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The matching thread to this has been running for a while now and catalogues the models made by Matchbox International as...The Dinky Collection...but what really are these models classed as, Matchbox or Dinky ?

Where do they fit on your models listings, in your Matchbox folder or your Dinky folder ?

I only collect the DY-13, Bentley R-Type 'Continental' from this range and for a long time kept details and pictures of it in a Matchbox folder, but now that a lot of my details are now on computers, I do a lot of research and sorting of the collection on them and when working on Dinky Toy projects, I would often have reason to go and find pictures etc, of the DY-13 Bentley, but decided a folder in the Dinky section on my PC would be for DY-13 Bentley as well.

This leads to extra work in searching for a decent picture of that model, because I now have two folders in different places on the PC to go and look in!

It would be better to just revert back to the one folder for these models, but there is the problem, should it be in with the Dinky models or the Matchbox models ?

So, this is why I have started this new thread about the 'Dinky Collection', the models made by Matchbox, to try and decide a correct identity for them.

GHOSTHUNTER.

For me, these are classed as Matchbox. Dinky Toys for my collection were made by Meccano, not Mattel. Some of the Matchbox Dinky's are stunning models but somehow they just don't say "Dinky" to me. That is my personal choice though, same as the newer Atlas editions. Faithful to the look, but just not the same.

Cam

Thank's Cam, it will be interesting to see just how many collectors or forum members feel the same way. I know how some models from a certain 'era' are 'set in stone' as to what they are and who made them, 'Brand' names are relatively safe, its the parent company that changes, so just because the parent company of the original Dinky Toy ranges has changed, (from Meccano to Matchbox) does that give the models less identity!

A Dinky Toy will always be a Dinky Toy, won't it, regardless of who the parent company is, and does it matter where they are made.

Matchbox is a little more confusing, because what used to be a 'Brand' name, became the company name, remember!, "Matchbox" with the quotations, was the 'Brand' name used by 'Lesney Products' and later by 'Lesney Products & Co Ltd' which much later still, was morphed into 'Matchbox' and eventually it became Matchbox International Ltd, and its during this period when the likes of Tyco and Mattel become involved.

Personally, I class...'The Dinky Collection'...as Dinky Toys and don't mind them being owned by whichever version of Matchbox is currently in charge of designing and marketing etc, yes, they are some distance away from original Dinky Toys, but maybe if they were still around, they would look very similar to these models, and would certainly be made in Macau and China.

Thank's again Cam, now over to other forum members...

GHOSTHUNTER.

In my view, any Dinky-branded items that were made by Matchbox are primarily Matchbox products, so if each model has to be associated with one brand only, it would certainly be Matchbox in this case. For me "Dinky" here is just another name of a Matchbox model series, like "Models of Yesteryear", "Skybusters" or "King Size".

Cam wrote:For me, these are classed as Matchbox. Dinky Toys for my collection were made by Meccano, not Mattel.

That's how I feel about Matchbox toys ... they were made by Lesney, not Mattel!

And to confuse even more from a UK point of you.Dinky was always a far bigger name than Matchbox,the big selling battles in the retailing of the 60,s-70,s was between Corgi and Dinky and Matchbox played second fiddle.

mcnair55 wrote:And to confuse even more from a UK point of you.Dinky was always a far bigger name than Matchbox,the big selling battles in the retailing of the 60,s-70,s was between Corgi and Dinky and Matchbox played second fiddle.

It certainly seemed that way where I lived and my toys at that time were predominately Corgi and Dinky, then Matchbox and a handful of Spot-On. The fact that those four companies do not exist anymore as part of their parent company, only as 'Brand' names, we should be thankful they exist at all, whoever now owns the 'Brand'.

GHOSTHUNTER.