Rarest Britains implements

[Guest martinr]

I've been trying to rebuild/complete my collection of 'classic' Britains - ie the 1970s/80s/early 90s period - over the past few years. What does everyone reckon are the rarest pieces from this timespan - especially on the implement front? It's taken me a while to track down things like a Suton yard brush...

[tractorbob]

dont think any are rare ..colour variations of certain implements are ..plenty of bog standered colour ones around on ebay,toy fairs on here etc if your stuck for any i might have one here for sale if it helps

[powerrabbit]

I'm not sure that there were any particularly rare items just the length of the production time. As Tractorbob says, limited or short colour variants are the most scarce and there have been some prototype escapes. If you count machinery as well as implements in this subject it is commonly thought that the blue animal transporter trailer, the forerunner to the high sided tipping trailer, with the lying cow in it is one of the rarest peices but it was produced in 3 variants. The 8 furrow Kvernland plough is concidered a bit of a rarity, 3 versions exist, one with silvered bodies, one with green bodies and the rarest packaged in a 'dealer' box which was a promotional variant only available from Kvernland dealerships. Other rarities are those items that were produced for outside the U.K. but can be found, one such item was the Vermeer round baler in yellow that went to the USA. Rarity of the older machinery now basically comes down to how many are still around and wheather the original packaging was a one-off or changed after a very short time. I'm sure there are others that can be catagorised as rare and I expect this topic will run for some while.

[nathan]

i would say that if they are boxed thats what i would class as a bit rare as many implements don't seem to be boxed these days , a boxed bomford baler has to be a bit rare i would think

[powerrabbit]

I agree, its boxed items, afterall, they were all only toys and the majority were actually played with and delicate parts soon became broken so unless these items are still in their packaging chances are that there is a fault with it. We know new replacement parts are available for a lot of Britain's stuff but its not the same as the original which considerably affects the value. I would say, from a collecting point of veiw, boxed is the way to go.

    The transport set with the sacks, churns, bales and blue linkbox is getting hard to find boxed now (2 types).

Boxed balers like the Bamfords, (several variant chassis and wheel colours) Red New Holland and the yellow one are also scarce now. Mule dozer in green card box and the front linkage system with the yellow tine buckrake based on the muledozer are others, etc etc etc.......

[ploughmaster]

I would agree with powerrabbit - the 9568 Animal Trailer must be the hardest to find of those going back to the 70's. It had a fairly short life (ran from 1969 to 1973). It was perhaps not too popular and so not made in great numbers. It is also easily broken, so a large proportion of those sold will have been damaged or destroyed.  It's hard to find unboxed, let alone boxed mint.  Last boxed one I saw sold made £175.

The 9559 Timber Trailer is another (it was introduced at the same times as the Animal Trailer, but deleted a year earlier).

Things like the Suton Yardbrush (1992 to 1995),  Front Mounted Flexicoil (1990 to 1992), Transplanter (1977 to 1980), or Kemper Champion Crop Header also had short runs and were probably not as popular and consequently are now not common to find.

If you go back to the 60's, the obvious one is the 9565 Lister Elevator which was only in the catalogue in 1965 and 1966. It was expensive and easily broken, so would have sold in small numbers, and be less likely to survive. (come to that, when did you last see many of the later yellow unpowered 9564 Multi Level Elevators for sale?).

[super6]

Have to agree with everyone else here, mainly colour variations.

The animal trailer has turned up quite a few times on eBay of late, in various states of repair.

This could be a contender, the original High sided tipper cart. Scroll down about half way

http://www.farmtoysforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=20765.0

[Powerstarâ„¢]

How much are you likely to get for a boxed Flexicoil front packer & Sutton Yardbrush also boxed? 

[powerrabbit]

The thing is that if you have the boxes this will put a premium on the value if ever you come to sell the models. Speaking of this, if you look at all the guides, auction prices and 'experts' comments on other types of models and toys like Corgi and Dinky toys etc, they say thay 2/3rds of the items value lies with the box being present and the condition. So, I wonder, why are people paying premium (I won't say stupid) prices for farm related items regardless of these points?

I picked up the early animal trailer all complete, with the lying cow that located on a spur in the middle of the trailer at a toy fair a couple of years ago that needed very slight unnoticeable repair for £35 and a little later someone gave me some odd Britain's bits and peices for nothing that icluded a full set of top side rails and grey ramp/tailboard for said trailer so that was a bonus.

[ploughmaster]

Have to agree with everyone else here, mainly colour variations.

The animal trailer has turned up quite a few times on eBay of late, in various states of repair.

This could be a contender, the original High sided tipper cart. Scroll down about half way

http://www.farmtoysforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=20765.0

Things often turn up in 'batches'.  There have been a few Animal Trailers recently, but they are generally very rare - we may not see any at all for a long time (a similar thing happened with Fordson DDNs in the 80's - they were impossible to find for several years, and then they seemed to be everywhere for a while). 

martinr had asked about the individual models, rather than variations so I don't think the High sided Tipper Cart would count as it is only the decal that is different.  I have never worked out whether that decal was a proper release or a pre-production version.  The trailer was originally catalogued (and decalled) as 'High Sided Tipper Cart' for release in 1974, but due to material shortages, it wasn't actually released until Spring 1975, when it was catalogued as 'Tipping High Sided Trailer' and decalled as 'Tipping Trailer'.  The only ones I have seen with that early decal are yours and mine!  As an individual variation, I think you are right, it would probably be the rarest. 

[Powerstarâ„¢]

There's a Sutton yardbrush on Ebay for £18 at the mo.

[MDFord]

Allthough it was still being made until fairly recently, the slurry scraper/push off buckrake set seems to fetch good money, is it that rare?

The Vaderstad rolls, front mounted cultivator, and the straight leg twose rear digger are others that seem thin on the ground.

[ploughmaster]

The Vaderstad rolls were only available for 4 years, so that might have restricted their number, although I would have thought there would have been a fair few sold (perhaps a lot got broken through play?).

The Scraper/Buck Rake set is one that probably wasn't a good seller, and may not have had that many produced. 

The straight legged Twose Digger is rarer because it was only available in the boxed sets with a tractor (the sets were always lower volume sellers) - that style of leg was used so that it would fit the width of the box.  The individual boxed ones were (as far as I am aware) all the splayed leg type.

On another point, the Yardbrush is a 'Suton', with only one 't'.  (It is a brand name used by Gurney Reeve & Co : http://www.sweepersuton.co.uk/ )

[MJB1]

flexicoil .............. vaderstad rolls.................... rare ...................

ahem .............

i'm off to look at the parts of these machines i have left, from convo builds  :'( :'( :'(

[powerrabbit]

Several variants of the rear digger. Twose in orange with blue frame was the first one with the Twose paper decal midway on the boom. Yellow road or autoway series in yellow with red striped long paper decal. There was a green framed one as well. The straight legged ones, as said, only came in the sets.

[bluegreen]

Im afraid many of my britains models including a couple of flexicoils are now in bits after various conversions :'( (which are also in bits )

In fact I kept a fair few boxes for various models that met untimely demises on the operating bench

I now have some fine condition britains boxes with nothing to go in them \

[05rich]

i would say that the britains muldozer would be quite rare

[tractorbob]

i tried to sell a muldozer 3 months ago no bids

[05rich]

i tried to sell a muldozer 3 months ago no bids

a few years ago they where going for around a tenner on ebay

[powerrabbit]

Have to say that this topic has really got me thinking rather hard as there are a lot of implements from Britain's that can be considered rare and for the sake of not wanting to repeat myself or others statements, I suppose its down to how many are still in existance and in good enough condition to be worth looking out for and how many are still in the box. Short run items are worth considering but we have to remember that an awfull lot of numbers could have been produced in that run time and another thing to consider is the items that were unpopular, did not sell too well and were soon withdrawn.

Another Britain's item, not really an implement but certainly falls into the catagory with the rest is the Massey Ferguson 780 combine that was made in Macao when manufacturing was moved from Britain in the early 1980's. This particular combine was only produced in Macao for one year only before manufacture was again moved to China, recognisable by its very much darker red colour and slightly plainer box. The Bamfords BL58 baler has been mentioned but there are two variants worth looking out for and these are a brown chassis, which according to Pullens book was only produced in one small batch and one with yellow wheels.

[tractorbob]

yes colour and different wheels etc are rare ,but bog standard ones are not rare, with all the ways today, of buying them (ebay,here,toy fairs etc)  some cheap and some silly prices ..you need to do your reserch on what your buying  ..the tractors are the rare ones ...yellow major,5000. deutz allis,swiss hurliman etc

[Powerstarâ„¢]

I have a bamfords BL58 with yellow wheels, Didn't thnk it was rare! No box though.

[Tractorman810]

so have i luke, infact might have 2  , are they that rare then, seen a fair few on ebay, all be it not 100% complete

[Datman]

its not an implement as such but how rare is the claas 690 with kemper maize head? In this part of the world i couldnt find one when i wanted one...

[fordmajor]

what about the lister elivator powered version