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This is a repaint - the body is a very light blue/grey and there is no decal. The base is also repainted in a slightly darker shade of blue.

As the base is a poor fit I am not sure whether this model is genuine or not but the price was reasonable

Sebastian

This is a nice model to have as it is the 1st casting of the 23a, and it would be genuine model. This casting is not seen to often for sale, is nice even with-out the rear decal a piece to keep.

George T.

George T

Thanks for this information. I have now obtained a playworn 23a in original condition for comparison purposes.

This model has most of the decal intact but also has a loose fitting baseplate like the repainted 23a.

The playworn 23a is the usual pale blue and inside the body the baseplate has three casting rings and a strengthening brace.

The brace starts close to the axle and extends to close to the front of the caravan. It is tapered downwards at both ends.

The repainted 23a also has three casting rings in approximately the same position, albeit thay are not just as well defined.

However the repainted 23a does not have any strengthening brace on the topside of the baseplate inside the caravan body.

The tow hooks on the playworn and repainted examples both seem to be the same earlier design.

I have had a look at the Nick Jones web site for the 23a and whilst the text makes a referral to the axle braces and tow hook modifications it doesn't seem to mention the presence or lack of an internal brace on the topside of the baseplate. The variation Table only lists 3 versions and again it doesn't mention the internal brace.

However Nick's price guide gallery which lists extracts from the Vectis Auctions makes a reference to an internal brace on the model from the Ron Slyder collection that was sold back in 2007 (Lot 2149)

Can you shed any further light on this matter ?

Any information you can give on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Sebastian10

See second post here.

{attachment=0]23a x 2 bases 836x598.JPG[/attachment]

I did originally send this to Nick for his Variations listing, but as yet he has not put it on.

George T.

If one was to become available any idea what a mint and boxed 23a with the early baseplate is likely to cost?

I had a look at a well known online auction house to see what they had previously sold.

Despite going back through all their records they all seemed to be the 23a with the later bases and were all fairly modest in price

Sebastian

Hi Kerbside,the two in your photo i have as well(one from Jason)if you remember.
which one is the earlyist with or without braces .
Gary

My understanding is that, because of case hardening, it is easy to remove material forom tooling, but extremely diffcult to add it. This therefore gives rise to a rule-of-thumb that a casting variation with more metal must be later than a casting with less metal. Hence we can deduce that the braces were added sometime during the model's life (which make sense since they make foor a stronger casting),, meaning the unbraced model is the earlier varition.

Thanks ,makes sense
Gary