South African Dinky Toys The South African Dinky Toys Dinky Toys are not at present available in South Africa because of import restrictions explains this historic piece of Dinky Toys literature printed for South African agent Arthur E. Harris. Retail prices per pack for the South African Dinky Toys are listed in Rands (South African currency) on this paperwork dated February, 1963. Clive Unsworth documents the colourful South African assembled and finished issues born out of Apartheid, that are now so highly sought after and prized by collectors worldwide The box for the South African Chevrolet Corvair, seen here in ultra rare Sage green finish, illustrates the car in blue, whereas its French Dinky equivalent sold in Europe shows the car in red. In 1985 well known South African collector Ron Gersbank wrote an article about South African Dinky Toys and, to the best of my knowledge, was the first to popularise them. As Ron pointed out, at that time few collectors attached any importance to them and the fact that most colours were unique to South Africa. Indeed, a good friend of mine, and a fellow collector, tells the story of how years ago he turned down a whole carton full of mint and boxed South African Dinkys for just 67 cents each, only much later, to his deep regret, fully appreciating the significance of them! Various South African Meccano and Dinky Toys catalogues from the period prior to the country leaving the Commonwealth, forming the Republic of South Africa and imposing import restrictions. Import restrictions were lifted after a relatively short time and production stopped. The result is that these South African Dinky Toys are very rare Dated July 1964, this Arthur E. Harris price list and order form pertains solely to the Dinky Toys assembled and finished in The Republic of South Africa, and as such is a rare and very important record. Some boxes, such as the ones for the Volkswagen Beetle (seen here in ultra rare Sage green finish) and the Universal Jeep, don t feature dual English/Afrikaans script but are simply marked in small print with Sole Distributors: Arthur E. Harris (Pty) Ltd and Printed in South Africa. History in the making Arthur E. Harris (Pty) Ltd was the sole distributor of Dinky Toys for South Africa, importing Dinkys from both England and France. In 1962, however, South Africa under the rule of The National Party and Doctor Verwoerd refused to drop its policy of Apartheid, formed The Republic of South Africa and left The Commonwealth. Luxury goods and non-essentials, therefore, had import restrictions imposed. In response, and in order to reduce costs, Arthur E. Harris decided to import only the raw castings (not subject to the luxury goods import tax), and in 1962/3 these Dinky Toys were assembled and painted in South Africa, most of them in different colours to those produced in the UK and France. I have seen mention made that the South African Dinky Toys were assembled and finished in Cape Town. However, while the Arthur E. Harris catalogues certainly list addresses in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, Ron Gersbank seems to recall the models may have been made in Crown Mines, Johannesburg. So it would be interesting to hear from anyone who can provide a documented answer one way or the other. It appears that the import restrictions were lifted after a relatively short time and production stopped. The result is that these South African Dinky Toys are very rare. Colour runs I had the opportunity to speak to Tony Beith, who is related to Fabulous 1930 s artwork on the front cover of this Arthur E. Harris toy catalogue makes it a real collector s treasure! Arthur E. Harris by marriage and ran the company after Harris. He confirmed that they had considerable difficulty obtaining the necessary import permits but, having done so, assembly and production of these South African Dinkys proved both cost efficient and created much needed jobs. Colours were picked by Harris arbitrarily and, as far as Tony could recollect, no records were kept, but he doubted more than 1,000 to 2,000 would have been made in each colour. Some are clearly scarcer than others as the factory would have used up left over paint to avoid wastage on some models, resulting in small runs of colour variants. Added to this, of course, these were created as toys, and most, due to the rigours of play, would have been damaged and discarded by the children they were made for. Boxes The boxes were made and printed in South Africa by Swan Press. It is clearly stated on all boxes that they were printed in South Africa. As a lot of children would have thrown the boxes away, they are in fact now scarcer than the models themselves. A lot of boxes are very similar to the English/French boxes but some were completely redesigned from the English/ French style. Some of the models featured on the boxes sit differently and some illustrate different colours to those portrayed on their English/French equivalents, such as the Ford Anglia, Chevrolette Corvair and Opel Rekord. The box for the South African Chevrolet Corvair, seen here in ultra rare Sage green finish, illustrates the car in blue, whereas its French Dinky equivalent sold in Europe shows the car in red. The boxes mostly have dual English/Afrikaans (one of the two official languages at the time). Collectors should note, however, that some boxes don t feature content/ feature descriptions in Afrikaans on the box and use carry small print for: Sole Distributors: Arthur E Harris(Pty) Ltd. Printed in South Africa. Examples of this can be seen on the boxes for the 10 www.modelcollector.com may 2014 may 2014 www.modelcollector.com 11
No. 181 Volkswagen and 405 Universal Jeep. English Dinky Toys assembled and painted in South Africa 3 No. 139 Ford Consul Cortina Other differences The main differences between the South African Dinkys and their English and French counterparts are of course the colours, but there are a few other tell tale signs. On some models it s apparent that masking techniques employed during spray painting (and it should be remembered that South African production relied largely on an unskilled work force) were different to those at Binns Road and Bobigny. For example, The South African box illustration for the Opel Rekord differed considerably from its French equivalent, on which it was portrayed in gold. The box for the South African Ford Anglias depicts a yellow model, as opposed to the Turquoise model featured on the British box. whereas on the British and French produced models the silver finish extends to the entire surface of the front bumper, on some of the South African issues the silver stops short at the corners. Some of the models, such as the No. 193 Rambler and the No. 194 Bentley, had a single chromed grille/bumper unit, so in these instances of course this does not apply. There is also, usually, a burr or circle around the rivets on the South African issues: I d suggest the result of the machine that did the riveting not having a mechanism to stop the over application of pressure by less experienced operators. The following is a list I have compiled over the years. I do not pretend that it is complete but it must be very close 1 No. 112 Austin Healey Sprite Turquoise, Lilac, dark blue and red (the latter being same as English issue). All are very scarce but the Lilac one, shown here as part of the group shot and individually above is probably the most difficult to find. As far as I know these are the 24 English castings exported to South Africa as raw castings, where they were then put together, finished and packaged. Bright green - this is the only finish for this model. 4 No. 140 Morris 1100 Sky blue (same as the English issue), light brown and caramel (very hard to find). The main differences between the South African Dinkys and their English and French counterparts are of course the colours, but there are a few other tell tale signs 2 No. 113 MGB Roadster Rarity and values The French imports are scarcer than the English. English Dinky Toys were always imported in greater numbers than French Dinky Toys; only six castings were in fact imported from France. But all South African Dinkys are very rare and hard to find. They rarely come up for sale. What is certain is that most South African Dinkys have been sold to overseas collectors because of the high prices they command. I have hunted them for years and on a few occasions I have had to travel from South Africa to auctions in England to buy some I could not find locally, most notably to the sale of The Remy Meus Collection held at Christies in 2001 (interestingly, most of the South African Dinkys in the Remy Meus Collection originated from Ron Gersbank s collection). 5 No. 141 Vauxhall Victor Estate Pink, off-white and yellow (same as the English issue). Blue with red interior, red with cream interior - which is ultra rare and shown as here as part of the group shot and individually (left), and light brown. 12 www.modelcollector.com may 2014 may 2014 www.modelcollector.com 13
6 No. 143 Jaguar Mark X Sky blue, Ivory and the ultra rare Sage green, all with red seats. 7 No. 144 VW 1500 Light/Sky blue (very rare) and off-white (similar to the English issue). I do not believe the Bronze was a South African Dinky but it is possible, and in any event would be the same colour as the English Bronze. 11 No. 181 VW Beetle This is an interesting model and possibly just about the hardest to find, particularly in its original box. Even the famous Remy Meus Collection did not have one of these! Colours issued (and shown here as a group shot and individually) were: bright green (same as Cortina) this is ultra rare and mine is the only mint example I have ever seen, light-sage green, pale yellow, off-white and dark grey (this is also incredibly rare and a very different shade to grey to that of the English issues). 8 No. 148 Ford Fairlane Lavender-grey, mid-blue and dark blue. All are very desirable but the grey and dark blue are harder to find. 9 No. 155 Ford Anglia A few of these have surfaced: light brown or Caramel (always a nice colour), off-white, light blue and light grey-blue. The English colour was Turquoise. 12 No. 186 Mercedes 220 SE Sky blue and dark grey (both different shades to the English models). 13 No. 184 Volvo 122S 10 No. 177 Opel Kapitan Light brown-caramel (a favourite South African colour), yellow and dark blue. All are very desirable but the Caramel is the hardest to find. Sage green, light Lavender grey and blue. All are very desirable, the light Lavendergrey being the scarcest. 14 www.modelcollector.com may 2014 may 2014 www.modelcollector.com 15
14 No. 193 Nash Rambler Estate There are five colour finishes here (shown as a group shot and individually): light blue with a cream roof, dark blue with a cream roof, lilac with a cream roof, Sage green and all Lilac. The dark blue and light blue with cream roof are very rare indeed. 18 No. 449 Chevrolet El Camino 15 No. 194 Bentley S2 Drophead Coupe 16 No. 195 Jaguar 3.4 litre Mk 2 Saloon Brown/Caramel (a stunning toy and one of my favourites, so included in the group shot and then again individually), all Caramel (again, they must have run out of brown paint), all Turquoise, Ivory/ Turquoise - with different shades of Turquoise but similar to the English issue, so less exciting. Sage green and Ivory. Both are very desirable. The Sage green is one of the most common, relatively speaking, but still hard to find. Red with red seats and red with cream seats, off white, light blue with red seats, and grey/powder blue with cream seats. All of these are very rare. 19 No. 405 Universal Jeep Ivory with red wheels (very rare) and green with red wheels. 17 No. 198 Rolls Royce Phantom V 20 300 Massey-Harris tractor The box is very rare with Trekker on the end flaps. The few models I have seen do not have any Massey-Harris signage on the side. All dark grey (the only one I have seen - they must have run out of Ivory paint!), dark grey over Ivory, light grey over Ivory and Sage green (I have only ever seen three examples in this finish). The ultra rare dark grey and Sage green models are included in the group and shown individually. 16 www.modelcollector.com may 2014 may 2014 www.modelcollector.com 17
The racing cars The South African assembled racing cars, as listed here, and I have some doubts about the BRM, so please note *my comments, were issued in the same colours as their British counterparts. No. 240 Cooper Racing Car No. 241 Lotus Racing Car No. 242 Ferrari Racing Car *No. 243 BRM racing car * A few collectors have assured me that the BRM can be included in my listing of Dinky Toys assembled and finished in South Africa. It does not, however, appear on any documentation I ve ever seen and in all my years of collecting, and scouring auctions worldwide, I have never come across a South African example. So as far as I am concerned, I have serious doubts and the jury is definitely still out on this one! The military issues I have not included the army models here. These were not imported by Arthur E. Harris but specially commissioned, finished and imported directly from Dinky Toys in England by the South African Defence Force for display and training purposes. As I have no passion for military models, the examples I had in my collection were sold some years ago, but perhaps if there is someone out there is in possession of these models we will see a feature dedicated to them in a future issue of Model Collector! Image courtesy of Vectis Auctions. Dinky Toys: always something new! There have, over the years, been reports of other South African Dinky s such as a Mini, Holden, Borgward Isabella and Singer Vogue, but unless I see the South African boxes I will not be convinced. I ve naturally kept my eye on price lists/guides and auction catalogues over the years and have yet to come across any surprises, but maybe one day, who knows? MC Acknowledgements My thanks to Ron Gersbank for starting it all, and to the friends who have been there to motivate me along the way; in particular Graham Bridges in England during my early days of collecting, and fellow South African collectors Zack Lombard, who put pressure on me to compile this article, and Mike Otto for generously sharing his knowledge on various aspects of the story. French Dinky Toys assembled and painted in South Africa Only six French castings were imported. Some of these colours were unique to the French models, such as the Charcoal 404, Bottle green Opel, metallic green Fiat, metallic silver Corvette and Maroon Simca. 2 No. 548 Fiat 1800 Station Wagon Sage green, metallic green and off-white, all with red interior. 3 1 No. 552 Chevrolet Corvair Silver-metallic with cream seats, light Powder blue with cream seats, Sage green with cream seats (ultra rare - I bought mine at the Remy Meus auction and this is included in both the group shot and shown individually). No. 519 Fiat 1000 saloon Maroon with Ivory interior and Turquoise with red interior. 4 No. 553 Peugeot 404 saloon Caramel with red seats (ultra rare), Sage green with red interior, Charcoal with red interior and off-white (similar to the regular French issue). 6 No. 555 Ford Thunderbird There are five colour finishes here and all are sought after: pale yellow with red seats, Caramel with red seats, mid blue with red seats, red with red seats and metallic blue with red seats. (N.B. The pale yellow and red issues are included both as part of the group shot and individually with their boxes.) The metallic blue, while rare, is the most common, if you can call it that! 5 No. 554 Opel Rekord 4 door saloon Mid blue with grey interior and Bottle green with grey interior. 18 www.modelcollector.com may 2014 may 2014 www.modelcollector.com 19