It was clear - even as I walked over to the
till - that it was too clean to be an original, and sure enough it turned-out
to be a Mattel/Atlas Editions thing
from 2014, however, apart from the new consumer information panel on one side
and one other change (below) I think it's otherwise a facsimile 're-issue' of
an original piece of French Dinky
merchandise from the 1950/60's and was still sealed.
Before
opening and after sorting.
I've seen other Atlas Editions, they seem to be semi- 'part work',
semi-subscription, mail-order ventures of some kind; there was a rather nice
offer of a 'little grey' Ferguson tractor, and an original Mini Cooper or
Morris Traveller, both advertised via flyers in Sunday supplements and the
like, but I had no idea they were tied-in with Mattel? I guess they got the Dinky
brand-mark along with Matchbox's when
they bought off Universal?
It isn't clear if it's an all-French thing
(that is to say both the original - which was - and the re-issue), the
bulk of the text is 'foreign' (up to four languages) but the additional
consumer panel is Anglo-French and the handler is given as Éditions Atlas, while the bases are all-English, and the whole seems to have been
made in China.
Modern or not, it's a lovely little thing
and for a quid you can't moan. A close-up of the base reveals that not
everything is a full copy of the original, I have some British ones somewhere,
so one day I'll do a comparison. If I can find an answer/more on Google while
posting this (Wednesday) I'll place the link right here - no I won't - they are common as muck and all over evilBay @ £1.99, still a nice thing though!
And the signs themselves are just as nice
as the originals, with a fine finish to the plastic poles/signs, and the same
heavy, die-cast Mazac bases. I don't know if the French Dinky signs were always
plastic, the UK versions - back in the day - were slightly chunkier, all
die-cast, single mouldings.
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