RW12C Land Rover gold

[Ergomatic]

I am sure here will come a lot of comments

[mike]

Hi Peter,
A very rare and interesting model.
Unfortunately not in my collection.
I therefore can not make comparisons.

A friend of mine has this model, and sends me photos.

Collectors Regards, Mike from Austria.

[Ergomatic]

Thank you, Mike!
I am intresting the photos, if arrived please post them!
Friendly greetings to my neighbours!
Peter

[SMS88]

If this is a baseplate swap its been so well done that I suspect only a rivit post swap would be this neat. So many fakes out there and so easy to fake its hard to know if they ever made any genuine ones except lunchbox specials -does this have a history to back status as lunchbox special made for an established way back in 1970 collection?

[motorman]

I am going to be a little bit picky here.

The baseplate and wheels are in as new condition, yet the bodywork is not. I would like to see more images of the bodywork which does not appear to be consistant with the undamaged base and wheels which show no playwear at all.

I appreciate that most of the paint wear that can be seen on the body work is on the exposed raised surfaces however one area of paint loss that seems a little harder to explain and that is the area of paint loss highlighted in the second image on the edge of the bodywork next to the baseplate?

I

[GHOSTHUNTER]

...and wouldn't there be some paint in the rivet!

Ghosty.

[Ergomatic]

Motorman,

I uploaded a photo about the Pizza Van to Longue/Show us your toy room topic, check it please!

Here are the other pictures:

[motorman]

Ergo, thanks for the extra images.

There is quite a bit of play wear on the body work of this model that issn't reflected on the baseplate or the wheels.

I would also have to consider Ghosty's comment about the lack of any paint in the rivet to be quite significant.

This however is my own personal opinion and if i am proved to be incorrect in my assumptions that this might not be the genuine article, then i will actually be a very happy man because i like nothing better than for our members to dig out those diamonds that are out there to be found.

[jimgallegos]

It is possible to cut the post keeping the rivet in tact. Later glue the post and it looks original. A number of models which had been modofied in this fashion were shown at the Gathering a few years back. They can fool most anyone if not looking at the rivets as well.

[kwakers]

Firstly, Ergomatic, A really nice Gold Land Rover you have there. The scratched base and the lightly play-worn gold body look perfect matched to me, as does the spun base rivet on it. Sorry Motorman, I have looked at our favorite Lesney Toys for 55 years now, and this is the best to be found of this rare factory transitional model. I would be very proud to have found this one and to display it in our collection, so Thank You for showing it here Ergo. A deceased collector friend of mine had one of these for many years, but I cannot recall ever seeing any other example in my own travels other than on E Bay for sale by 'Dealers'.
If a rare model has to be broken apart in order to prove it is faked, it is a sad day for our hobby. As I had said to SCM collection in two other separate Posts, if a collector is involved with making fakes with decal swaps or reproduction or original Lesney decals, NOTHING good can come of it. If we now are entering into an area where modifying castings or cutting rivet Posts as Jim has suggested is done and shared with collectors to prove it can be done, our innocent hobby will be polluted with such 'perfect junk' forever. I had also heard from a collector that a 38 Vauxhall Wagon with painted White interior was shared at the gathering years ago. That model has now polluted the provenance of a genuine pre-production white interior Vauxhall out of Fred Bronner's Warehouse display that I held in my own hands back in the late 60s. That one is real, but now made questionable by a 'Faker', done innocently or NOT!
As for Mick's comment on ALL of these gold Rovers possibly being 'lunchbox specials made for an established way back in 1970 collection', he is forgetting known Lesney transitional RW odd painted body facts. Some of our 1969-70 rare regular wheel color variations are known to have been found mainly in Gift Sets. (Some were also found in the last blister packs sent to Canada.) This Land Rover in Gold would have been found in either the last G-3 Farm Sets or perhaps the last G-3 Vacation Sets packaged and sold. Even though Nick has dates on these sets as being made much earlier, I believe both were still in production much later than his charts and Vectis examples make it seem. Out of memory, I believe both these sets were still very popular in the U.S., and in fact available during the 1969-70 Christmas Season from outlets like Sears, Montgomery Wards, Jefferson Wards, etc. If either HAD been discontinued, the Rover was still found in the other G-3 Gift set.
From other 'thought to be extinct' Gift Sets came the rare colored 30-3 Turquoise Crane Truck, the 31-3 Gold Lincoln, the 53 Ford Zodiac with green body, the 3-3 RW Mercedes Ambulance with huge rear Superfast wheelwells, the 8-5 RW Ford Mustang in red, and also the famed red 75-2 Ferrari found in the very last Racing Sets produced. The 67 VW in purple was also another rare color possibly found in the last Race and Rally Sets, but only the facts of their appearance in blisterpacks are known and are discussed by collectors today. Another short Post from kwakers.....LOL