BAYKO in the Army & Navy Stores Catalogue

The Army & Navy Stores, so beloved of Miss Marple, was something of an institution in the early decades of the twentieth century, and their service to their customers included a substantial catalogue.

Note that both catalogues referred to here, which were hardback publications, spanned two years - these days most companies would have two major, and probably some specials, every year.

Dave Pittock tells me that the A&N always prided themselves on testing all the products they sold and also penned their own sales write-ups for their catalogues.

I think, however, that we can be confident that the artwork was by Plimpton, as the image is identical to one shown on page 7 of the pre-war sets #1 to #5 manuals, page 13 of the later, sets #1 to #6 version. I say this with some confidence as the model in all three instances is clearly mounted on a wooden block rather than a BAYKO Base.

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the illustration and prices for the 1939/1940 catalogue are still for the earlier style of BAYKO, despite the fact that the 'New Series' style was launched in 1939.

This is one of the the earliest mentions of the world's finest construction toy, by any retailer, that I've been able to unearth - so far.
The above item is shown courtesy of the Glasgow University Archives.

Thanks to Dave Pittock for finding this excellent item for me.
The image above is actually from a sixty year anniversary reproduction of the 1939/1940 catalogue by Trident Press International.

This Army and Navy Stores, Christmas general products catalogue dates from 1957 according to the eBay vendor, though the quoted BAYKO prices were valid between 1955 and 1959.
Again I have included the front cover of the catalogue [above, left] for no better reason than that I like it - I find it so evocative.
The BAYKO entry is lower left of page 54 of the catalogue [above, right] - click anywhere on the image to see a larger image of the BAYKO section.
The script is as follows - note the first sentence : -
BAYKO - BUILDING SETS
The finest hobby ever offered to youngsters. All Bayko parts are precision made from richly coloured plastics. There is almost no limit to the number and variety of models that YOU can build. . . . Why not start now by building these super models.
The standard and conversion set prices are then listed : -
Standard Set				Converting Set
No. 0	14/-	[= 70p]		No. 0 X	7/-	[= 35p]
No. 1	21/-	[= £1.05]		No. 1 X	10/6	[= 52.5p]
No. 2	31/6	[= £1.575]		No. 2 X	21/6	[= £1.075
No. 3	52/3	[= £2.6125]		No. 3 X	47/-	[= £2.35]
No. 4	99/3	[= £4.9625]		Post and packing extra.

This Army and Navy Stores, Games and Toys catalogue dates from 1958 according to the eBay vendor, though the quoted BAYKO prices were valid between 1955 and 1959.
I have included the front cover of the catalogue [above, left] for no better reason than that I like it - it's so typically 1950s.
The BAYKO entry is lower middle of page 9 of the catalogue [above, right] - click anywhere on the image to see a larger image of the BAYKO section.
The script is as follows - note the first sentence : -
BAYKO - BUILDING SETS
The finest hobby ever offered to youngsters. All Bayko parts are precision made from richly coloured plastics. There is almost no limit to the number and variety of models that YOU can build. . . . Why not start now by building these super models.
The standard and conversion set prices are then listed : -
Standard Set				Converting Set
No. 0	14/-	[= 70p]		No. 0 X	7/-	[= 35p]
No. 1	21/-	[= £1.05]		No. 1 X	10/6	[= 52.5p]
No. 2	31/6	[= £1.575]		No. 2 X	21/6	[= £1.075
No. 3	52/3	[= £2.6125]		No. 3 X	47/-	[= £2.35]
No. 4	99/3	[= £4.9625]		Post and packing extra.