C is for Collie-dog

Having to work out why there are definitely two types of collie dog, I discovered there are actually four . . . ish! If you are interested I can only send you here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collie, but suffice to say in polymer there are basically two, the long haired Border or Farm Collies, and the even longer-haired (and more pointy-nosed) Rough Collie. I used to think Border and Welsh were the same, but Welsh are short-haired (my cousin's endless line of unrelated 'Rovers' - saves learning a new name!).

From the left and all basically Border/Farm Collies with one exception; Britains 1st type, Timpo (the exception, he/she's more Rough Collie), Britains prone, Britains 2nd type and finally; Britains Hong Kong - to which you can add the Spears 'A Shepherd and His Dog' board-game copy, although I decided it was probably Britains supplied, unlike the sheep.

Of the three designs Britains ran from the '50's (?) to the mid-1960's, the running one is more Rough Collie than the other two, and is probably a second 'exception'! However the later HK-manufactured version (far right) is defiantly Border/Farm with the thicker muzzle.

The Timpo Collie has the longer fur of the Rough, and while early ones had a touch of white paint on brown or black plastic, later examples are unpainted in black, white or brown. The darker-brown dog is a Hong Kong copy with a spray-painted white belly.

The Hong Kong clone has been copied with some skill, to the point where there is little size variance and the 'E' of England on the original is still readable on the knock-off. If it wasn't for the slightly blobbier feet and tail and different join-marks (in a three-part tool), one might think the HK maker got hold of the old Timpo mould!

Britains running pose, started life as one of a 'family' of three, with standing and prone kennel-mates, but by the 1970's only the runner remained in the catalogue. The top row shows those early dogs (another yellow-brown one came in today - 17th July - with a charity lot!), definitely 'Lassie' type Rough Collies, they can have dry-brushed highlights on the collar or plain-white shoulder-stripes.

Middle row compares the earlier sculpt (outer pair) with the later Hong Kong supplied replacement (inner pair) which is definitely the Border/Farm type, while the lower row is a variety of those late versions, with a washy grey-white plastic Tomy example fifth from the left and an unpainted example on the far end. Star Toys of Hong Kong copied the later design in all-black polyethylene with a battery-operated, big-rig, horse-box/animal transporter.

The earlier poses obviously sold well before they were dropped from the inventory, and they don't seem to be much less available, although the standing poses is a little harder to track down.

The right hand prone dog is a Hong Kong copy with the same purplish-brown as some pretty-common rabbits from the colony, which came in Home Farm sets, but the Holly type, not Blue Box, although some (at least one?) of the 'generics' below will probably be Red- or Blue Box.

Note also that the far-right standing dog has a gloss finish, against the commoner matt of most; a failure of the out-worker to properly stir the new paint?

Marked with a simple 'ENGLAND', this is Crescent's entry into the sheepdog trials; and they've paired a clear Rough Collie with . . . a  . . . ? . . . phffffff . . . Springer Spaniel . . . kennel mongrel? Tail's odd for a spaniel! Early painted - later unpainted, always black I think, but there may be white-plastic shots?

In the foreground Crescent's sculpts are here both pirated as Christmas cracker or gum-ball machine capsule-prizes, both marked with a blocked 'HONG KONG', to the right is a very crude sculpt (but new pose, see below), not Star Toys' one which was the Britains running pose, but of similar end-use as the Crescent copies and probably quite modern.

It's a Rough Collie, while the large (probably Chinese) one in a Schleich/Papo/Bully compatible size is clearly a Border/Farm Collie, it's unmarked and a soft PVC-replacement against the polyethylene of the other three.

This post's photograph folder grew over a few months as I tried to get everything together, with most of the above from storage, the previous image is recent - mostly Charity shop - stuff and this image is also storage stuff; the Far East 'junk'!

Three more Crescent copies at the front (green boxes in the key), a unique sculpt (purple) marked 'Hong Kong' and copied by the black one in the previous image and two marked 'China' (red boxes). Crescent's are Border/Farm types, the rest more Rough Collies. The other larger one (2nd from left back/top row) has a neat 'Made in Hong Kong' mark.

This lot was the 'here' stuff and we have another three Crescent cracker/gum-ball types (the 'spaniel' doesn't seem to have been copied so prolifically?), another Britains standing, a brown Timpo with the remains of paint, two more prone-copies (with purplish-paint) and along with three PVC types are another bunch of generics (various marks or none) to make up the pack.

Those PVC types here include; back left marked 'China 8' (or B), the next one along is marked plain 'China' and while it looks more like an Alsatian/German Sheppard, doesn't look-so, when placed with the other Alsatian/German Shepherd toys, so I've put him/her here for now and when I get round to German Shepherds will show him/her against them too, so everyone can make up their own minds - both are original sculpts!

While the large Britains ['ish] running copy (front middle - brown & white) is unmarked and might be a European die-cast/farm vehicle accessory. The two dogs (behind him and third from the left on the back row) over-sprayed with dark orange-brown may be from a Berwick board game, but I don't think so.

...The Hounds of Hell milled-about on the lawn outside Professor Farquhar's study, they knew he only had the one silver-bullet left and a small phial of holy-water, but he'd need them both - for himself - before the night was over or the fire dimmed, and cooked meat was as good as fresh!