The majority of the Dinky toys comprising the Matcham Collection are those that were given to the vendor when he was a boy. These Dinkys have been played with, but not very often, and hence they are in remarkably good condition. All those Dinkys forming this part of the collection have an assured provenance; indicated by the initials ‘RP’, as stated as part of the models fuller description. They were purchased in Sydney, Australia, in all likelihood at the department stores David Jones or the former Farmers. It would seem from the original price still visible on some boxes that the Dinkys of the late forties early fifties cost anywhere between a few shillings to twelve shillings [12/-] odd, the higher price being for a Dinky Supertoy.

Today Dinky Toys are bought and sold across the world by thousands of collectors for whom there is nothing quite so rewarding as a new variation to add to their collection. It has been estimated that the value of top quality boxed models have increased by 18% in the twelve month period 2002/3. Such increases in value highlight the wisdom of buying good quality model Dinky Toys for investment purposes and this increasing trend has led to an unprecedented rise in the value of many models. Consequently it is hardly surprising that a substantial acquisition of Dinky Toys has become a serious part of an alternative investment fund.

All of this is a very long way indeed from Frank Hornby’s original vision of a range of vehicles which would complement his model railway layouts!

The first models known as ‘Dinky Toys’ became available circa 1934 and by the beginning of the Second World War the phrase ‘Dinky Toys’ had become a household name. Today pre-war Dinkys in good condition are rare, mainly because they were made of an unstable alloy which tended to crystallise and disintegrate Fortunately the post-war models do not suffer from the same problem and much of today’s collecting interest is centred around the delightful models of the forties and fifties produced at the famous Binns Road factory in Liverpool, England.

After the Second World War models continued to be sold unboxed from trade boxes until circa 1953/54 when the first individual boxes where introduced. There appear to have been exceptions to this form in that some early Supertoys were individually boxed. Hence many of the models in the Matcham Collection were acquired in an era when Dinkys were sold individually without their own box

We are indebted to Swapmeet Toys and Models, t/a Swapmeet Publications, for the background information on Dinky Toys.

The information and photographs appearing in the Matcham Collection documentation has been prepared with care and is presented in good faith, however the vendors accept no responsibility or liability whatsoever for any errors or omissions in their description or estimation of  the condition of a model or model box.