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I have never heard or dealt with this particular Seller Jim, so I have no facts for you on him.
Thanks for asking about him though, I may now know the source of an all silver plated #5C Lesney Bus I have had for only 3 years with it's 'Souvenir of London' clear transfers on it. The stock bus was plated complete, and looks very strange with it's silver plated GPW. The Seller had sold a second one he had that was identical, but could not tell me their source when I found it at the Macungie Pennsylvania, U.S.A. annual Toy Show. Because of a central hole in it's base, I have always assumed it was mounted on an ashtray for purchase by tourists in London. How one collector ended up with two of them is still unexplained, but I now think it may be very possible that Nick's old friend Jim could possibly have been the one to have plated these Lesney Buses right as they came out of the factory back in the early 60s without their stock decals. kwakers

Mystery solved!
The listing reads: "Vintage Wade of England Ashtray with Visco Static Double Decker Matchbox #5 Bus
This Wade of England Souvenir is rather unique utilizing a vintage Series #5 Matchbox Routemaster London Bus that had an old BP Visco Static advertisement on it. The bus has been painted over and has a Souvenir of London label place on it. However, if you hold it up at the correct angle in the light, you can see the original BP Visco Static label on the back. Through one of the holes on the bottom of the ashtray you can also see some of the writing on the bottom of the bus. It is also very evident that the bus was originally red. Please see all photos and feel free to ask questions."

Fantastic Hugh!!! The only correction I can make to this man's listing is that the models were not PAINTED over, they were in fact silver PLATED over the stock Lesney off the shelf model, including their GPW on the unmounted example we have. Time for me to find one of these complete RW ash trays to display next to that plated mystery souvenir Bus I mentioned over a year ago on Jim's Post. This appears to be identical to ours. Thanks for remembering this thread, and and also for validating our suspicions on these Wade ash trays with early regular wheels mounted on them Hugh. Nick's very early 3 line base GPW Jag was also drilled for this type mounting if I remember correctly, so maybe wade did not have Jim plate all of the models they used on their ash trays (it might seem)......Cheers! kwakers

There is an entry in the 1972 'Giftware' catalogue specifically listing the models as available in...

Painted.
Gold.
Silver.

The 'Gold' and 'Silver' are the usual 'Models of Yesteryear' vehicles and are shown throughout the catalogue, but no normal painted models are shown, but other catalogues do show the occasional normal painted model from the other product ranges from Lesney, but never from the 'Regular Wheel' range.

I have not seen any pre-69 models mounted on 'Giftware' items in Catalogues, so while we know they exist, it seems showing them in catalogues was not a priority.

GHOSTHUNTER.