Corgi Diecast Toys - Daryle Lambert's Antiques and Collectibles Blog – The Last One

Corgi Batmobile - Thanks to Flicker.com 

The last two blogs have been about the English company that produced diecast toys by the name of Dinky and the Irish company that was formed to be their competition with Spot On toys. However, this story wouldn't be complete without including the story on Corgi, the third leg of the diecast toy industry which was located in the United Kingdom.

Corgi cars and trucks began coming to market in 1956 and they were soon a very serious competitor to the Dinky toys. In fact, I really prefer the name Corgi over Dinky. Over the years, Corgi made quite a few lines, from farm vehicles to emergency and circus items. But perhaps their greatest successes came from their lines of racing vehicles. The realism that Corgi was able to create in their racing cars brought the collectors from around the world to buy their products.

The first closing of the Corgi company was in 1983, however, the employees of the company were so devoted that they did a management buyout in 1984, naming the new company Corgi Toys Limited. The new company had fewer employees and reduced production, which allowed the Corgi name to survive until Mattel, one of the largest toy makers, bought them out in 1989. This story never seems to end because in 1995 the employees did another management buyout and renamed the company Corgi Classic Limited.

These toys are still highly collected and there are two books that you might be interested in purchasing on Corgi: The Great Book of Corgi by Marcel Van Cleemput and Corgi Toys by Edward Force and Jeff Bray. The values of the Corgi toys compare very favorable with Dinky and Hot Wheels. There is also a great monthly magazine called the Diecast Collector that could prove interesting to you as a dealer.

Corgi toys bring top dollar in the diecast field and there is an opportunity to make substantial amounts of money with them. Here are a few examples: 1963 Corgi complete racing set MIB $7500, Corgi 267 Batmobile MIB $884, Corgi 336 James Bond Toyota 2000 Gt MIB $750 and the 1966 Green Hornet Black Beauty MIB $935. My first Mercedes, that I bought in Louisville, Kentucky way back 1965, only cost $5600 and it wasn't a miniature.

I have now finished the diecast toy group. If a person wanted to combine Dinky, Corgi, Spot On, Tootsies and Hot Wheels, he could become a specialist in miniature toys. This would be an interesting field and a dealer specializing in them could get to be known around the world. 

My 220 page book about how to make money buying and selling antiques and collectibles is FREE with your membership in the Daryle Lambert's Antique and Collectible Club. Join Us Today