Matchbox Toys
0 Buy/Sell
From WikiCollectables, Buy • Sell • Collect • Wiki
View the top articles!
|
Matchbox Toys is a popular brand among toy collectors. Originally best known for die-cast toys that can fit in a matchbox, the brand would eventually manufacture a wide range of different sized toys ---larger-scale, die-cast models and non die-cast toys, like action figures and model kits.
Background
Beginning in 1947, Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith, unrelated school friends, started Lesney Products, a small contract metal machining business in an abandoned pub in London. In 1948, Leslie and Rodney began producing their first toys - some die-cast, others in tinplate - which gained immediate popularity with the locals. Meanwhile, Rodney maintained another job at Diecast and Machine Tools (DCMT) in London, makers of Budgie and other die-cast toys. It is no coincidence that many Budgie Toys so closely resemble early Matchbox toys. The actual Matchbox brand was adopted in 1953 with the introduction of an assortment of Coronation Coaches. Lesney continued producing Matchbox Toys for the next two decades.
Also employed at the plant from its inception was John W. Odell, better known as "Jack," who contributed his casting skills to the venture. Jack Odell remained with the company until 1981, when he departed for good to form his own Lledo (Odell spelled backwards) toy company around the time that Matchbox Toys was purchased by Universal Holdings of Hong Kong and renamed Matchbox International. Universal held the brand until 1992 when it was sold to Tyco Toys, which was in turn purchased by Mattel in 1994. The Matchbox brand has been owned by Mattel ever since.
