We have the pleasure to be able to offer again this rare Din...

Estimate

£6,000 - £8,000

We have the pleasure to be able to offer again this rare Dinky Toys Austin A40 Van in the Omnisport light blue livery.(470). We last sold this 15 years ago to a long standing Dinky Collector who has now decided its time to let another own this piece of Meccano history.
The van:- Its finished in the correct light blue that was specified for the model and the text on the side reads @OmnisportTodo Para El Deporte' is printed on to a production standard. The tinplate base is a standard Dinky item finished with the normal crackle design, with a correct production 'rivet' (untouched). The standard ridged wheels are also finished in light blue and are fitted with the later style treaded black rubber tyres, indicating the date of this example is 1957.
Since the sale of this example we have gained more knowledge about its history and can now expand on what we originally knew. We said 'The original owner spent much of his working life working overseas, including some time in Central/South America'. We have since learnt the owner was a representative for Meccano and travelled extensively to promote the business to procure orders for export to this part of the World. This model, along with another (offered in a battered state at Auction in Liverpool a few years ago and owned by an ex Meccano employee) were made as tests for as a special order (Promotional Model) for the Omnisport company but it never went through due to costs involved. The owner of the Omnisport business returned the model to the Sales Rep who when he retired brought it home to Brighton. He then many years later had a clear out of 'stuff' including some old Dinky Toys and a local Antique Shop owner dropped them into us for auction. The model was on display at Sandown Park Toy Fair on Saturday 16th November where it caused much interest as it did many years ago.
We have added pictures of a good copy to show the difference between that and the original example.