69b Is the box really worth all that cash???

[Taniwha]

Thanks Christian - interesting and makes a lot of sense.

Cheers,
Gavin

[choobox]

I was drawn to that auction when it was live also. Ive had that box for years. If its that rare- so be it. Ill just grin every time I walk by the display it is in. Crafted boxes by the way? Fake boxes are still fake boxes.

[Tinman]

ICrafted boxes by the way? Fake boxes are still fake boxes.

John's actually one of the good guys. Perhaps because of his high volume of sales, ebay has given him some trouble over copyright issues dealing with reproduction boxes. He's had to be creative with the wording to avoid issues with ebay. Note that Mattel (who owns the Matchbox name and now also the Lesney name) has no issues with John's auctions, just ebay.

[choobox]

He does indeed list more than a few nice regulars. Gets decent prices too. I just have trouble paying for a repro box. I have purchased a couple original boxes from him.

[Tinman]

He does indeed list more than a few nice regulars. Gets decent prices too. I just have trouble paying for a repro box. I have purchased a couple original boxes from him.

He does not inflate the price of his auctions for the box. I don't know if he still does, but he used to mention that the reproduction box was free. If you wanted one to examine, all you needed to do was send him your address and he would mail you a box free of charge.

[Matchboxpat]

It also got me thinking about E3 boxes in general - most of the tough E boxes seem to be E3 - for example those for 34b and 67a, and in general, they seem to be the less common versions of E boxes for other models. Any thoughts?

E3 generally means 1966. 1966 was the year when all D type boxes which had still been made up to then were phased out and replaced by E type boxes.

This included boxes for some models which were just about to be discontinued and replaced by new models. E3 boxes were introduced for them just before they disappeared from the range, possibly while stocks of those same models' earlier D type boxes were still available to be used up, resulting in those boxes being made in small quantities only.

More generally E3 may be regarded as a sort of "transitional" type of box between the earlier boxes with the blue end flaps (without or with small black and white pictures) and the later boxes on which the colour pictures on the end flaps were accompanied by the "MATCHBOX" lettering. So even if the models concerned remained in the range for some time, their E3 boxes were superseded by E4 boxes rather quickly. I suppose the people in charge made a quick decision that the brand name should be visible on the end flaps, which meant that most E3 boxes were made for a rather short period of time.

Nice to hear from you Christian !

E3 boxes are indeed the most sought after E type boxes. All the rare boxes are from this sub type:

- 34B
- 46B
- 1D
- 69B (Orange + Yellow Hubs)
- 65B
- 17D (Additional Rear View)
- 67A

Scarce boxes too:
- 12C (small green model)
- 36C (Dark Turquoise with Open Bonnet)
- 53B
- 40B
- 3B
- 39B

Pat

[slicc64]

Thanks for the info Matchbox Pat re the rarer boxes. Are there sub categories to the E3 box?
will have a lot of fun using your list scouring thru my collection with fingers crossed