This article discusses the Dinky Toys 47 Series road signs. It is an abridged version of the full article on the 47 series in the Members' Section. Through his own collecting and research the author has uncovered as series of changes especially in the 47 Road Signs Set and has uncovered errors in the identification of these items in published Dinky Toys reference works.

---

Introduction

In 1935 Dinky Toys launched the first accessories to go with the ever increasing range of Dinky Toys vehicles.

The 47 Series consists of four different sets of traffic lights, originally called Robot Traffic Signals, a Belisha beacon (in the UK used to mark pedestrian crossings) and 12 Road Signs sold individually and as a boxed set of 12.

These signs were reintroduced after the War, but only one of the traffic signals was reintroduced and the Set 47 Road Signs were then only available as a boxed set, although undoubtedly some dealers sold individual signs from the boxes.

These signs were cast from Mazac and, therefore, the pre-war signs are prone to inter-granular corrosion (metal fatigue) and given the thin and fragile nature of the castings many have suffered badly and are consequently quite hard to find.

---

Set 47 Road Signs

The following is based on the author’s opinions and the observation of a large selection of boxed and loose 47 Series Road Signs.

This is an area where there is a great deal on misinterpretation by the existing authors of Dinky Toys. This has lead to confusion between pre-war and post war versions of these signs. The differences raised in this article and the existing publications will be covered later.

The 12 signs were sold individually (it is stated pre-war only). The author has not seen trade boxes for these signs so it may be that the dealer sold from these boxed sets. This might explain why many incomplete sets and ones filled with post war versions turn up.

The twelve signs are:

1. 47e 30 MPH Limit
2. 47f De-restriction
3. 47g School
4. 47h Steep Hill
5. 47k S-Bend
6. 47m Left-Hand Bend
7. 47n Right-Hand Bend
8. 47p T-Junction
9. 47q No Entry
10. 47r Major Road Ahead
11. 47s Crossing No Gates
12. 47t Roundabout

Note the gaps, numbers 47i, 47j, 47l, 47o were omitted to avoid numeric confusion.

The above signs are in the following picture from left to right:

These signs are based on designs introduced into the United Kingdom in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Prior to that organisations such as the AA produced road signs. in a variety of styles.

This is a picture of a 1:1 example in a country life museum in North Yorkshire:

Here are three other signs (plates only) from the Open Air Museum at Beamish in County Durham:

The scale of the Traffic Signs is recorded as ¼ inch to 1 foot or 1:48 in line with most of the cars.

There follows a chronology as far as can be ascertained of the Set 47 Road Signs. Casting variations occurred in some of the post war signs but exact dates have not been recorded.

In summary:

• Box: the pre-war boxes are square with a lift of lid numbered A2073 the post war boxes are oblong initially with a low quality cardboard lid and later and more commonly with a cardboard sleeve. Last versions appear to have a yellow textured sleeve. Finally, a set with a yellow lift off lid with an overstamp for the renumbered 770 has been obtained from the USA.
• Triangles: Pre-war warning signs have open triangles, post war ones have filled in triangles.
• Bases: All the signs have black base tops, pre-war and post war signs have white under bases, but late export-only post war signs are painted black.

Note the 772 signs that were introduced some years after the deletion of the 47 Signs have all white bases and open triangles as in the pre-war signs.

The attribution of open triangles to pre-war and filled in triangles to post war might be controversial as it is the reverse of that stated in the Great Book of Dinky Toys. However, the author has ample evidence that this is the case and this is discussed later in this article.

---

Pre-war Set 47 Road Signs

The following is the first issue Set 47:

Note the branding, “Meccano Dinky Toys and 200 Varieties. This box dates from 1935 and has sustained some water damage.

The next set is a 250 Varieties box dating from 1936/7. Note the brand now has been shortened to “Dinky Toys”.

Finally, this is a 300 varieties box. This is a late box and is dated on the side 9-39 which places the production of the box as September 1939. It is likely the signs were made later and are war-time production. The other information indicates the 2,500 of these boxes were ordered in September 1939.

The observer will note that these signs are heavily fatigued and are the original occupants of the box. All parts of the signs appear to be present; all 12 tops are present. However, only two remain intact. The interior of this set is pristine, and I suspect that the signs were never played with and disintegrated in situ. The signs all have open triangles.

---

Post war Set 47 Road Signs

The 47 Road Signs were reintroduced in 1948, this time in oblong boxes and it seems that the 8 signs with warning triangles then had them filled in. It is possible that some early post war signs have open triangles but an early post war set obtained by the Author has the filled in Triangles. From about 1950 to the end of the production of the 47 signs in 1954 the signs were only available for export.

During this period, there appear to be four changes in the Set 47. The following is an approximate chronology:

This is an early post war, c. 1946 Set. There is an oblong box with a lift off lid, the 8 signs have been filled in but the remaining four signs (30 mph, De-restriction, No Entry and Slow Major Road Ahead) are as the pre-war signs:

The next change occurred around 1949; the set is currently in Derby and has a stamp of LC79. This set now has a cardboard sleeve and the Slow Major Road Sign now has been filled in.

This following is a set where the next casting change appears to have taken place. Dinky combined the 47e 30mph and the derestriction sign to create one sign back to back. This change appears to be little documented in the literature and because it occurred post war there is no individual number allocated. This represents the practice for those signs as when one entered a village the sign reads 30 and when one leaves the village and joins the open road the same sign has the black bar on the back.

The above shows the set with the box; note this is a US export item with an H Hudson Dobson sticker.

As the changed casting to the now combined 47e and 47f is not obvious the following is a picture of the two signs from this set with a mirror behind:

In terms of factual information these changes are not well documented. However, in the literature there is a reference. The Great Book of Dinky Toys by the Richardsons lists one engineering drawing that seems to have survived.

This is for 47e, 30 Mile Limit Sign, Road Sign Speed Restriction, Job no. 7391, small size drawing, date drawn 2.2.35, significant changes 5.12.58 redrawn with new masking (narrower bands).

Now the 1958 date will be for the equivalent 30mph/derestriction sign in the 772 set but one wonders if the earlier change to the 47 series sign was recorded on this drawing and the Richardsons did not annotate it.

It appears as well that a section of this drawing appears in their earlier work from the Hornby Companion Series, Volume 4, Dinky Toys & Modelled Miniatures on Page 23 Figure 410:

The lettering on the base is indeed for the later set 772 version as the 47 Signs and the 772 signs have differing bases:

The left sign is the 47e/f and the right the 772 equivalent. The author is unclear what the narrower bands reference is as apart from the base detail and the painting of white on top of the base the signs are to all intent identical. It is interesting that the original 1935 drawings were re-used in part for the 1958/9 set, although many of the signs have differing designs.

This is a late version acquired from Canada. The quality stamp is blurred but this could be 1951 or 1954. The bases are now clearly painted black. Note that on earlier signs there are frequent examples of black caused by overspray so it is quite common to see one or two signs with black bases even before this deliberate change.

Note the changes to the box, a yellow textured finish to the sleeve as opposed to plain card finish and the tray is all yellow and has the text printed on rather than a stick on label.

In the authors picture archive of these signs there is this further example which must be a very late one dating from 1954. The 47 signs were renumbered to 770; a printed example of the renumbered signs has not been seen by the author. If anyone has one or a picture we would be very interested. However this example has 770 crayoned on to the end. It also has a higher quality lift off lid.

Finally this set with an over-stamped 770 also with lift off lid has been obtained from the USA. 

 

---

Summary of evolution of Set 47 Road Signs and the boxes

The following table summarises the evolution of the signs, changes highlighted:

Evolution of 47 Road Signs 1935 - 1954

Date	Varieties	Box	Lid/ Sleeve	Triangles	47e/f 30mph derestriction	47r Major Road Ahead	Under base	Notes/ Example
1935/6	200	Square, “Meccano Dinky Toys” A2073	Lid	Assume originally open	Separate	Open	White	Acquired  with filled triangles and one incorrect sign (47d Beacon)
1936/7	250	Square, “Dinky Toys” A2073	Lid	Open	Separate	Open	White	Lid is missing
1938-1941	300	Square, “Dinky Toys” A2073	Lid	Open	Separate	Open	White	One undated, One with complete but fatigued signs. Box dated 9/39
1946	n/a	Oblong, label on tray	Card lid	Filled	Separate	Open	White	Quality stamp on label, looks like 46?
1949?	n/a	Oblong, label on tray	Card Sleeve	Filled	Separate	Filled	White	LC79 quality Stamp (on loan to Derby)
1950?	n/a	Oblong, label on tray	Card Sleeve	Filled	Combined	Filled	White	H Hudson Dobson US Export
1951?	n/a	Oblong, printed yellow tray	Yellow textured card sleeve	Filled	Combined	Filled	Black	Acquired in Canada, quality mark unclear possibly 1951
1954	n/a	Oblong, printed yellow tray	Yellow printed lift off lid	Filled	Combined	Filled	Black	770 hand written on label or . stamped at importers
1954 770	Were any renumbered 770 Boxes produced? The author believes not.				No example of a printed renumbered 47 to 770 found. Late 47 sets with 770 pencilled and over-stamped are illustrated.

---

Pre-war box variation

There is some variation in the printing of the boxes pre-war:

The top box is the early 1935/6 issue and the lower one the later 1939 issue.

In this picture the top 2 boxes are earlier 300 varieties boxes. The lower one the September 1939 issue box.

---

The case for pre-war open triangle signs

There may be some debate as to whether some pre-war signs were produced with closed triangles. In favour of this, is the fact that some sets in square boxes do turn up with closed triangles. In fact the early 1935 set detailed above was purchased with signs with closed triangles. The author has replaced them with open triangles. However he is keeping the original set of signs as well in case it can be demonstrated that some pre-war signs were produced with closed triangles. Here is an image of the set as purchased; it also had a 47d Belisha beacon in place of one of the turn signs.

The author has had many signs pass through his hands, both boxed and loose in addition to the eight sets illustrated in this article. Without exception all the signs that suffer from metal fatigue have been ones with open triangles (and some of the other 4 without triangles).

What will have happened is that owners replaced fatigued signs after the war with sets or individual signs purchased from willing dealers, who then substituted 47a Traffic Signals or 47d Belisha beacons in the boxes. As stated above the thin nature of the casting of the road signs coupled with the quality issues in the Foundry pre-war will have led to many of these signs disintegrating and with such a small casting the survival rate of a fatigued example will, be far less than for a larger item such as a car or van.

In addition, the set dated 1939 illustrated above is proof if any is needed that signs with open triangles were made before 1941. Here is a close up of three of them:

Looking through the literature to hand there is also a lack of pictures of the warning signs in Meccano Magazines etc. However, this image taken from a shop window display of Dinky Toys around 1935/6 from Coopers in Liverpool shows quite clearly a sign with an open triangle.

The Richardsons in the Great Book of Dinky Toys state that the 1935 to 1941 signs have "triangles filled in at the back" and the 1948-54 signs have "triangles open". The author would state that this is the other way round, or at least that open triangles were produced pre-war only. It does seem unlikely that Meccano would manufacture eight additional dies to make both filled and open triangles in parallel. It is more likely the triangles were filled in to reduce the labour of removing metal flash.

The Richardsons are also incorrect about the underneath of these signs, as they state that post war the signs have black undersides and this is only true of the very last issues, say post 1949 for the North American market.

Ramsay’s guide states that the 1935 to 41 signs have triangles "usually filled in".

The author would say “always open”.

It may be that some of this confusion is because when the 772 set came out with a revised and extended range then these once again had open triangles as in the original issue. Perhaps late 772 series signs and 47 series signs were confused.