Beales without window posts

[moston100]

I bought this item at an auction a few years ago and have not looked at it since. My question is would lesney have supplied whoever painted the 6000 or so that were made with a damaged/sub standard casting, as the paint where the window posts should attach looks totally original.

[motorman]

Interesting error piece.

[fixer]

very interesting decals look genuine and the paint on the missing posts looks original too , just one that slipped through I suppose

[johnboy]

I agree with Reg, (of all the models for it to happen to though!) on the other hand it's still very nice and an error collectors dream)

[motorman]

very interesting decals look genuine and the paint on the missing posts looks original too , just one that slipped through I suppose

I agree Reg the decal is original and the paint finish on the missing pillar bases would suggest it left the factory in this condition

[nickjones]

Looks good to me!

[mbox2000]

One of the best paint finishes I've seen on this casting! I would be very happy with it and would find a prominent place in my collection. It doesn't have the posts but my undercarriage ain't so great these days either. Congrats! jay

[kwakers]

I am a serious Error collector, and boy is your Beales a 'dream piece' moston. You have had this one squirreled away since you bought it? Shame on you! Yours is a highlight piece to any Lesney collection.
I have never heard a figure of 6000 castings on this Beales, is that figure correct? I had always assumed a third of that figure may have been produced. I am sure the lack of one window post is an error we have seen before on the 11 Tanker, but being without both windshield posts makes your example quite unique for any Lesney casting, let alone on the rare Beales-Bealson.....Wow kwakers

[Idris]

I have never heard a figure of 6000 castings on this Beales, is that figure correct? I had always assumed a third of that figure may have been produced.

The figure normally quoted is 3,000 which seems to have originated in an article by a respected journalist (Mick will remember his name) in a UK monthly magazine called Scale Models (which I used to read in the WH Smiths reading room).
We have debated the production number at least twice before: Mick sticks to the Scale Models figure of 3,000, but I think that the survival rate points to a much higher number. (i always work on the basis that 10 -15% of any given model survive.)

[kwakers]

One thing you must remember Idris, (You may not have been listening the ten times I have said this on the Forum already..... LOL) the Beales is not a common Lesney at all in colour or decaling. Once these promotionals reached the public, collector demand was immediate for them even here in the U.S. Very few were played with by the kids that they may have been given to in tiny numbers, some were just displayed as a complementary promo as intended by Beales, while Lesney collectors began scooping them up to Hoard both in their collections and as spares for trading. Just as on any odd color Lesney ever made, collectors bought them as fast as they could and in as large quantities as Beales' management would allow. These were never offered to U.S. Club members at all in Club Publications, so we had to buy/swap/source ours from U.K. collectors only. Certain U.S. dealers here had a few in stock at shows that they had personally 'sourced', but their re-sale figure was very high right from the start because they may have only been able to get 3 or 4 from any U.K. contact.
Just like the 75 Ferrari in red, the 67 VW in purple, the 68 Mercedes Bus in green, and those two color Hatras, most are still Mint out of the hands of collectors rather than having been played with by the kids out of stores as on most other Lesney models. The same holds true for the two-line Pickfords in blue. Your 10-15% survival figure may be correct on Lesney 'commons' Idris, maybe even too low a figure as thousands of shoeboxes and Bronner cases now enter the market, but on 'specials' like these promos, there just connot be ANY rules. We old time collectors bought and HOARDED as we could afford, so many Mint ones are left still in hiding......90% survival rate I would rather guess in All conditions, as well as 100% more as 'reproductions of this popular Beals Promo.
For me to disagree with Idris and side with Mick's 3000 model figure is quite an occurrence here, SMS Please take note. Is there a VBD Hall of Fame we can note this oddity in today?? LOL kwakers