I recently visited a Meccano enthusiast who is a
fairly prolific model builder for his own pleasure and also for the
occasional exhibition. After showing me his latest Meccano creations
he led me into a back room with the words “I AM NOT REALLY A
COLLECTOR but I have this red/green set 9 in wooden box ….”, and
he proceeded to show me a rare gem which enthusiasts throughout the
world would pay their eye teeth for (or more if it was advertised on
E-Bay). It was naturally not for sale.
I am sure that, like the enthusiast above, most
Meccanomen/women are closet collectors of one sort or another and only
a few of us are prepared to admit it. Collecting Meccano depends on
one’s knowledge of Meccano history. The two subjects are
intertwined. Most of us have acquired Meccano for model building
purposes, and in the process have come across old sets, parts or
literature from yesteryear and wondered how they fitted in to the
overall Meccano picture. Thus another collector/historian is born,
closet or otherwise!
Meccano history has been very well covered in
literature in the past few decades. An excellent Brief History of
English Meccano 1901-1981 by Graham Jost is included as the first item
in this series as an introduction, followed by a few pertinent notes
by Geoff Wright on Meccano Colour Schemes. Another starting point for
newcomers must be the Hornby Companion Series volumes 1 to 8 published
by New Cavendish books, especially volume 6, The Meccano System by
Bert Love and Jim Gamble. A very good chronology and description of
Meccano sets, which includes contents lists, is: Meccano The First
Century, Books One to Three, by John Lavers, published by MW Models as
Datafiles 4.1 to 4.3. Several web sites covering specific periods of
Meccano history are now also springing up, the first one being the
Meccano Light Red/Green Period web site by Melvyn Wright at
http://www.meccanonut.com/lightred/
The ISM Collector Historian Series is a forum for the
Meccano collector/historian to showcase interesting and unusual
Meccano items of information gathered by them either by accident or
diligent research, which has hitherto been unknown, or not easily
accessible to the average Meccano enthusiast. Should you have anything
to contribute to this series please contact William Irwin at irwin@ihug.co.nz
or Michael Adler at anthias@actcom.co.il
