Triang Sydney Suburban set

"mindesign" wrote

Only ever had one of these, about twenty years ago. I seem to recall it made around GBP150.00 when I sold it.

John.

Are you the seller, by any chance?

while I of course do know myself, I don't usually write "of" myself in the third person

in short

no

I am stuffed if I can work why these things are valuable because like all Triang stuff they are bloody aweful toys.

Cheers

Rod Gayford

"Rod Gayford" wrote

Same reason as Hornby O-gauge and some of the other tinplate makes - basically they're toys and big kids like toys and can afford them, so will pay what is necessary to get them.

John.

I'll have to take your word for it, of course.

Believe it or not, there are some unscrupulous eBay sellers who will pose as someone else to push their "rare, valuable" items.

No, surely nobody would be so unscrupulous as to do such a thing...:)

In Australia they don't seem to be so uncommon, there was one doing the rounds of the swapmeets in Melbourne last year. I'm not into Sydney trains, so I didn't have a close look at it, but it was still in it's box although I can't remember the price. It was on sale at most things I went to (swapmeets and exhibitions) so it obviously didn't sell very quickly and may well still be available if anyone is greatly interested.

I know the one you mean and the guy who sells them - always asking top dollar and often the same things appear to be at every meet. I guess he must sell a bunch of stuff though as he is always around. I recall watching him trying to sell an average-condition boxed Stephenson's Rocket to someone for $380, then offering someone $120 for theirs....... I have no problem with someone making a quid and there may have been good reason why the prices asked for and offered were SO different, but you know.....

:)

One has to remember that in the days of Tri-Ang, Hornby Dublo and Dinky Toys etc, these items were toys and mainly sold to children. A very high proportion of the production was run into the ground and smashed to bits or thrown out when their collectability wasn't recognised. In the case of die cast motor vehicles such as Dinky Toys and early Matchbox, many were lost in playgrounds and kid's sand pits. The proportion that has survived in mint or pristine condition is comparatively small. Their comparative rarity helps give them a value.

By contrast, a high proportion of the beautifully detailed models in current production is sold to aduly collectors who either never run them or look after them so well that they will survive a long time. They are unlikely to become seriously rare or highly collectable.

The second factor that helps make old Tri-Ang era stuff more valuable is the number of people that were children when they were in production that hankered after them at the time, but their parents couldn't afford to buy them. These people are now at a stage in their lives where they have a good disposable income and and are able to buy those items that were out of their reach when they were impressionable youths. This market has helped increase prices.

Finally, due to Australia's low population and fact they were models of prototypes that ran in a very limited geographical area within Australia - ie the suburbs of only one capital city, the Tri-Ang Sydney Suburban sets were never manufactured in large quantities.

m> I know the one you mean and the guy who sells them - always asking top

IIRC items which move only very slowly need a very high mark up to make them economic. By tradition items such as furniture have a mark up of 300% while soap powder is 10%. That is why big chain stores stock only train sets and not the matching accessories. A firm like Argos is not interested in stocking an item of which it may sell only one example a year.

(kim)