Do you still have your old Matchbox toy cars? Well hang on to them, as they could be collectors’ items.
Matchbox celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. It was launched in 1953, a year after designer Jack Odell created the first tiny car for his daughter so she could take it to her school. It was a school rule that pupils were allowed to bring in only objects that would fit in a matchbox. When classmates started clamouring for their own matchbox cars, Odell started the firm.
Since then more than 3 billion Matchbox cars covering 12 000 different models have been produced.
Bumper to bumper, they would encircle the Earth at the equator more than six times.
Matchbox’s first owner was die-cast company Lesney. Now it is owned by Mattel, which has released a 60th-anniversary collection of 24 historic models, including an Austin Mini Cooper from the “golden age” of Matchbox cars in the Sixties, a Routemaster double-decker bus and a Massey Harris tractor from the Fifties.
And always remember - they’re worth a great deal more if you keep the box. - Daily Mail