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Lesney Aveling Barford road roller

This was Lesneys very first toy,
It was a copy of the Dinky Aveling Barford road roller which Lesney had made for about a third of the price for the Dinky model. It was very similar to the Dinky toy but the Lesney version had no tinplate baseplate like the Dinky and the roof supports were die cast as opposed to the Dinky model which had wire roof supports. The tow hook was die cast on the Lesney where the Dinky tow hook was part of the tinplate baseplate.
The first issue was released in 1947/8 and it had no driver or flywheel but it is easily identifiable as the first issue because it had an X shaped brace between the rear roof supports, This was later modified when the X was removed from the rear roof support,
Later a flywheel was added to increase interest in the model but in reality it was a Diesel powered vehicle and would not have had a flywheel.
Later still the flywheel was removed and a driver was cast in, Although the Aveling Barford green with red rollers is the most common colour scheme for the roller it can be found in a variety of colours simply because there were shortages of practically everything being as it was so soon after the end of the war so Lesney used whatever colour paint happened to be available at the time.
Playworn examples of the Dinky roller with wire roof supports usually end up with a wonky roof but the Lesney never had this problem but unfortunately the roof was prone to coming adrift of the body and getting lost so most of the playworn Lesney rollers that come to light are missing the roofs, Reproduction roofs have been made in limited numbers but these are no real substitute for a roller with it's original roof intact.
The roller was deleted in 1949 and is a very hard to find piece which is highly sought by collectors so models of the Aveling Barford command high prices,
It was never packaged in an individual box but "Betal" a toy wholesaler that was distributing some of the rollers advertised it packaged in a box of their own manufacture.
In 1953 the model was scaled down to become the number 1a road roller in the new Matchbox 1-75 series.

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collectable toy specialists.

Lot 144 Matchbox Magic 19 - October 9th, 2007 Moko Lesney Road Roller green body and canopy, red wheels, no driver and flywheel - Fair to Good. Estimate: £50-£70 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £150

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Lot 3552 Other Vendors - December 14th, 2006 Lesney large scale Aveling Barford Diesel Road Roller - orange, without driver, bare metal canopy supports without cross braces, underside of canopy with dots cast either side of the word in, black metal rollers, (originally model would have been fitted with a side mounted flywheel for which the stub is present but the flywheel is now missing) - Fair unboxed. Rare early issue and colour. Estimate: £200-£300 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £440

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collectable toy specialists.

Lot 3553 Other Vendors - December 14th, 2006 Lesney large scale Aveling Barford Diesel Road Roller - light green, with driver, bare metal canopy supports without cross braces, underside of canopy with dots cast either side of the word in, red metal rollers - Fair. Estimate: £150-£200 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £300

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collectable toy specialists.

Lot 814 Matchbox Magic 14 - April 5th, 2006 Matchbox Early Lesney Toys large scale Road Roller - greyish brown, red rollers, with cast driver figure but without flywheel, rear canopy supports without cross-brace - Good unboxed - rare issue colour. Estimate: £400 -£500 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £800

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collectable toy specialists.

Lot 813 Matchbox Magic 14 - April 5th, 2006 Matchbox Early Lesney Toys large scale Road Roller - green, unpainted metal rollers, without flywheel and driver figure, rear canopy support with cross-brace - Good unboxed. Estimate: £200 -£250 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £320

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collectable toy specialists.

Lot 812 Matchbox Magic 14 - April 5th, 2006 Matchbox Early Lesney Toys Road Roller - green, red metal rollers, yellow flywheel rear canopy supports without cross-brace - Good unboxed. Estimate: £200 -£300 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £900

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Lot 852 Early Lesney & Moko Toys - September 6th, 2005 Lesney large scale Diesel Road Roller - dark green, bare metal rollers - generally Good although damp discolouration to canopy. Estimate: £70 -£90 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £150

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Lot 609 MOKO, MAJOR, KINGSZE ETC. - November 15th, 2000 Lesney Aveline Barford Road Rollers - (1) green, unpainted wheels. Good Plus; (2) green, red insert rollers (canopy stays have been replaced). Good Plus; and (3) pale green, red rollers & driver, front roller cage being a darker green & is detached from main body. Fair. (3) Estimate: £150 - £250 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £260

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collectable toy specialists.

Lot 406 Early Lesney Toys - September 8th, 1999 Large scale Road Roller - green/unpainted rollers & canopy supports/no driver or flywheel - D - rare Estimate: £60 - £80 Bidding is now closed on this item Price Realised: £150