BAYKO Product Details - 1938 to 1941
SPECIAL SETS

During this period, BAKELITE components were still made using BAKELITE and scarab powders - urea formaldehyde - but, by this time, plastic technology had advanced, enabling cheap, reliable, mass production of true colours to be moulded with greater precision.

Although nominally complete in their own right, these BAYKO sets are widely seen as a second range of Ornamental Addition Sets and may, indeed have actually replaced them in 1938. There is no printed confirmation of this that I can find, and the size of 3,000 individual toyshop stocks is more than enough to cloud the issue.

The launch of these innovative sets was heralded as “Something Brilliantly New in BAYKO” in 'Games and Toys' in February, 1938.

This represents the first step in a significant period of change and range expansion for BAYKO.

As can be seen below, the set lid carried a very attractive piece of artwork, typical of the 1930s.

There was a range of four of these sets [set #20 through to set #23] and 'theoretically' the appropriate range of conversion sets [#20A through to #22A] was also available. I say 'theoretically', because, though clearly available - on paper - I know of nobody who has ever seen one!

The Curved Window position is worthy of consideration. The colour matched the light green of the 1937 to 1938 production period, though their style matched the [then] new 'cruciform' style, which was not released until 1939 in the mainstream, 'New Series' sets.

The 1-Brick Pillars were unique to these sets. For some, inexplicable reason, the 1-Brick Pillars were actually referred to in the contents list as if they were the standard 3-Brick Pillars, i.e. the set #23 contents of thirty six 1-Brick Pillars were written as twelve. This suggests they were a last minute innovation, which proved easier to pack, and displayed better [my opinion]. [above, right, top left of the box section]

Sets #20 to #23 had the original large style Bases, but, for these sets, they were produced in mottled green.

The unique, and most conspicuous, new feature of these sets is what you might call the ornamental roofing…

…Bay Window Cover [actually here referred to here as a “Pinnacle ½ Platform”],
Dome, Pinnacle Platform, Pinnacle Roof and all four styles of Turret…

…which were produced in Orange.

Manuals for these sets [right] were modest but colourful…

…and were the only BAYKO manuals laid out in portrait format.

There were actually two different versions of this manual…

You may want to know more about the full range of BAYKO manuals, if so…

Despite the winds of change, Windows were still the 8-pane 'Georgian' style in the earlier sets, though they were later changed, in line with the mainstream sets, to the 'New Series', 'cruciform' style.

Some of these special sets #20 had a most unusual box, being much more like a miniature version of the later Retailers Display Cabinets rather than the, otherwise almost universal, box/tray and lid format. In pure BAYKO set terms, this is absolutely unique [sorry about the tautology faux pas].

It is likely that this version of the #20 set was intended to double as an attractive window display.

We now know there was also a set #20 in the more conventional box format, but I don't have one to show you.

These sets overlap 3 distinct, standard set production periods, 1937 - 1938, late 1938 and 1939 - 1941.