Heavy hitters sell at Vectis

Dinky certainly brought home the bacon in the recent Steve Bonney collection sale at Vectis. In all, 18 lots achieved four-figure values; they included the star of the show, Lot 146, the Dinky No.505 Foden (1st Type) 8-wheel flat truck with chains. Finished in maroon and fitted with ridged hub wheels with black treaded tyres, and with silver flashes on the bodywork, although not reaching a world record price this time around (the truck realised an incredible £12,000 back in 2003), the model, which was described as a superb example, sold at the top of its estimate for £5,760.

Equally interesting to those on the day was the Dinky No.14C Coventry Climax Fork Lift Truck. This boasted a rare brown body, with green forks and ridged hubs with grey treaded tyres; it had a black mast and a light tan figure driver. Billed as excellent, in an excellent orange lift-off lidded box with paper label, this latter came complete with the correct inner packing pieces. Estimated at £200-240, it sold for a surprising £600.

And don’t forget the advertising: a Dinky No.514 Guy (1st type) Weetabix Van in traditional yellow with Supertoy hubs with black smooth tyres was near mint and benefited from an excellent box. Still highly sought after, the closing bid of £2,520 proved the point, this in fact a grand over its upper price guideline.

Another rarity was the Dinky No.413 Austin Covered Wagon with cherry red body, chassis and back, a tan metal tilt, red ridged hubs with black smooth tyres. Looking shop fresh, it was contained in a good plus (slightly grubby) yellow and red carded picture box with the correct colour spot. Its upper estimate of £320 was way out, though, the little van reaching an amazing £1,440.

Finally, the Dinky No.39b Oldsmobile example in tan with ridged hubs with black smooth tyres was virtually mint, and attracted much attention. Bidding finally died down at the hammer price of £480, over four times the original estimate.