Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Matchbox Toys

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great reference book, full of details and history about evolution of Matchbox toys. If you love Matchbox, this is a must. Charlie Mack is a true expert on the subject, and this is for sure the most complete and updated information about the subject. The only complains are: cover picture is not representative at all. Pictures are excelent but could be larger for the "reg. wheels" and "miniatures", and several rare cars and boxes are ommited (no space probably). However, "Tomart's Price Guide for Hot Wheels" have a much better and contemporary graphic design and many more pictures in a smaller book, and also with more description of individual models.

I feel this is a great book. Why? It has very much attention to the details of the hobby. The pictures are helpful. They price guide is quite accurate and good for reference. Mr. Mack did a wonderful job putting this book together. Alot of time and energy must have went into the book and it paid off. I recommend it to new and experienced collectors alike. Great book!

This book has a photo of every model made since Lesney made a crude toy in 1948. The largest and most complete price and variation guide around. The only Matchbox book you need

As the owner of both the 1997 1st edition and this newer 2004 3rd edition, I am disapointed. In order to fit 7 years of new photos into the same size book, the photos were digitally shrunk and subsequently distorted and blurred. But worse, the 1st edition had 198 pages of photos, the 3rd edition has just 159 pages of photos. Bottom line, this makes the photos tiny, blurred and distorted. Also, the paper stock (thickness) was significantly reduced so although the newer edition has just seven more total pages, the first edition is significantly thicker and heavier. So if you do not collect Mattel Matchbox, purchase the 1st edition (also it does not appear the prices between the 1997 and the 2004 price guide have changed). By the way, the 1st edition is a great book!

Its a big book and plenty of clear colour photos of so many examples throughout.covers every era of Matchbox toys.This type of book is superior over the wide but short books printed by this publisher.There is so much information here no matter whether you are devoted collector or just love looking at the old toys you had.This book will please most people.Its good value and high quality.

This book thoroughly covers the vast line of Matchbox Diecast from its early begiinings as Lesney and the regular wheeled vehicles up to the present just before Mattel procured Matchbox. It is accurate, comprehensive, and well thought out. The photography is excellent, much better than Charles Mack's earlier books. Pricing is optimistic but because this book is the foremost authority of Matchbox I believe dealer/retail prices are based on the information herewith. An excellent resource for any serious collector.

I do not like the way that the book is organized. I was hoping for something with the models in the order that they came out. The newer models and older models are mixed on the page and there is no information under the pictures indicating what year that they came out. It has mostly newer models instead of the Lesney models that I am interested in. I wish that I hadn't bought it.

This book has alot of numbers that are hard to find the item to match,very complicated! But the pictures are nice and the timeline info was great!

Looking at this on the shelf, it is one good-looking book that I found difficult to locate certain series. I believe that the index in the back could be improved on, but I didn't give up on this completely and did spend some time getting familiar with the layout and organization. It is usable but you must be aware that there will be certain versions of the Matchbox cars that simply cannot be found, in any book. This isn't something you can unwrap, open and price a car on E-bay, but with some dilligence you can get a number on probably 85% of the collection that I have (which isn't extensive by any means). And a second opinion is always the best way to go.

Not my first choice for a price guide, but I still use this as a second opinion.

Besides the Stannard,this is the book to have on Matchbox.
Great for starters and long time collecors.