Dear Gary,
I have a boxed Dinky Supertoys tractor-trailer Mclean No. 948 that I picked up in a charity shop for my grandson. I only paid £5 for it but have heard that they are quite collectable now.
Should I let him play with it or is it worth a bit more?
Thanks, David
Dear David,
Thank you for your email.
These model vehicles are quite collectable now and the last one of these that we sold at auction fetched £110.
I think you have got a very good buy there!
Dear Gary
We moved home just over 2 years ago and in the oft-delayed course of unpacking sometimes unearth items that we may have forgotten. Please see the photos below: The Eagles, brass as best I can tell weight around 7.5 oz each and were purchased from an antique stall in a Parisian market nearly 40 years ago. With just one exception (and that was over a decade ago) there’s been no attempt to clean them. Each looks to have a screw hole in the base for mounting originally on what?
The plates above are the 2 I purchased at the same time and place as the Eagles. Each weighs around 9.5 oz so I suspect may be copper vice brass. I have tried to clean one, the attempt is incomplete as you can see and I am uncertain as to whether some of the marks remaining may actually be blemishes or impurities from when they were first made. The rims are not even and therefore may be hand vice machine made.
Any thoughts as to whether these items may hold interest for anyone; we are unlikely to have space or place to display them and do not really want to consign them back to a drawer or box in the attic.
Many thanks, we enjoy reading your regular feature in the Yorkshire Reporter.
Kind Regards
Jerry and Ruth
Dear Jerry and Ruth,
Thank you for your email and we are glad that you enjoy our feature.
Unfortunately it is difficult to tell the age of these items from the photos, but from the look of the screws on the base of the eagles, they don’t appear to be antique. They may have been produced for the tops of clock sets or for a variety of other uses.
The plates may be silver plated on copper and both these items are commonly found for sale in French flea markets.
Unfortunately they are not particularly popular at the moment and I think the items would struggle to sell for £50 at auction.
