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We sell collectable pre-owned and vintage model vehicles

12 Mar

Models of Yesteryear - are they coming back?

There was a period in the 80s & 90s when diecast collectables were very much on trend as an investment as well as a hobby to build value over the years. Old Dinky toys were selling for significant amounts of money, a Foden 8 wheel truck with chains made over £12,000. So lots of people went out and bought new diecasts to put in the loft to mature and become very valuable in 20-30 years or so.

The obvious choice at the time were Matchbox Models of Yesteryear. They were cheap and plentiful and there was a fashion at the time for everything 20s & 30s - remember The Sting, Great Gatsby etc?

So many Models of Yesteryear were carefully salted away that the collector market became over-supplied with very good boxed examples and over the last few years values plummeted. A couple of years ago I was dumping good, boxed items at toy fairs at two for £5.

Towards the end of last year I noticed a change. I'd always done well with the early yellow box MOYs and the much later highly detailed series such as the fire engines and Beers of the World trucks. The problem had been with straw, woodgrain & maroon boxes from the 70s & 80s.  

These items have now started to gain some traction, a lot of it coming from Eastern Europe & Russia, although. now it is becoming more general and I'm pleased that these models, for which I've always had a great affection are being appreciated once again. As a child I owned and loved a blue Thomas Flyabout and I still have my battered old Fowler Showman's engine, treasured members of my toy box in the early 60s.

As I was adding more MOYs to the on-line shop this morning I was surprised to see that I had got over 70 of them currently on sale - a year ago this would have been few or none. The woodgrain & straw boxes are still a bit slow but maroon boxes and the 1960s pink & yellow window boxes have really become popular once again.

I'm glad to see a well-deserved return to popularity of an old favourite.



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