - but the Bay gives me WANT FACE the most

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Only one of those unfortunately.

[bunglebus]

Here are some of today's finds - mostly boot sale stuff although I did stumble on quite a large haul of the right era Matchbox and Corgi etc in charity shop this afternoon.

This is far and away my best find for £2.00

Gorgeous. R17 is nice but I think I have slightly better examples 

Laser Wheels are always a pleasing find

Turbo 2 

and Trickshifters 

Late FX4 is very nicely done

All these Corgis came out of the charity shop 

[bunglebus]

Hot Wheels model A van is a timely find

As I have a far more broken one on the bench awaiting attention 

Majorette finds represented by a single Honda

Just one Husky too - FC LR

Not the first Trainspotter I've purchased, you'll be surprised to learn

Corgi Polo is quite tidy, but the tailgate won't open strangely

Big Tonka buggy

[bunglebus]

I bought this a few weeks ago 

I've got one of these lurking in long-term project limbo, after visions of making a camper body for it ground to a halt. Thought I'd have a go at doing a stock(ish) resto instead 

[egg]

Very hot down south - hottest day of the year (over 30 outside) and 26 indoors, so sitting around today, let's have a closer look at this Daimler from an earlier tat Friday.

as 

Not had one before, it is very long for an early 1-75 and has a really nice yellow tone that the spud cam doesn't really pick up (I'm still on 5m pixel camera here - as I'm the opposite of your 'early adopter' types). Big improvement over the 'a' model where they didn't even bother with a baseplate making it one of the most basic of 1-75's ever. Example pic below

This one stays as is - but next time I give Flowers a ring I'll get a new 'red cross' for the roof, even though it possibly never had one. I like the way Ambulance is picked out down the side, maybe they could have done open rear windows - but appreciate this is meant to be a 'private' vehicle. Anyway, this little scrap has lasted 60 years as it was made between 58-62.

[BigMac]

@Datsuncog If not claimed could you put the G-wagon and airport tender in a cogbox for me please. 

[bunglebus]

  On 10/09/2023 at 15:03, egg said:

Daimler

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I've got one of those, with baseplate 

[egg]

Chris Goffey (yep the real one) has just stumbled across a French tat box!

https://twitter.com/ChrisGoffey/status/1700893040167059631/photo/1

[Spottedlaurel]

  On 10/09/2023 at 17:16, egg said:

Chris Goffey (yep the real one) has just stumbled across a French tat box!

https://twitter.com/ChrisGoffey/status/1700893040167059631/photo/1

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Jeepers! I was paying a lot more than that at the French autojumble. Well done to the Goffmeister!

 

I managed a rare visit to a boot sale today. Useless items* purchased:

 

Cheapies from various stalls were 5 for £1, 3 for £1, 50p each or £1 each. One or two things were more expensive, but in total I didn't spend much more than £30. I already had one of those E-Class estates without its lightbar, the thought is they'll get converted to bangers someday.

300ZXs were odd. I was convinced I was just finding colour variations, then I realised the silver one was different (and quite a nice basic casting).

Tomica Dandy Isuzu Elf has led a hard life on the construction site, but for 33.33333333333p it's OK.

Don't remember the Police version(s), did they do they other forces? Shame the tampo is bit squiffy maybe the other side is straighter and will display better?

Possibly a Toyota Celsior or Lexus LS400....

 

*"I can't figure out why I've bought so many useless items" from Persuasion by Soft Cell, not at the easy listening end of the musical spectrum.

[Justwatching]

The DeLorean owners club had its annual event at the Morgan factory on Saturday. Spotted a cabinet of miniature Morgan shite on the tour. 

[bunglebus]

  On 10/09/2023 at 19:18, Spottedlaurel said:

300ZXs

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Nearest two are Zylmex (or possibly into the MotorMax era, as is the Toyota/Lexus - has it got a D number on the base?)

Wheels on the furthest one look like Welly to me - here's mine with different rims

[Spottedlaurel]

Silver one matches up, although I have some numbers where you have a blank.

The other two (and the LS400/Celsior) have a blank where something was written.

[bunglebus]

  On 10/09/2023 at 19:39, Spottedlaurel said:

The other two (and the LS400/Celsior) have a blank where something was written

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That's a shame - the 300ZX should have D78, the number's helpful identifying them

[Spottedlaurel]

  On 10/09/2023 at 19:44, bunglebus said:

That's a shame - the 300ZX should have D78, the number's helpful identifying them

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Ah, sorry - yes they do all have the number, it just I imagined there would once have been a makers name alongside it.

I have a D114, so it is a Lexus then. As it's less than mint could be a good basis for replicating my 1:1 (although it could be argued its current condition is actually a pretty accurate representation).

[danthecapriman]

  On 10/09/2023 at 17:16, egg said:

Chris Goffey (yep the real one) has just stumbled across a French tat box!

https://twitter.com/ChrisGoffey/status/1700893040167059631/photo/1

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That’s what @Jon parents suitcase will look like next time they go to visit him!😆

[andrew e]

Because I just know* Hotwheels  will be the Lledo Days Gone of our generation with boxes worthless ones come  2053….. I even found it hanging up on a peg in a shop!

So I very much  enjoyed doing this  just like I did 40 years ago 😁  

It’s a sweet little thing! Quite heavy too and the roll cage would be drainpipe thick if it was to scale.

[sierraman]

What will be the future valuable stuff? I don’t buy based on this, I just buy it if I like it. I reckon maybe the main line matchbox will be, it follows a tight change schedule compared to the ones 30 years ago, loads of colours that didn’t make it here or weren’t available in U.K. 

[Markeh]

I was just about to post in here about Days Gone!

A discussion with my folks yesterday revealed the fact that amongst the other collectible bits and bobs in my late gran's house that we'll need to clear out in the near future, she still had all my grandad's old Days Gone and View Vans in the loft. I remember him having a rather large collection of these when I was younger - in their old house, used to be a floor to ceiling cabinet in their hallway filled with them, and there were more not on show/in cabinets elsewhere in the house. No idea of quantity yet but I gather from the above comments that they're likely worth the square root of fuck all?

[Cookiesouwest]

  On 11/09/2023 at 10:24, Markeh said:

I was just about to post in here about Days Gone!

A discussion with my folks yesterday revealed the fact that amongst the other collectible bits and bobs in my late gran's house that we'll need to clear out in the near future, she still had all my grandad's old Days Gone and View Vans in the loft. I remember him having a rather large collection of these when I was younger - in their old house, used to be a floor to ceiling cabinet in their hallway filled with them, and there were more not on show/in cabinets elsewhere in the house. No idea of quantity yet but I gather from the above comments that they're likely worth the square root of fuck all?

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When the time comes, box them up and send them to auction. Someone will buy them. Maybe for an average of 50p each, but they will sell.

Or put them in a skip.

I favour the former as, like burning books, I'm against binning diecast.

[Cookiesouwest]

Today, I had a delivery 

Many moons ago, @Datsuncogsold me my first Northcord model, which happened to be in Brighton & Hove livery.

Since then I've bought many Northcords and a few B&H liveried buses. So these are his fault.

Commissioned by Omnidekka Models from 80M, its a Wright Street deck.

Really good quality. Available in two routes, so I bought both. As usual I'm reluctant to take them out of the box.

So here's a picture I nicked from the Interweb. Picture by Alec Mitchell from the Omnidekka FB group.

[egg]

Some Days Gone are OK like the Vanguards, I mean would we buy this Mini? Maybe?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195962422769

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314782148423?epid=1005612809

or this?

But this junk...na!

[sierraman]

Like @Split_Pin I’m quite bitter about ‘Dayz Gone By’. I’ll happily squash them in the vice. 😂

[Tenmil Socket]

  On 11/09/2023 at 11:28, sierraman said:

Like @Split_Pin I’m quite bitter about ‘Dayz Gone By’. I’ll happily squash them in the vice. 😂

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Or give them to a charity shop so they can be displayed in a glass cabinet at £15 each.

[Split_Pin]

  On 11/09/2023 at 11:13, egg said:

Some Days Gone are OK like the Vanguards, I mean would we buy this Mini? Maybe?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195962422769

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314782148423?epid=1005612809

or this?

But this junk...na!

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I'm pretty sure that Mini went on to be the second 'real' Vanguards casting, albeit much modified, to replace the terrible Corgi Classics effort. I'm fairly certain that @MiniMinorMk3 covered this a while ago and how unhappy collectors were at Corgi Classic's fist stab at it. I'd give one a home as I think it's an excellent model, same for the Traveller.

As for the other junk, I was actually becoming physically irritated on the train en route to collect my new Merc SLK because I was thinking about Days Gone cars. A wanton intrusion into a nice day. The little bastards.

[Datsuncog]

  On 11/09/2023 at 10:24, Markeh said:

I gather from the above comments that they're likely worth the square root of fuck all?

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I know a man who thinks otherwise - but he also doesn't seem to be selling all that many from his market stall...

Would second the advice just to box them up and put them through the auction as a job lot.

My uncle had a similar scenario with his late father's 'diecast collection' - 300 or so Days Gone, all pristine and saved as a 'nest egg' for his family when he was gone.

I think they got £60 or so from the auctioneer, less commission.

I mean, it paid for a decent takeaway but the family probably would have seen a much better return if he'd simply banked the cash value of the Lledos in 1985 (say ~£1,000, assuming each model cost him between £3 and £4), and let the interest accumulate... or indeed, had he had the foresight to buy a couple of shares in Apple...

Still - at least your grandad displayed them, and hopefully enjoyed them for a good long while. I gather the models in the collection I'm talking about were just bought and immediately stored away as 'investments' - based on the antique collector mania bollocks going on in the 80s, when certain early prewar Dinkys were suddenly worth more than the price of a house, and the newspapers were going buck daft breathlessly interviewing Lauren Harries every few weeks.

Jack Odell, at least, did pretty well out of it all.

And the mid-90s Lledos were actually pretty good.

[Datsuncog]

  On 11/09/2023 at 11:13, egg said:

I mean would we buy this Mini? Maybe?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195962422769

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314782148423?epid=1005612809

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Heh, I picked one of those up at the market a few weeks ago, which I think precipitated the Mini chat and revelation that this casting, modified lightly, is still in the current Corgi Vanguards range.

For £3, it's pretty good.

But I dunno if I'd have fancied paying an awful lot more...

[MiniMinorMk3]

The thing with the Days Gone stuff is some are collectable, but the vast majority are not. They need to have a production run of less than 200ish to be on collectors radars.

Also the collectors of them are fast leaving us, so the ones that were collectable are now easier to find, so prices will still be dropping.

It's the same with most "collectable" stuff. When they are current there is a lot of speculation and high demand, but after the novelty has gone (Beany Babies), then the laws of economics take over and there is more supply than demand. Something have a second wind, but it usually takes about 20 to 30 years when the nostalgia effect kicks in and people want their old childhood junk back.

Just look at the price of original Star Wars stuff and vintage Lego sets. Boot fair stalls were full of that stuff in the late 1990s and give away prices. At the moment original Pokemon stuff is starting to gain traction.

By the way, none of the modern Matchbox or HotWheels stuff will ever command the prices of the original issue stuff. Too many people buy them thinking if they keep them in a darkened room for 30 years they will be worth a mint. The thing is, too many people have got the same idea, just like they did 30 year ago with the Days Gone stuff.

[egg]

Here's a bit more detail from the 1995 Lledo catalogue I was looking at earlier, with mini and morris variations (moar to collect)

[Datsuncog]

  On 11/09/2023 at 12:14, MiniMinorMk3 said:

By the way, none of the modern Matchbox or HotWheels stuff will ever command the prices of the original issue stuff. Too many people buy them thinking if they keep them in a darkened room for 30 years they will be worth a mint. The thing is, too many people have got the same idea, just like they did 30 year ago with the Days Gone stuff.

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They'll be worth something for as long as there's a consensus that they must be worth something - but yes, once a cohort passes on, then the things they valued tends to crash through the floor.

The trick behind 'survivor investing' is to not be the last one standing holding the goods, as by that point their notional value evaporates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory?wprov=sfla1

I've waxed lyrical on this before, but I think Billy Bunter memorabilia was one of the first mass-media collectables to gain traction as very valuable, with first-edition books and original copies of Magnet comic selling for ££££ because some wealthy old guys had such positive associations between Frank Richards' stories and their teenage youth in the 1920s and 30s, that they were happy to partake in bidding wars beyond what was sensible to acquire certain rarities.

Once this particular generation had passed, the values of the items cratered because, as you say, supply suddenly outstripped demand. To put it bluntly, no-one cared anymore.

And the same could well happen with Mattel products - or any collectible, really.

These days, I just keep the things I actively like and punt the rest on, regardless of whether they look like 'investments' - because in the long-term they probably won't be...