Weekend update...

Don and I set up for the Toy Collectible show at the Mansfield Fairgrounds on Saturday evening. While setting up, I somehow managed to get a nasty splinter in my right index finger. I thought that I had removed it safely, until I noticed how sore it was when we returne home yesterday...... and I attempted minor surgery, LOL! Hopefully, I managed to get it all out this time.

Yesterday, we left early to make the drive over and upon arriving, settled in. There were approx. 40-50 vendors at this show- the majority of the morning was dealers looking for bargains and a few people who had brought in items to sell to the vendors that were set up. We were the only vendors selling Matchbox die cast cars and a lot of the people attending didn't realize what the old Matchbox Yesteryears and Lledo's lines were. Don's collection definately drew a lot of attention, however we never sold the first item!

We did however have the opportunity to meet a lot of people, from all different walks of life, and it was interesting even to me to hear Don talk about how his collection originated. From what I gathered as I listened to him was in the early 1980's. Matchbox was originally founded by Leslie and Rodney Smith, who used a portion of the their first names to form Lesney. Jack Odell partnered with Lesney shortly thereafter and the Lledo {Jack's last name spelled backwards} line Models of Yesterday were born, then followed by the Days Gone By lines which were released in series. Don's personal collection consists of the Models of Yesteryear and the Series 1 and 2 Days Gone By die cast cars. I love this collection of diecasts myself, they are very vintage and definately reflect the era of yesteryear and days gone by. I, personally believe we would have had more success at a vintage sale than the Collectible Toy show we attended as there was a lot of newer, market flooded items there. Anyways, it was fun to do!

I think maybe I'll have to sort through his collection to find a diecast he has a duplicated of for use in a shadowbox assemblage. It could be fun doing a bit of research about the Model of the diecast car itself and adding in some photographs of the era of origin...