Dinky Toys shop display case, £680 at Vectis.
On April 9 Stockton-on-Tees auction house Vectis (20.83% buyer’s premium inc VAT) offered The Harrie Van De Bosch Dinky collection – 689 lots of Dinky Toys all from a single owner.
The Dutch collector had decided to sell as his children and grandchildren hardly had any interest in it and this was the time for him and his family to enjoy the proceeds.
Pictured above is a Dinky shop display case: Dinky Toys New Models Every Month.
The tinplate case features a Perspex window and plastic inner tray, with yellow and red with chrome front surround trim.
Described as being in good overall condition, but untested, it was estimated at £300-400 and hammered at £680.
This scarce Corgi Toys shop display rotating stand, about 2ft 5in (73cm) high, holds up to 32 models. In “good original condition”, at sold for a hammer price of £1100 against a guide of £200-300 at Kent saleroom C&T in September last year.
More conventional buys from the collection included a GS4 Gift Set Racing Cars guided at £500-600 which made £850 and a No 900 Site Building Gift Set sold within estimate for £750.
Corgi showcase
The first toy sale of 2024 at TW Gaze (24% buyer’s premium) of Diss, Norfolk, included an unusual and possibly unique retail or trade fair animated display for Corgi.
This one did also feature the toys: 16 diecast model vehicles.
Corgi Toys display, £1500 at TW Gaze.
The lower section formed a circular rotating motorway, the central section involving three alternating dioramas with moving parts including bonnets and boots opening and closing, truck tipping, tractor shovel rising and lowering and hydraulic crane truck extending and lowering.
The display was housed within a blue and yellow painted ply casing with a Corgi logo to the front and light-up top (the electric motor did not work, though).
Measuring about 17in high x 16½in wide (43 x 42.5cm), the display was guided at £1000-1500 on March 12 and sold at the top estimate.
Disney castle
Disneyland castle card display with figures, £1050 at Amersham Auction Rooms.
An array of miniature plastic figures was included with an impressive Disneyland printed card display by Marx Toys that was offered with an estimate of just £50-70 at Amersham Auction Rooms (20% buyer’s premium) on March 21.
The 17in (43cm) high structure inspired by the Sleeping Beauty Castle was probably made for a sales showroom or toy show, c.1961, did rather better, taking a hammer price of £1050.
Disneykin series figures included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Bambi, Captain Hook and Peter Pan. They were shown above their names on tiered steps of the stand (although it seems three were missing here).
Some examples of this display have the price for the figures shown in the ‘bubble’ top right but the fact this one does not suggests it was never used.
In May 2023 Milestone Auctions of Ohio sold a very similar Disneykins store display for a hammer price of $1000 (£790) against a guide of $600-800.
That version displayed 34 Disneykins figures, many of them different to the ones at Amersham (it may have been a slightly earlier make).
