I left home early at 7.45 as there were some works on the railway track.
When I arrived around 11.00 already quite some collectors already were there.
Most people came in around noon.
This is a very nice (not so big) toymuseum, housed in a former 19th century primary school.
I will post photos of their collectionrooms later this week.
There is currently a temporay exhbition of parts of John Nijhuis his impressive Matchbox collection.
This exhbition opened april april 12 and wil run till june 22rd.
John organised a special open day last sunday and aprox 100 people atended allthough most were there only for a few hours.
It was a little bit difficult to take photos as the room for the temporay exhbitios was a little dark and there was lighting in the cabinets but I thought you would like to see the photos anyway.
At the cash desk (entrance)
In the new part of this museum there was a small swapmeet and exhbition by collectors.
This Matchbox display was put on display in the new room for the whole duration of the exhibition and these models were for sale at 2 euro each.
An old dodgem which was give to the museum by an artist who had build a petrol engine in it ! (and drove this on the streets !)
Table with some gathering and other models for sale from Peter Adams who had travelled from the UK.
Glasscabinet with german Marklin locomotives on display for exhbition by Rob van Wouw.
Table with items for sale from Rob Kofflard, former chairmen of the Dutch Yesteryear Club. There was quite some interest in the Yesteryear models and quite some of these were sold, espcially the Fire Engines.
The Matchbox paper header was a copy.
The metal signs on the floor from 1966 and 1968 were mine and put on display only (not for sale)
Table from Wim Hendriks who has a nice Dinky Toys museum in Nijmegen. He ows a shop also. One of the items he had on sale was an original 1964 Models of Yesteryear display.
This is his website:
http://bluebirdcollections.simpsite.nl/Filmpjes
http://bluebirdcollections.simpsite.nl/Winkel
Nice exhbition of militairy toys
In the museumbuilding you could still see the old dooropenings from the former classrooms.
Entering the big room for the temporary Matchbox exhbition from John Nijhuis his collection.
The big cabinet in the middle was specialy build for this exhibtion.
Children's area
From 1953 onwards walking along the several cabinets:
Regular wheels:
Major Packs etc:
Models of Yesteryear and some Wade items:
Cord model + the invoice for the modelmaker who only got 105,84 gbp to produce this ! (including VAT) (A.B.B. models in Dorset) (dated march 10 1977)
Kingsize and Superkings:
Superfast including original research & devlopment drawing for the box for the MB73 Ford Model A:
Skybusters and Seakings including Research & Development artwork for the boxes:
A part of John's huge Convoy collection:
Working Riggs:
Some merchandise on the wall above the cabinets with Convoys etc:
Research & Development drawing for a 1:24 Porsche 911 from the Masterclass series: (rare german display for this in another cabinet)
1964 King Size display:
Mattel birthday models for staff in the middle east:
Burger King etc including lovely displays:
1964 Models of Yesteryear display: (some models on this display were to old for 1964)
Blue-Box copies:
Rare DUTCH version of this display with Fl 1.10 price mark. I did not check if all the models were right for this years display.
Because of the lighting and as it was dark in the room there was flash to the glasscabinets. Also John's models were in clear plastic boxes on the display. Hence I made several photos of this rare item.
An old display with much later models from the Romerian numbers range.
Latest 2015 Matchbox 1-75 models:
More regular wheel models:
Early Superfast models in a slightly earlier display I think:
Matchbox originals including the later rarer models like the orange Road Roller:
Japenese models:
Dutch Thunderbids poster and a cabinet for these models and earlier Captain Furry.
Cabinet with the models for the Dutch Dinky Society on top shelff. The DAF is a Lion Car model, not a Matchbox.
Later Matchbox models including Elvis range for Matchbox Collectibles:
My FIRST MATCHBOX models in this cabinet including a Pop Out Town which I don't have in my collection.
Many variations (but certainly not all) were brought to Oosterhout:
Some special Matchbox models, mainly Models of Yesteryear with a Christmas theme:
Just after lunch John gived a presentation about the history of Matchbox in the big new room with a slide show.
It was also possible to bring your own models and ask the experts about the value.
Many none collectors came to this day with show boxes full of models, mostly badly damaged. However there were 2 rare plastic Majorette models which John had never seen before.
This all took lots of time.
It certainly is a nice exhibition and worth to visit. Don't expect to see his whole collection ot to see all variations ever made by Matchbox.
It would take the space of least the whole museum.
I left around 17.00 as one of the last (John, me and another collector were almost locked into the Matchbox room before the closing of the museum)
3 hours later I was home.
The exhbition runs till june 22 so it is not to late to visit !
Website of the museum:
http://www.speelgoedmuseum.nl/
Address:
Zandheuvel 51
4901 HT
Oosterhout
The Netherlands
Tel: 0032 - 162-452815
Open from wednesday till sunday from 13.00 - 17.00
matchboxmarcel
