MAC Forum

Yesterday I was watching the Public Television (PBS) Antiques Roadshow from the UK. An elderly bald man was showing five boxed DINKY TOYS that he had played with in the late 1930s. They were scratched, and he was describing how he had played with them, running them down the string by their fuselage loops much as I did with my Hot Birds over thirty years later.

The five models were: DH Albatross, DC-3, Ju-90, Ensign, and - best of all - Mayo Composite. The last mentioned had one wing about to fall off because of impure metal, and one of the planes was missing a red two-bladed prop.

The "expert" appraised them at £100-£250 each for a total of £1,000. Surely by now at least the Mayo Composite is worth more? It's good to see old planes of any kind on a television show about antiques.

tone
those are all pre War Dinkys and all are rare- but the key as in all things is condition.
Mint un'fatigued' examples go for hunderds of pounds and one boxed JU-90 was sold on ebay for well over $1000 recently. I posted this result here somewhere.
The Mayo with wing falling off is worth very little , normally it is the fuselage, especially the nose area that experiences most of metal degradation problems.
The DC-3 is also rare. Some rarer than others as there are two versions, one with a tail wheel and one without.
The JU-89 is also rare but again condition is key, it is notorious for metal degradation problems, and hard to find still having the Swastikas, Crosses, and original black top, blue underside finish. This is one of the few Dinky Toys some people have tried to duplicate as the base casting is the JU-90 one with a name change under the wing. Easy way to tell is border traces of decals/transfers as the original ones were painted-on, and the wrong name under the wing.
Dave Shelton and I are working on a Dinky Toy book that we hope to have finished early this fall. It will build on Sue Richardson's work and be fully illustrated with hundreds of photographs of the base castings and the variations known.