VECTIS have auctioned some exceptional Dinky collections over the past decade, but what made the David Ireland collection sale stand out was quality over quantity.
The average lot price at the
November 22 sale across a relatively modest 365 lots was
£1000.
Ireland, a surgeon who was born in
Redcar in the early 1950s began collecting over 30 years ago. As a
child during the so-called golden age of Dinky Toys, his collection
included all of the classic models from the '50s and early '60s but
his great passion was for the pre-War models.
These comprised half of his collection
and serious collectors and elite dealers from the UK, Europe,
Canada, America, South Africa, Argentina, Japan and Dubai were
among those drawn to the countless rarities in the sale.
It gives a taste of the collection
that there were no less than 45 first type delivery vans (most of
them free of the metal fatigue that can blight these models) and
more than a dozen boxed gift sets to choose from.
Among the rarest of the standard issue
No.28 vans is that for Hornby Trains in orange rather than the more
typical yellow. David Ireland's example was considered a superb
example and sold for £8000.
In 1932, a year before Frank Hormby
came up with the name Dinky there were Meccano Modelled
Miniatures. Another collecting 'holy grail' is the
Modelled Miniatures No.22 box set c.1933-35
comprising the first six issues from the Dinky range - an open
sports car, a sports coupe, a motor truck, delivery van, tractor
and army tank. The example here, with six near mint vehicles and a
'good-plus' box, was as good as they get and fetched £19,000. It
may well have been the set the auctioneers sold in October 2003 for
£11,000.
Prices have not been seen at this level since March 2008
when Vectis sold one of only two known boxed sets of six Type 1
vans bearing nationally recognised trade names for £30,000 and a
one-of-a-kind van bearing the name W.E. Boyce, a cycle shop on the
Archway Road in Highgate in the 1930s, for a record
£17,000.
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