Combex Squeeky Toys
Trumptonalia.
A set of 1960's squeeky toys made by Combex

Made out of a supple rubbery-type material that rewarded you with a simple squeak when squeezed -very similar to the sound made by Sweep of Sooty & Sweep fame actually.

They each stand about 15cm tall.
And have "Combex No.4141,Made in England" stamped on the underside of the feet.

The photo,immediately below,was taken from a copy of the 1969 Combex trade catalogue.
But,unfortunately,it didn't mention any other characters or even say whether these four were new releases or just chosen at random to represent the existing range.

So,2 questions remain unanswered :-

  • 1) When did they first appear   ?
and
  • 2) How many different ones were there   ?     
In addition to the 4 above,there are 4 other characters that I'm aware of ...

Windy ... PC McGarry ... and ... Mickey Murphy - who are all included in the photo below. Plus Captain Flack,who I've only ever seen a single,poor quality photo of so he's not shown here yet.

So,that's 8 so far,with both Camberwick and Trumpton represented.And,as usual,nothing for poor old Chigley.
If you fancy getting hold of one online,and condition's important to you,there are 2 things worth considering :-

1)  How much paint rubbing is there ? Because practically every example I've ever seen has suffered to some degree.

and,

2)  Does the squeek still work ? Because many don't.

Either way,please have a heart,and don't buy one simply as a plaything for your pet dog.
Because any toy that's survived for over half a century deserves an honourable retirement rather than a slobbery death !
Combex seem to have cornered the market in these sorts of rubbery/plastic type character figures.
And they made numerous examples for other kids tv series -some supple and some rigid.
With some often doubling as things like toothbrush holders and money boxes.

I've yet to see any Trumptonshire money box examples.

But a PC McGarry toothbrush holder has been spotted.And you can just make out the hole in the top of his head in this photo here
Which means there'll be others I'd imagine.Despite the fact they're not exactly tripping over themselves to be discovered.

Although not quite as elusive as the original packaging.Because I've yet to see anything at all.
And whilst the 1969 catalogue does mention a "display box", I'm merely taking that to mean a retail point-of-display box.
So,within that,they may have been individually boxed ... in cellophane bags with a header card ( like the Marx Twistables ) ... or possibly even loose in the box with just a sort of dog tag label.
And,hopefully,we'll get to find out at some point.
​Most of them do still crop up quite often actually.Which is always a good clue as to how well they sold of course.
But,next to the very elusive Captain Flack,Mrs Cobbit seems to be in short supply too.

Although she did make a rare appearance on ebay in Nov.2014.And my thanks to the seller for the pics below, which show her in a much more sympathetic light than the catalogue entry at the top of the page.

But colour printing in those days often made things look slightly surreal.
And,in person,none of them are quite as garish as those photos suggest.
They're really just nice and bright.And they're also surprisingly well-modelled and finished too.