Dugu Miniautotoys

Dugu Miniautotoys was a brand of diecast metal models, mostly in 1:43 scale, made in Varallo Sesia, Vercelli Province, Piedmont, Italy, north of Turin and west of Lake Orto. The company made models for the Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia Automobile Museum in Turin (Museo dell'automobile Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia, Torino). They were made from approximately 1961-1975, and perhaps a few years longer).

In the early 1960s, Bartolomeo Chiodo, an auto enthusiast, named his company Dugu from the name of one of the two districts of Varallo Sesia that was Mr. Chiodo's home - 'Dugu' means owl (the other district was 'falcet' - meaning falcon; Castellarin 2002). So, 'Owl Models' was born in 1961 and the logo for the company became a stylized angular owl with large round yellow eyes (Ralston 2009, p. 63). It is interesting that this follows somewhat of a tradition of other European toy companies naming named their lines after cute or diminutive animals (e.g. Corgi, Husky, or Budgie).

The first Dugu Miniautotoys were made by Stampopolastica for a year, and like the name some of the first Dugus were molded in plastic (Spano 2016). In 1962, Stampopolastica started making its own models under the Rio name). Chiodo then started making his own models and thus the Dugu line was similar in concept to Rio Models, Brumm, or Minialuxe. Later a new line made Italian makes for the Ruffia Automobile Museum (Force 1992, p. 131-135). These models were mostly vehicles featured in the museum and sold in the museum store. 1970s collector Cecil Gibson stated that normal Dugus for retail sale were more complex, while the ones available for the Museum (the 'Museo' series) were less detailed, which seems 'cart before the horse' (Force 1992; p. 131; Gibson 1971, p. 49). Still, the company was similar to the German Cursor Models or French RAMI by J.M.K. which mainly made models for the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Germany and, respectively, models in the Malartre collection in the Chateau Rochatailles in France.

Dugu and Rio, thus were two of the earliest model makers of veteran age cars, setting the stage for Solido, Corgi, Brumm and several other manufacturers to make toys representing the nascent auto era (Richardson 1999, p. 134).

Marques reproduced were mainly Italian, like FIAT, Lancia, Itala, SAME and FIAT tractors, Legnano, Brixia, Cisitalia, and Bernardi, but French and German makes like Peugeot, Darracq, DeDion, and Benz were also produced (Castellarin 2002). A couple of Deusenbergs also appeared, with the input and encouragement of American diecast marketer, David Sinclair, who was responsible for introducing many of these more obscure European brands to American soil (Sinclair 1979, p. 387). In the Dugu catalog, the Bernardi was proudly hailed as the first Italian motorized vehicle, made in 1896, and the 1899 FIAT 3.5 hp heralded as the first FIAT produced - ever (Dugu catalog). Also, though most models were of vehicles made before 1930, a few like the Cisitalia, the Fiat 500 Topolino, and the SAME Centauro tractor were post war representations (Dugu catalog; Ralston 2009, p. 66).

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