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In the 1960 and 1961 pocket catalogues they are shown as all Black poles, no indication of Black and White striped versions which if 'Pre-Pro' examples had been used for illustrations in the catalogues, they would likely be striped.

The Dinky Toy road signs are Black and White striped and there are only Three White bands on each pole, just like these Lesney items. What are the chances of both Dinky and Lesney both putting Three White bands on their signs. I know there was always a certain amount of copying among the big Boys, but with something as insignificant as road signs!

Ghosthunter.

I've just had a look at the original photograph of the white-faced sign, only to discover that the stripes on that one (there are definitely two and possibly a third) appear to be hand painted.
I think we need some input from Dick on this: which box are his signs in, and are the stripes painted or sprayed on?

This has been a very busy weekend for me Hugh because both days were as warm as a Spring day in April. I cleaned a lot today. I will be glad to dig out those signs for the Forum's info on their original box, and also to check closely on how the stripes were painted on. These signs were hidden all alone WAY BACK on a very top shelf in a small closet, and we found them in a small Montreal shop in 1972. The box should determine how early the signs are because they had never been unwrapped before I handled them in that shop 44 years ago now. I remember on that Saturday night we found a Yesteryear Ash Tray in the front window of a shop that was closed till Tuesday. My mind still wonders that if that Lesney Tray were still in that front window, what original store stock may have been hidden inside that we could not stay around to search through. When old stock did not sell in Canada, the store owners all seemed to hide it away rather than discount it to sell as our Yank Shops did. We enjoyed all those family trips with our very comfortable 1969 Chrysler 4 door. What memories.... I still have the car parked in our breaker's yard, and I smile every time I see it. Yesterday was no exception...
Up in Canada we had seen a lot of the plastic signs that were in their open "Matchbox" cardboard holder that were all stripped very similarly, but I am told they are not original Lesney factory items. I never bought a plastic set in all these years believe it or not, but they seemed common up in Canada, but were not seen in our American stores at all.
I have watched many sign auctions since I told the Forum about ours, but have only seen a handful of stripped signs sold in the U.K. in years of watching for them. I have never seen another complete set of stripped signs for sale, it seems they occasionally get sold mixed in with other non stripped metal signs.
My next thought: how can we tell if there are three stripped signs mixed in a set for sale, that they are not the plastic aftermarket ones that are not Lesney at all?? Can anyone show us a picture of these plastic knockoffs to check their photographic details against original Lesney metal signs??
I have never seen anything like that single sign with its white painted top rectangle Hugh. I hope you or another Forum member bought that set, that unique sign had to have been hand painted. What a unique look that one has. We may never know if the top was custom painted at the factory, or done by a hobbiest for his Train Layout years ago. I do like the looks of it either way......kwakers

kwakers wrote:Up in Canada we had seen a lot of the plastic signs that were in their open "Matchbox" cardboard holder that were all stripped very similarly, but I am told they are not original Lesney factory items. I never bought a plastic set in all these years believe it or not, but they seemed common up in Canada, but were not seen in our American stores at all.

My understanding is that they were not Lesney products but were made by someone else cashing in on the popularity of the Matchbox brand, with it all ending up in a 'cease and desist' court case (which Lesney won). There were two sets, A and B, of which A seems to be the most common. (Apologies, I can't remember where this information came from, but it's probably either the 40 Years book or UK Matchbox.)

I have found photographs of another set of striped signs here. These are clearly mask-sprayed as well.

Idris wrote:

kwakers wrote:Up in Canada we had seen a lot of the plastic signs that were in their open "Matchbox" cardboard holder that were all stripped very similarly, but I am told they are not original Lesney factory items. I never bought a plastic set in all these years believe it or not, but they seemed common up in Canada, but were not seen in our American stores at all.

My understanding is that they were not Lesney products but were made by someone else cashing in on the popularity of the Matchbox brand, with it all ending up in a 'cease and desist' court case (which Lesney won). There were two sets, A and B, of which A seems to be the most common. (Apologies, I can't remember where this information came from, but it's probably either the 40 Years book or UK Matchbox.)

i just happen to have some plastic ones handy,on the base is match box england,notice the plastic lines on the shaft indicating stripes
dave

Thanks Dave! My memory is wrong about the plastic signs having white stripes. With those raised lines around the posts there is no chance that these could have been mistaken for the original Lesney metal ones in any E Bay listing. Great Job Lad....
That new set of signs WITH their original box and their packing bag is now by Martin's Maxim proof that the stripped signs are well deserving a code of their own now Hugh. Could that possibly be one of our own members Posting those images you have copied? Is he in fact correct about one type of box, but are there variations of it in the 2+ years the signs were produced? I love his Wickipedia image of the "Real" sign these were modeled from, it is a strange design to we Yanks other than these lesney toy versions we played with when we were driving our very English Lorrys around our sandboxes in 1962. kwakers

A picture from Vectis, of the unlicenced plastic signs:

I've just come across this advertisement, dated June 1960, for the newly-released A4a Road Signs. It is interesting to note that the poles are black, suggesting that the stripes were dropped whilst stocks were being built-up for release.

...or the artist just found it too fiddly to represent the stripes!

Ghosthunter.