Latest News 2015 / 16

Site Update

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A counter has now been added in order to keep a check on the number of visitors we have browsing through our pages. You will find this at the bottom of the R.H. Index, if you are at all interested, under the heading ‘Blog Traffic’.

Some would say its a little late in the day as its now some four years since we opened our first page … good grief where on earth does the time go … someone once told me its not time that flies by its just we that perceive it differently as we journey through life ? Poetic you might say, incisive others may declare … rubbish he’d just had a few too many beers !

Hopefully this information on site traffic will help us plan what is, and dare I say it, what isn’t a popular area within our site. Information which will help us build the site in future.

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Antiques Centre Update

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Sad to say that this month (February) we have closed our sales unit within the Crimple Hall Antiques site at Harrogate. Numerous reasons brought about this decision but the general concensus was that we should simply concentrate our efforts on the faster moving internet sales areas.

A move that seems more than justified now that the Royal Mail have decided to reduce their parcel postal rates in the UK ! If only they had listened to me 12 months ago, talk about killing the goose that laid the golden egg, lets hope for them its not dead … simply stunned !!

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Road Trip ?

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Trundled around a few of the antique shops in our old stomping ground down in South Yorkshire for a few days, doing a poor mans version of the Antiques Road Trip ! Sadly no classic car to drive around in and definitely no ridiculous discounts were given or indeed offered to us by the dealers we met !! Some fascinating stories re the TV programme were told to us, as one dealer to another, nothing that we didn’t know already, but sadly I am not prepared to relate here for fear of shattering its image.

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Fairs Revisited

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Good to see some familiar faces once again at a recent toy fair I visited whilst down in South Yorkshire although I noticed the lads were as keen as ever in their pricing … but good to have a haggle face to face and it makes me realise how much I miss standing at the fairs.

Cannot for the life of me understand why there seems to be a total lack of toy fairs up here in North Yorkshire, antique fairs are thin on the ground as it is but apart from the odd one at Harrogate its a dead loss.

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Further Site News

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Without wishing to turn this site into a ‘Facebook’ page I have to inform you that the site will no doubt take a back seat for some time to come as our daughter has recently presented us with our first grandson to devote our leisure time to ! not only that but not to be outdone our son will also be blessing us with a grandson in the not too distant future … just like the buses, your waiting ages for one and then several arrive at once !

By all means keep your questions and comments coming in and I will try to respond as best I can as and when I can.

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British Toy Trains

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I was contacted recently by Michael Foster who was hoping to include some details from this site in his latest book on British Toy Trains. Its not the first time this site has received an acknowledgement in a toy book publication, and hopefully it won’t be the last, so I guess we must be doing something right !

Michael has already had two books published and is in the process of compiling book 3. It goes without saying that I was more than happy for Michael to use any information he might find useful contained  within this site for use in his upcoming publication. Since then we have messaged each other on a couple of occasions and Michael has been good enough to furnish me with copies of his first two books. I must say I am impressed with the finished work and Michael and his team must be congratulated on the end result and if book 3 is as good it will certainly be another winner for them.

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  1. Will
    May 28th, 2015 at 12:41 | #1

    Hi I am just after some information or rough value of a few toys I have to sell.
    I firstly have a early boxed rubies cube with instructions round container.
    I then have a 1975 buccaneer wadding tons board game,
    Then a 1937/38 waddingtons game starluk
    And a Chad valley pre 40s jigsaw of princess Elizabeth and princess Margaret on there own.

    Any info would be great as can find nothing on the jigsaw at all apart from 1 in the woolworths museum.
    Thanks
    Will

  2. dave
    June 4th, 2015 at 19:38 | #2

    Will, to be perfectly honest with you I am really doing my best to stop giving values on items. Just too many variables on each item and unless you can get ‘hands-on’ with a piece its virtually impossible to be precise and if you’ve been to auctions you will know how unpredictable they can be ! Add in the fact that its just my opinion and no doubt someone else will disagree with it !!
    However here I go again – being brutal most of your items are not worth a deal and would only be found in a job lot at auction. Waddingtons Starluk being the most valuable of your items in my opinion and may fetch around the £25 – £30 mark although a first edition may well go for somewhere between £30 – £50.
    Now we come to the jigsaw and sorry Will but its more bad news. I take it this Chad Valley item comes in a blue box with the words Jig Saw in blue lettering, a small picture of TRH Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose to the front standing under a large tree. I do know that a lot of three CV jigsaws including this particular one sold at auction for £15.
    Looks like you will have to keep working mate !
    Thanks for visiting the site, all the best, David.

  3. John Keppie
    June 23rd, 2015 at 19:57 | #3

    Hi David was looking to see if you could possibly help with some information on a toy that i have, its a Masudaya M81 remote controlled tank, any help on this would be much appreciated.

  4. dave
    June 25th, 2015 at 15:35 | #4

    Hi John, re your Masudaya Modern Toys of Japan M-81 remote control tank.
    Dates to around the late 1960’s and into the early 1970’s. Tinplate in construction with plastic parts.
    I’ve come across two variants – in both cases the tank itself remains the same model but on one the tank treads were solid black rubber and the hand held remote controller had two lever controls. The second variant had open grey treads and the controller had a single lever action often referred to as a ‘joystick’ control.
    Controller takes 3 x ‘D’ type batteries. 4 Point movement – forwards and backwards, 360 degree turret movement and fire. When fire is selected the tip of the barrel lights up along with a ‘clicking’ noise to simulate firing noise.
    Fully lithographed detailing to the tank body itself.
    Can’t be too specific regarding price as I’ve not seen one at auction recently but would anticipate between £60-£80 for a boxed model.
    Hope that helps, David.

  5. September 23rd, 2016 at 10:25 | #5

    Dear John, I hope you are still there as the last message on this site seems to be in 2015. I would be very grateful if you could let me know of a supplier of spares for the Shackleton Foden FG6 tipper lorry. I have one with a broken rear “spring” which I would like to repair. Some years ago I was given the name of someone who made and supplied these but can no longer find the him.

    Regards
    Roger Dingley

  6. dave
    October 1st, 2016 at 20:49 | #6

    Hi there ‘Bert’, sorry mate but couldn’t resist getting your name wrong .. where did you get the ‘John’ name from ? Just for the record my name is David ! and that is the way I end all my replies etc. Did you write this message after a visit to the local ? last message in 2015 ? don’t think so … anyway to try and answer your message, if you look on my Links heading you will find one for ‘toysintime’. Have a look at their site, they do Shackleton spares.
    Cheers, David.

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