This update is all about twos, and relates to a few scenesetters.
A very popular exhibit in the museum is the 1974 Sindy ‘Styling Head’ (Ref S537). This is courtesy of Lynn who just had to buy back a treasured childhood toy. Lynn contacted us to admit she had now acquired the brunette version. This version was shown in the 1975 style leaflet and we were very interested in seeing it, not only because we had never seen a really good 70s brunette styling head, but also because in 1975 the references changed with the addition of “44” to the front of the number. We were therefore curious as to what number was on the box of this new girl. Turned out she was also S537. This was really good because we could precisely match her to 1974 and to her blonde counterpart. As a brunette Sindy collector myself, I must confess that I really do covet this beautiful mint styling head. So 1974 Scenestters has been updated to show both styling heads.
Lynn then says, are you interested the American ‘Trailblazer’? Now, this was another interesting prospect, because we didn’t show either of the 1981 Wesco US only scenesetters, so of course the reply was yes please!
The Trailblazer cause some head scratching, we had read it was identical to the UK Range Rover, but I am writing about that car at the moment for the 1983 Scenesetters, and it didn’t look the same to me at all. What we needed was an American collector who understood US vehicles and also Sindy products. So, I wrote to Donna in the US who has been our Sindy horse expert for many years now. She confirmed that it was not a Range Rover and pointed out that there was a very similar vehicle made by Tonka for Barbie (although Tonka were very careful not to mention her by name) and suggested Chevrolet. Thanks to Donna, I think we have tied down the origins of the Trailblazer, although we remain unsure about the actual relationship between Wesco and Tonka (do let us know if you know).
I chanced my arm, and asked Donna do you have the American Wesco ‘Horse Trailer’? Rarely but occasionally the US Trailblazer come up for sale in the UK, but we hadn’t ever seen the Horse Trailer here (maybe we were just unlucky or didn’t know what to look for). Sure enough Donna had this item still mint in box plus a played-with version and she kindly sent photos.
So 1981 Scenestters has been updated to include the two “Made in the USA” Wesco Sindy Scenesetters, which we are delighted to show because we hate moving onto the next year and leaving something out, and we really wanted to add the Wesco products.
Lastly, when we wrote about the rather nice 1977 hotel ‘Carrycase’ we noted there were variations in the floral pattern of the bed linen. But we didn’t have any variations ourselves. Luckily for us, Karen did and she has kindly sent us her two floral fabric variations which we are so pleased to show so that collectors know what to look for.
Thank you to Lynn, Donna and Karen for generously contributing your Sindy items and for making the museum exhibits more complete.
