A Concise History of Corgi Toys and other Mettoy Products

Mettoy was created by Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution in Germany in the 1930s. The company produced all kinds of toys and other products in tinplate, plastic and cast metal, but the best-known creations of its Playcraft subsidiary were Corgi Toys, made from 1956 onwards. Everyone knows that the biggest-selling Corgi model was the original James Bond Aston Martin DB5, with almost four million sold. But everyone is wrong: in fact the biggest-selling single model was the Batmobile, of which almost five million were made. It is noteworthy, however, that both of these top-sellers were character merchandise items. When it comes to castings, however, more Land Rovers were produced than any other Corgi models (and of course the Daktari set included a Land Rover). In this publication we have the story of Mettoy from its creation in the 1930s until its demise in 1983. We also include listings of Corgi Toys, Husky, Corgi Juniors and many other fascinating toys from a bygone era. This is the second edition.