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hi, i looking for some advice please, i just looked at a small collection and it included reg wheels and yesteryears, in with the yesteryears was some gift ware models, but what caught my interest was a 1/75 hillman minx in chrome plate, the base is rivited a ok and even the wheels,axles and the hook are plated, there is slight blue showing thought on a small patch of wear but its so well done i cant see it being a code 3 ect. i am use to plated yesteryears but this is new to me, any member come across this before, cant picture as its not mine (well yet lol ) were 75s going to be used in giftware ??, any help gladly accepted ,thanks, jeff

Hi Jeff.
I used to work with Jim, an ex boxer that once had a plating works next to the Lesney factory. He told me that quite often he was asked to plate Lesney toys for Lesney employees, The cost of plating a toy was normally a couple of bacon sandwiches, I can't remember Jim's surname but he related this story to me in the early 1970's (long before my interest in Lesneys) when we both worked at Walthamstow Greyhound racing track, Jim was quite punch drunk and had a terrible memory so I heard his tale on numerous occasions.

I remember your story about the plating shop next door Nick, but I feel it would be strange for them to have done our Bus I am looking at right now without having it a Bare assembled casting without it's GPW installed yet........Dick
We have a completely chrome plated #5C bus with a non Lesney silver tape style label with blue lettering on it that reads "Souvenir of London". Just as you say Jeff about the Hillman you saw, the 8X18 GPW are also plated along with it's axles, showing it was a totally factory painted and assembled Lesney before receiving that coat of plating. Check for a centered base mounting hole on the Hillman, if not it may be one of the Toys Nick has mentioned above. The plating on our Bus is no where near the quality of the later yesteryear Models we are very familiar with. The plating was done right over the red paint of our Bus, and not over a bare assembled casting as Lesney would have done it if it was meant to be sold by them on their own Giftware.
A collector here in the Pennsylvania had 2 of these souvenir chrome plated Buses at one time from the same unnamed source, and I just managed to buy the second one he sold me in 8/2011 at the Macungie Pennsylvania Toy Show along with a Mint 7A with factory 'cream' painted trim on the Milk Wagon I had also picked out. Because our bus has a hole in it's base, I know it was mounted on something when it was originally sold in London. This Bus has the early roof and base, so must have been plated and used around 1960-62. It is definitely a code 3 model unless someone can show us paperwork on Lesney factory produced Giftware sets from that early 1960s era. kwakers

Hi Dick.
Your model bus makes me think of Morris & Stone - Morestone - Budgie who did make London commemorative plated Taxi's and Buses, Their later models were based on their own castings but they had a history of selling other peoples toys packaged as their own including Lesney who's large scale Coronation Coach was marketed in the USA with a Morris & Stone or Morestone label stuck over the top of the Lesney name on the box.

We had discussed the name of another company who used Lesneys on Giftware back on LeFora, and the existence of unplated Lesneys with base holes was noted by several members (I think including MickSMS and Tim) back then. We had thought they might have been displayed on stands at new Toy conventions, but someone had an early company name they knew of who used Lesney Toys on their wares. Perhaps Nigel, Christian, Phillip or yourself will dig up the name of that producer who drilled holes in our favorite Toys so long ago. It was definitely not Morestone or Morris and Stone in my memory, It was another name I was not familiar with so as to now recall. kwakers

hi, well the base plate has no marks for or a hole in it, and like your bus it has been painted then plated, on the old site i also recall the talk of plated models, i am sure i seen this hillman some where but cant recall where

jeff f wrote:...i am sure i seen this hillman some where but cant recall where

Every so often a gold-plated 43a Hillman Minx appears on Ebay with an unrealistic asking price. The accompanying text states that it is some kind of plating trial,

jeff f wrote:hi, well the base plate has no marks for or a hole in it, and like your bus it has been painted then plated, on the old site i also recall the talk of plated models, i am sure i seen this hillman some where but cant recall where

I'm pretty sure we discussed a plated Hillman Minx on befora, I tried to get into the site to have a look but I got a server error. The one on ebay that Hugh has mentioned does ring a bell, but I thought the one we discussed was chromed or silver coloured ( )

I think it's more than posable that Lesney trialed a few 1-75 for giftware purposes.

tjlglass wrote:I think it's more than posable that Lesney trialed a few 1-75 for giftware purposes.

My early Wade tray with 5c bus does show Lesney did think about 1-75 models before settling into the MOY choices. However, it is a standard model, not plated or anything like that.