MECCANO General Products Price Lists
Including BAYKO

This is the MECCANO Trade and Retail Price List for 1961. The printers code shows December, 1960, which is clearly appropriate...

...and shows a modest lead time.

The sheet is printed on both sides, with the BAYKO sets price information visible as the left hand half of the second section from the top.

Click anywhere on the image [left] to see a larger version of the BAYKO section.

The three columns which are shown alongside the list of BAYKO sets and conversion sets are, left to right, "Retail inc. tax", "Trade exc. tax", "Purchase Tax".

This price information is interesting, showing that the headline profit margin on BAYKO sets was modest, to say the least. Plimpton's policy had been to offer discounts [30%] for substantial orders, and I can only assume that MECCANO made similar arrangements, boosting margins to much more attractive levels.

The shape of the document itself is noteworthy, at over 400 millimetres [almost 16 inches] long, more than double the width...

...perhaps this pushed MECCANO towards the 4-page booklet format used subsequently for similar documents.

This is the 1961, MECCANO general products price list, with BAYKO proudly displayed on the front cover...

...indeed, at this stage, BAYKO seems to rate #2 in the product priorities, second only to MECCANO itself.

This 4 page, folded leaflet is print-coded August, 1961.

The shape of this leaflet certainly seems unusual...

...I'm not sure, but it isn't based on the old foolscap paper size [folded in half vertically] which is the only paper size of the period that I'm familiar with.

The prices shown on the sheet have actually gone up slightly since the large order form above, dated February 1961...

...perhaps a little surprising when you consider that BAYKO was only relaunched less than 12 months earlier!

This is the 1964, MECCANO general products price list, with BAYKO still displayed proudly on the front cover...

...even though BAYKO production ceased at the start of the year, after 30 years of challenging, amusing and educating the youth of Britain - and many other places on the planet!

This 4 page, folded leaflet is print-coded January, 1964.

The shape of this leaflet certainly seems unusual...

...I'm not sure of the logic, but marketeers generally seemed obsessed with making things bigger for maximum impact, so that may be part of it.

The prices shown on the sheet are unchanged from the previous year...

...not a lot of compensation for the death of the world's finest construction toy!

This is the 1965, MECCANO general products price list - well, almost...

...this particular version was specifically printed for Hamleys, a large toy store in London.

This document appears to confirms my suspicion that, though removed from the market in 1964, BAYKO was still made available through 'selected' (?) retailers for some time afterwards, but without any marketing support...

...milking it in other words.

By now BAYKO has now been relegated to the top of page 2 of this 4 page, folded leaflet, which is dated September, 1964.

The prices shown on the sheet are still unchanged.

This is a general MECCANO products price list and is the last one with BAYKO still displayed on the front cover...

...which has to be a little surprising, given that BAYKO production had ceased more than a year earlier.

The leaflet is actually print-coded December, 1964.

At least MECCANO had the decency not to put up their BAYKO prices this year!

There are 2 other vultures at the feast...

...PLAY-DOH was actually produced in the old BAYKO factory space...

...and CLiKi & CLiKi-PLUS were MECCANO's next attempts to corner the plastic construction toy market.

The document is a simple, folded, 4 page format and is essentially the same odd shape as the 1964 version : -

This is a general MECCANO products price list with BAYKO, perhaps not altogether surprisingly, relegated to the inside pages - page 2 in fact.

The document is a simple, folded, 4 page format and is dated July, 1966.

Surprisingly enough, more than 2 years after MECCANO ceased production of BAYKO, they had the brass neck to actually put up the prices of their residual stock!

This is the last piece of MECCANO era literature that I've been able to get hold of which makes any reference to BAYKO, which, if nothing else, makes it something of a sad piece.

This is a general MECCANO products price list with BAYKO again relegated to the inside pages - page 2 in fact.

The document is a simple 4 page format and is dated January, 1967.

Rather cheekily, MECCANO put up the prices of their residual stocks of BAYKO again!

This is another version of the last piece of MECCANO era literature that I've been able to get hold of which makes any reference to BAYKO. Whether this, or the one immediately above, is the last, I've no means of knowing as there are no date codes.

This is a general MECCANO products price list with BAYKO again relegated to the inside pages - page 2 again.

The document is a simple 4 page format and is again dated January, 1967.

There are two discernable differences from the previous document : -

► The colour of the paper.

► The missing "UK" from the top right hand corner.

The latter may have some significance, but, if it has, I'm not aware of it I'm sorry to have to admit.

The UK version of the 1964 MECCANO Products Catalogue, shown here, provides the basis template from which the other, export versions were created.

However, unlike the 1963 equivalent, the actual design details of the front cover [above, left] varied according to the product range carried in each market.

The BAYKO page shown here [above, right] is produced on the inside of the front cover, which was not standard for all markets, though the actual page design was.

The BAYKO prices [left] appear on the first page [of two] of the pull-out price list section. Again this was not standard for all markets. Click anywhere on the image for a larger image of the BAYKO set prices.

This catalogue, its export equivalents, and the slightly later version [below] represent the last form of direct marketing for BAYKO.

I have two export versions of this catalogue : -

Superficially, this MECCANO General Products Catalogue is the same as the earlier 1964 version above. I say this is the later version, as it now includes PLAY-DOH, which didn't get mentioned elsewhere before 1965.

The main difference which has been made to the Front Cover [above, left] is the inclusion of the PLAY-DOH box as the cow-catcher of the locomotive.

As far as I can tell, the BAYKO page shown here [above, right] is identical to its predecessor.

The BAYKO prices [left] again appear on the first page [of two] of the pull-out price list section. Here the BAYKO prices have remained unchanged from the earlier version, but the price list itself now also includes the PLAY-DOH prices for the first time.

This catalogue, and its export equivalents, represent the last form of direct marketing for BAYKO, though BAYKO was still mentioned in MECCANO General Products Price Lists as you can see in the various examples above.