Rare toy car bought for 50p at a car boot is set to sell for £2,000 at auction

27 December 2023 , 23:45

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The buyer had spotted the toy at a car boot and bought it for just 50p (Image: VectisAuctions/BNPS)

A rare Dinky toy car which was bought for 50p at a car boot sale is expected to fetch £2,200 at auction.

The buyer had spotted the miniature ‘New Avengers’ Jaguar while browsing a sale on the south coast. He then put it on eBay with a starting price of 99p and within 10 minutes was receiving bids of £500 for it.

Realising the true worth of the toy, he quickly took it off the website and called a toy auctioneers. They identified it as a pre-production sample for John Steeds’ Jaguar XJ5 3C Big Cat in The New Avengers.

People were bidding £500 just 10 minutes after the buyer put it on eBay (VectisAuctions/BNPS)

The 1979-80 model never entered production at the Dinky factory in Liverpool, so only a handful of pre-production examples exist - boosting their appeal to collectors. The deep aqua coloured “near mint condition” toy is going under the hammer at Vectis Auctions next month.

They believe it could go for over 4,000 times what its owner, who lives in the south of England, paid for it. British spy TV drama The Avengers ran from 1961 to 1969 and was brought back by ITV in 1976. Patrick Macnee starred as secret agent John Steed, who drove a trademark Jaguar. The show's second run ended in 1977.

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