The Rarest of the Post War Vintage Die Casts?

[grwebster]

After WWII and up to our ending date definition of vintage, 1980, what are the rarest, ie hardest to find, not strictly the most valuable, die cast airplane toys from Mercury, Solido, Dinky Toys, and Tekno?
Here are some candidates:

Mercury, Italy 1950s
The only multi-colored Mercury, the REPUBLIC XF-91, also has attached fuel pods that can break off. The most complex of all the Mercury aircraft.


Second could be the DOUGLAS SKYROCKET, mainly because the plastic nose is often missing.


Solido, France 1950s
the Breguet Alize. One of the last produced in the series and hard to find with the gear prop and tail hook present.


Secondly the Baroudeur, mainly because the take-off cart which is a separate casting with wheels, goes missing.


Dinky Toys UK and France 1946 up to 1980
The three non-Air-France variants of the Dinky Caravelle are almost without question the hardest to find. Here are two examples, missing is the SAS variant. It is not known if these were give-aways {doubtful due to cost, but perhaps first class?} or sold on airlines in flight {more probable}, or perhaps a very limited production run.



The Space Shuttle was among the very last Dinky Toy produced, if not the last. Hard to find in a box {as some were sold in a bag after closing the factory} and with all the parts present. Not very expensive in today's market but hard to find in complete mint condition.{ I personally limit my collection to airplanes, and the Shuttle could be perhaps considered more of a space craft than an aircraft, but I do have some examples.}




Tekno, Danemark 1950s
The Red Mig 15 must be the rarest, I think.


Secondly one of the obscure Airline variants of the DC-7C. This one is not very common. But any one in the box with spare motor is hard to find.

and the Caravelle would be next in line. There were like some 7 different variants of each. This one is common, but AItalia?


I'll propose some Tootsietoy and Aero Mini candidates ones soon, if some one else doesn't.
Thoughts, and comments welcome.

[BoeingDriver]

WOW! That was like a TPN article. Great job. I'm sure many of us will be reminded there are a few more models out there to be found. The two Dinky Caravelles would be on my "Grail quest" list.

I was able to score one of those Tekno SABENA DC-7's in an unusual way. Back in '92 or '93 Peter Jongbloed (sp?) attended one of the TPN shows. We spoke at length and had a couple of drinks. He didn't bring anything to sell or trade but was preparing to dispose of part or most of his collection back in the Netherlands. Some three weeks after the show a package containing a SABENA DC-7 in plastic box arrived at my door with a note stating that if I liked the plane to simply send a small amount of cash by return mail. Of course I responded immediately!

The beauty of this hobby is the connection some individual pieces in our collections have with people and events.

Ladd

[grwebster]

Ladd, Peter was also the chief pilot for KLM at that time, as I recall. You Boeing drivers stick together.....
He later divorced, retired from KLM and his huge collection has been disbursed. He is now involved with the vintage aircraft operations at the Dutch National Aircraft Museum, Aviodrome, Schiphol Airport. I haven't heard from him in 10-15years, or so. OH, I had to change my avatar....I decided to stop smoking for the new year. No more cigars.

[grwebster]

I was clearing out some ebay 'watching' items and saw that on Nov 15th The Solido Etendard IV sold for over $500. WTF? Look, I haven't seen one around in many years and I know that the blue finished planes were the last ones Solido produced in limited quantities and all but that is a huge amount just the same. BTW it was unboxed. Here is mine. {Not for Sale! }

[fliegerii]

Don't forget the Japanese makers!

There are the two Technica Flights F-15 and F16 made by Eidai in the late 70's.

Not just hard to find, simply impossible....

[Tone]

How about this one? I am sure it is an F-80 but I do not know the maker. The seller told me it was "Playmate" but there is no name cast on it.

[grwebster]

Incredible- never seen one like that before!!

[Flyingtiger10]

I bought this Mercury Vampire 404 jet fighter in Swiss markings in 2002 from a seller who had a very big collection.
I had never seen one with other markings than Italian, and I asked him if they were original.
He said that he bought it from a French collector and that he had told him it was authentic.
When I received it, the Swiss roundels seemed proper and correctly sized and vintage.
I consulted Sue Richardson, and she said that it could have been modified by the collector, as they had never
seen one like that and that they knew the manufacturer had only produced what the catalog showed.

Several years later in 2008, I found on eBay a similar plane sold by an Italian collector who certified that it was
a very rare model. A special order for the Swiss Aviation Force from Count Giansanti Coluzzi, the famous toy
collector and chief of Fulgurex. M. Coluzzi was the first importer of Mercury toys for Swizterland and Germany
in the 1950's. His vast toy collection was sold recently in several prestigious auction houses.
This model was supposedly made in few numbers for a scale model of a Swiss military airport near Zurich.
A few others were sold in a well known Swiss shop called Weber for a short time in 1953.
Nevertheless, these were not registered in the factory records nor in related books or magazines.

Has anybody seen another one before? Any additional information would be appreciated.

[Tone]

A few others were sold in a well known Swiss shop called Weber for a short time in 1953.

N.B.: Jouets Weber in Luzern was still there in 1980, I bought a toy plane there on a summer vacation

[grwebster]

Jose, that is very unusual and I have never seen or heard of this variant before. Must rank up there as one of the rarest Mercury aircraft.
Before you posted that Vampire, I would have ranked the civilian FIAT G-212 as the rarest. My example has very bad 'fatigue' but it was the only one I have seen until a dutch collector last year on our old yahoo forum mentioned he also had one.


It was also issued in white with RED CROSS markings and also with Italian Military roundels.

Among casting variants of Mercury aircraft, the only one I know about is the change of the nose gear on the P-38. I would assume the bent wire was the first one and the cast in post was a production cost savings variant.


Are there any others out there?