Charles Barnett
Designer
Charles Barnett’s stepped display of white metal handbuilt models will be a familiar sight to those who frequent Sandown Park, N.E.C., Windsor and other major toy fairs, but he hasn’t always majored on white metal.
Throughout his life, Charles has always been fascinated by cars, and had his share of Dinky and Corgi Toys as a child. However, unlike many of us, he managed to hang on to his own toys as he grew older, and by the mid 1960s he had amassed a significant collection of these, together with some Spot-On models, and a few examples of the then foreign makes such as Solido, Mercury and Politoys. He had his eyes opened to the concept of collecting model cars as a serious hobby by Brian Jewell’s book, and the then encyclopaedic work, ‘Catalogue of Model Cars of the World’ by Jacques Greilsamer and Bertrand Azema.
Subject ID: 81179
MoreCharles Barnett’s stepped display of white metal handbuilt models will be a familiar sight to those who frequent Sandown Park, N.E.C., Windsor and other major toy fairs, but he hasn’t always majored on white metal.
Throughout his life, Charles has always been fascinated by cars, and had his share of Dinky and Corgi Toys as a child. However, unlike many of us, he managed to hang on to his own toys as he grew older, and by the mid 1960s he had amassed a significant collection of these, together with some Spot-On models, and a few examples of the then foreign makes such as Solido, Mercury and Politoys. He had his eyes opened to the concept of collecting model cars as a serious hobby by Brian Jewell’s book, and the then encyclopaedic work, ‘Catalogue of Model Cars of the World’ by Jacques Greilsamer and Bertrand Azema.
Whilst at college studying marketing and advertising, Charles began looking for examples of cars not modelled by the major diecast manufacturers. This was the time of the early kits of John Day and Motorkits, and models by Brooklin and Western Models, and Charles acquired a number of these.
His collection has grown over the years, and was the driving force behind his entry into trading in models. He attended what were the first swapmeets where true exchanging took place, in the north of England. These were in Huddersfield, in a room above the Co-op Dairy, and in Bradford, in a basement under a city centre chapel!
Charles took a job in marketing support with a member company within the Tootal Group, based in Congleton, Cheshire, which specialised in fabrics made from man made fibres. From there he went to the mail order company Empire Stores in Bradford, working on the selection of merchandise for the catalogues.
A spell with a furniture company in Leeds, managing sales support, followed, but redundancy there led Charles to take a post with an entertainments company, also in Leeds. A further spell of redundancy, when that firm too went on the slide, persuaded him to join the Civil Service in 1981.
The two spells out of work had however, led him to develop his model interests, and to travel further afield around the growing number of swapmeets and collectors fairs. One event in London, for example, brought him into contact with Max Kernick and John Roff, where Charles was impressed with the quality of their Abingdon Classics models of MGs.
By this time, Brooklin Models were developing a higher profile, and on one occasion when Charles called into the factory in Bath to collect a few spare parts, he was introduced to, and treated to a long chat with, its founder John Hall. Charles was impressed and a long association with Brooklin began. A meeting a short time afterwards with fellow enthusiasts Brian Harrison and Mike Marlow, who had founded the Brooklin Collectors’ Club, saw Charles become the newsletter editor for that club. Thanks to Mike’s canny budgeting and positive approach, he was able to produce a high quality publication worthy of the Brooklin product, which he continued to develop for several years.
During the 1980s, other makes began to arrive on the scene, and many of these were happy to market their models through specialist dealers, so Charles’ trading sideline slowly changed emphasis, away from diecast and towards the handbuilt white metal replicas.
His involvement with the Brooklin club led to his attending the annual show of the Canadian Toy Collectors’ Society, and he made some good contacts during this trip, notably with Julian and Margaret Stewart of Durham Classics, which ultimately led to Charles becoming their main European distributor.
The trip also sparked Charles’ love affair with North America, which he now visits 3 or 4 times a year, and where he has developed a growing number of customers and suppliers. Meanwhile, he has developed his regular pattern of attending major collectors fairs in the UK. Over the years, he has commissioned several special models under his ‘Midas Models’ brand, with both Durham Classics and Somerville Models. These have all been well received and are now sought after.
Charles’ view of the market for handbuilt models now is that it is more affected by the retirement or closure of some of the key producers in the industry. After all, most of these businesses are run by one man or one family, in contrast to the development of the much cheaper mass produced diecast products from China. He recognises that the customer base has shrunk, but finds that for every customer who moves away from handbuilts to the mass produced items, there is another who, growing tired with just amassing diecasts, moves toward the solid feel and limited nature of the more collectable white metal pieces. He finds that collectors of handbuilt models rarely sell their whole collections, but rather, will trade away duplicates, or models that have been upgraded, and will usually prefer to exchange these against new models, than sell them for mere cash.
Subject ID: 81179
Subject ID: 81179
