…my amazement at the line-up of dozens of new Wiking miniatures in boxes on May 12, 1990 at the Aachen exchange.

The seller, Peter Diering, came from Berlin, the city where these miniatures were manufactured.

He had unearthed a large stock from the factory. Initially, it was our interest in Volkswagen Kombis that attracted us to the display. Very quickly we extended our search to Volkswagen sedans and convertibles.

The quality of the plastic used, the finesse of the engraving, the accuracy of the shapes quickly make us forget a reproduction scale slightly higher than 1/43. (See the blogs “ring my Bell”)

When we see the boxes, we quickly understand that these models were designed for promotional use.

The injected colors are those of the Volkswagen catalogs, the Wiking palette followed that of Wolfsburg: the official name of the color is even reproduced on the tabs of the boxes.

The promotional vocation contributed to my attraction to this world. So I quickly started looking for the Tempo, Hanomag, Fahr and other Normag that Wiking had made for these manufacturers.

… This is the exciting side of the collection, the one that makes you discover worlds that were previously unknown. Since that date, I have never stopped trying to complete the range.

Wiking Volkswagen Collection AutoJaune

This week, two promotional models made by Wiking are offered.

They are at the end of the Berlin adventure.

A 1968 sedan recognizable by the vertical positioning of the headlights on the front wings, and a Karmann coupe. It is beautiful and well made with the corresponding boxes.

Let’s stay in Germany with these Mercurys. Yes, Italian Mercurys imported into Germany by Marklin. Admit that the packaging with its information in German and its particular graphics give these Italian products a certain flavor. The two Fiats on sale this week with their packaging still sealed bear witness to a commercial agreement from the mid-sixties. Mebetoys having allied itself with Solido, Mercury found with Märklin a way to develop abroad. It was Europe before its time.

Being familiar with Italian events, I have always been struck by the omnipresence of German toys on the stalls of merchants, and the high prices of Schuco, Micro racers and Märklin in Italy. If the standard of living in Italy is now equal to ours, this was not the case a century ago. However, there was a bourgeois clientele in the big cities, for very beautiful toys, German toys. This is how Marklin, Bing, Carette and then Schuco monopolized the high-end toy market. For many Italian lovers of old toys, German toys are the reference. The Marklin/Mercury agreement must be placed in this context.

It seems important to me, in order to better understand the Dinky Toys collection, to recall the genesis of the brand.

Meccano, which manufactured the construction game of the same name, created the Hornby brand, dedicated to mechanical and then electric miniature trains.

At the beginning of the thirties, management understood that it was also necessary to provide customers with accessories in order to make the train networks more lively. We also understand the interest for an industrialist in building customer loyalty by diversifying the offer.

To do this, it created a third entity Dinky Toys, in which it incorporated not only characters, gas pumps, signs, and small buildings such as garages and service stations but also doll furniture, planes, and boats.

The miniature cars arrived in 1933 and gradually took up all the space in the catalogs.

This week, many products offered represent this period.

My favorite is the box containing the shepherd and his sheep, produced before the war. It is the rarest of the series.

Two other sets of station characters, one French and one English, also pre-war, are on the menu.

models on sale this week : Dinky Toys France coffret personnages gare nr 5 et Dinky Toys GB Coffret 3 Railway passengers

 

They are superb, and always have their effect in the window, like the sumptuous sets of pre-war aircraft, one of which is also offered. The illustrations on the lids of the boxes already deserve your full attention. I appreciate the stencils made on the wings, the color harmonies born from the imagination of the design office and the impeccable markings.

models on sale this week : Dinky Toys France coffret avion 61 et Dinky Toys GB set aeroplanes 60

 

A set with “Normandy” is also planned. Each of the English and French entities of Dinky Toys will have a malicious pleasure in reproducing the flagship of the national fleet. The English will produce an impressive set with the war fleet while we will be satisfied with the “Dunkirk”. Everything was written.

models on sale this week: Dinky Toys France bateau La Normandie 52C

 

On arrival, the Dinky Toys collector is faced with a very simple dilemma. Should he restrict his field of investigation to automobiles only, or should he broaden the scope of his collection to other objects stamped Dinky Toys? I’ll let you think about it. For my part, I opted for a middle ground. Everything deserves my attention, but I do not develop the variations in certain areas of the Dinky Toys collection.

models on sale this week: Solido Ferrari 250GT 2+2 123

My favorite is the Ferrari 250GT 2+2 from Solido. It is the second model to be equipped with opening doors after the reference 121, the famous Lancia Flaminia. The Ferrari is less successful than the latter. It is a little too short. This miniature has had a very long career, which has resulted in the production of multiple variants. This is first and foremost what I appreciate about this model. We can let ourselves be drawn into looking for as many variants as possible by crossing the color, mold and chassis variants. However, there is a time when limits are imposed: the lack of space but also the search for a balance inside the display cases.

Collection AutoJaune variantes de Ferrari 250GT 2+2 extrait du blog a lire ICI 

Another element makes me have an affinity for this miniature. I have the wooden model that was used to design the mold and one of the original gouaches by Jean Blanche that was used to create the catalog. The variant proposed is interesting and realistic. It is in “Rubino metallic” color. I remember that I had ordered from AMR this same 250GT 2+2 with this color name. The model offered is still equipped with molded headlights. The variant with the headlights reported in this color is in my opinion more common. This beautiful model is at the origin of a blog.

Collection AutoJaune Solido-Ferrari-250-GT-22-123-Prototype-bois-et-gouache-originale-de-Jean-Blanche