F is for Follow-up - Q is for Question Time - Sheep Joins Pig!

I'm sure the pig was a question time, but it might have been in a show report or contribution post and I forgot to Tag it unknown, however, I can't find it on the Blog now? I have shot it again below, but. sure of its existence on the Blog, I've concentrated on the addition, a sheep!

So this is the beast, it's very similar to the pig, in the crudity of it's sculpting and moulding, but still very naturalistic lines, 'Sculptural' is I think the term? A three part tool, with a large belly-block beneath two body halves the over the top split-line having been heavily fettled, the belly line less so, and the colouring the same yellowish-gray and charcoal/black, applied on the same neutral plastic.
 

The two together with a BMC figure for scale (they announced three new colourway pirate sets for later in the month, earlier today!), you can see scale in on the bigger side, and I wonder if they went with a tin-plate farm-truck or trailer, maybe even a railway wagon, but that's unlikely? Whatever, answers on a postcard if you have one . . . answer or postcard!

An hour or so later - I hadn't published it! This came from Adrian a couple of months ago, and I shot it, with Britains sizer, but never got round to the planned Question Time post, so, anyway, here it is, in better detail than the above, still looking for info on both though!

C is for Ceremonial Roundup!

I picked up and shot these first two the other day, and thought it was a good excuse to get a few of the 'odds & sods' images out of the Ceremonial folder and share them with the Loyal Readers, no particular theme, but I left the Spanish, the Cossacks, the Majorettes and others in the folder, so we're looking at UK production of UK figures, even if some came from Holland!

 

So these are the new additions, a second sample of the maybe BR Moulding/maybe Hilco kneeling infantryman of the Victorian era, I'm not sure if it was in the BR mould-list? And a Sacul drummer, the Sacul sample is growing slowly, a few others have come in, and I am looking forwards to shooting them all together!

This was sent by a loyal reader back in 2021, during a conversation about either Sacul, or unknown guardsmen, which I was thinking were from the Crescent sculpt, because of the epaulettes, but as pointed out it's the Sacul moulding.

 

And, further, the correspondent pointed out that the smaller drummer (second from the left) was probably also Sacul, issued as a drummer boy? The unknown is next and another probably Sacul forth, with the common Sacul varient on the left. And, if I recall the conversation correctly, the feeling was that all four were probably Scaul, with the [3rd] nylon'y one being maybe a late issue, early 1970's?

 

These were all sent to the Blog by Theo van der Werden from the Netherlands, back in 2018, again as part of a conversation on his - then - recent purchases, and because I'd covered most of them, I sort of filed them, with a bunch of other stuff, anyway here they are, three Britains 54mm and some nice examples of Cherilea 60mm types.

 

I really like the lifeguard (upper pair in middle image), he's a very unusual toy soldier, being that sort of late Georgian/early Victorian uniform.

 

We've seen better here in the past, but they came in with some mixed lot, or another, and the shot shows the three poses of Gemodels in the less common Horse Guard's blue colourway, which happens to be my favourite! Note also the two distinct shades of blue plastic.

Having mentioned BR, these are now known to have been issued as part of their home-moulding exercise, and here are three very different treatments of the same pose, with a hard 'styrene on the left, odd-coloured, unpainted polyethylene in the middle, and a marbled pinkish one on the right!

 

Finally, also a bit tatty and from some bulk lot, are these; four Herald and a Zang original (larger figure to the right) of the highland infantryman of the late Victorian era, just before the switch to khaki uniforms. The four on the left are not rare, and I may well repaint them one day, if I ever pick up that eye-glass prescription!

 

While (finally finally!) this is a 'seen elsewhere' shot from the archive (and from another folder, 2008) and shows what other bugger's can achieve with a bit of paint on these figures, four of the later Herald in a variety of late 19thC/colonial era uniforms, original on the right. It may have been on the Blog before?

 

There's lots of this kind of stuff in about 30 folders, and I'll try to get some more cleared in the run-up to Christmas, many thanks to Theo and Anon for the images indicated above.

A is for Antiques!

So, that show the other weekend, was possibly even more disappointing that I had feared, not only was it - as I suggested in my newsflash the day before - all  ". . . wooden games, barley-twist marbles, balding Teddy Bears and old dolls", there were in fact no marbles, few wooden games and really nothing beyond dolls and bears (and other soft toys), there were a few Gollies and Golly-related things, going under the evilBay police radar, but no tinplate, not even old carpet trains, not much dolls house stuff/furniture, just lots and lots of dolls and bears, which is fine if you're into that kind of thing, but a little disappointing, if you've come looking for other antique or 'properly' old toys other than those two genres?

 

However, the organiser's table (Daniel Agnew - ex-Christie's Auction House) did have a wider range, Adrian's table had everything but dolls and bears, and there were the odd tubs of interesting things, on some stalls . . . actually baskets, the antiquey-people use baskets! And I managed to find a few pieces of interest.

This was fascinating, obviously you find the same items in early Christmas crackers, but the five items are similar to those found, to this day, in Irish Halloween barmbrack cakes/puddings, which in the 'Brack are: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence), a ring, and a bean, the ring in both cases signifying marriage in the forthcoming year!

 

But it's also interesting is showing how traditions can be lost in a generation as well as created, as while in my childhood, the sixpence (not even included here, but maybe you provided the sixpence and bought the other five?) survived, we didn't have the rest, and now, apart from a few families putting a pound-coin in their Crimbo-pud', most people put nothing in their puddings or cakes?

 

In a similar vein, I bought these, probably also from Christmas crackers, but possibly from an actual charm-bracelet, but of a budget or penny-/market-stall variety? Some plated on a base-metal, the other items in the group-shot are a fancy 'brier' pipe, and two pairs of opera-glasses.

 

Obviously, these were on Adrian's stall and I grabbed both, just to have something substantial to take away from the day! We've seen the Thomas/Poplar plastic jobbie before, while the die-cast piece in front is from Morestone, and although rather tatty, does seem to come with the original gift-bag, nearly always missing, or replaced with some shiny-new thing, and it ticks a box!

 

This is also silver-plated, but on brass, and maybe an apprenticed smith's exam-piece, or just a small 'objets d'art' to be put in the family curio-cabinet or something, they were simpler times!

 

'A Gentleman in Kharki' (older spelling intended), the iconic figure of a Boar war soldier, which I will wax fully on, in the near future, but for now suffice to say this was made by Britains, but was a stand-alone figure, I believe, and probably sold with charitable intent, at a rate over the ordinary unit-price.

B is for Boney Boustrapa Blownapart!

Oh, get over yourselves! As with the Martial Artists, this is a combination of an archive shot, actually seen elsewhere a while back, and a new purchase, and I'll start with the new purchase, as I had to look him up!

 

He was obviously French, however, I felt the base was a little thin for Starlux, and he's unmarked, but a quick Google search revealed his Toy Soldier Company commissioned reissue in a paler grey greatcoat, with braided cuff and different tricolour, so Starlux 8000 series, but original issue!

 

And he will join these guys who have all come in over the last few years, and one or two which I had already found, and just to confuse, I've already posted a better image with two additional nappy's, Blue Box and Kresge, so  this is more of a Picasa-clearer , than a box-ticker!

K is for Karate - Kung-Fu!

T is for Two Pairs! An oddity in the annals of toy solder collecting, or toy figure production first. One can see the thinking behind it, and had it succeeded we may have seen a pair of Boxers, Wrestlers, Fencers, maybe even Ninjas, but it didn't succeed and no further sets jointed this rump-line of the Deetail range.

 

The Karate Kung-Fu pairing from Britains, sort of a good idea, but not all good ideas are practical or desirable, and this has no play value beyond an ornament. And you do tend to find them in this condition, near mint, I've even seen near complete shop-display boxes of them over the years, so many were left unsold first time round. Now, of course, it's a gap-filler/collection completer!
 

I've shot this pair too, Kinder's martial-arts chaps, they can, at least, be posed and played with as two separate individuals, to tell 'stories', or whatever, and are pop-together polyethylene against the PVC of the Britains figures. Kinder, of course, did do Boxers and Fencers, while there are quite a few Wrestlers around now, and plenty of Ninjas have been produced!

W is for With Thanks at the Witching Hour!

Seem to have done it! Got up early, went over to pick the parcel up, managed to get to work on time, still tired, left work at about ten-thirty, had the shots done by the end of the eleven-PM bulletin, and by the time you read this, here they are!

 

So, plenty more in the parcel for another day! David Aaron DeSoto, dropped me a line about a month ago, saying he'd like to send me some Halloween figures, as a thanks for the Blog, which I wasn't going to turn down! And, once my head had stopped swelling, I explained that my current situation didn't really allow for trust in mail delivery, managed to get a mate to take it, and the rest is above, or in previous posts, first USPS and then US Customs returned the parcel to David twice, and it went down to the wire!

 

And, as David explained in his last eMail, it (the errant parcel) is mummified with official stickers, customs forms, postal ephemera and tape of various kinds!

 

Confirming that Brian's shelfies were this year's packaging, David has managed to track-down two sets, the Skeleton Army and Mummy Army, the recently 'new' Witches seemingly dropped already? Both sets and both lots credited to Old East Main Co., rather than the Dolgen of earlier sets a few years ago - and where David sourced these. Photo was a bit rushed, but does the job!

 

I can't remember if we've shot the Mummies out of the blister before, and haven't got the time to look if this is to publish in the next 25-minutes, but they didn't look as familiar as the skeletons which I know we have looked at, more than once, so these guys got the extra shots!

 

The skeletons, as I say, we've seen these before a few times now with comparisons, donors and derivatives, but it's always nice to see them again on the 31st!

 

I can't thank David enough. I'm always touched by these donations, and they've come from The US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as closer to home, over the years, I know I can be a prickly-sod from time to time, but I'll keep posting if you're all still visiting!

 

There's lots more to look at, but the original aim was to get these out before midnight, and in that we have succeeded! Thanks David.

Spellchecker is not activating in Blogger, but I think I've found the worst of the typo's!

H is for Hodgepodge Hash of Halloween Horrors

I'm hoping to get another post out before midnight tonight, and it should publish before the witching-hour in the US, as I get another five or six hours, after my shift, to facilitate the aim, but in case the UK readers miss it, before bed, here's a few other bits and bobs which have a seasonal element, and have mostly crossed my door in the last five or six weeks!

Remembering I found a set last year, when I saw these in B&M (Morrison's last year) I had to have them, and like last year's, they were lovely, in the same generic tutti-fruity sort of supposedly 'strawberry' way! Indeed, I would say they came from the same source, and I didn't see any others, not even in Morrison's?

 

I seem to recall these were Aldi, but they might have been Lidl? More edibles, best kind of seasonal stuff is edible stuff! Fondant-centred, [not very] monster mice, one a sort of truffle-cream with rice crispies, the other white-chocolate fondant, nom-nom-nomnivore! Obviously a shit-shot of the white one, but you can't re-shoot something, if you've eaten it!

 

Having grabbed two walkers, as the only thing worth buying in a garden centre last year, I felt I also had to grab these, while muttering darkly to myself about 'another side-collection', but you can blame that yellow Christmas stocking robot who survived for several decades in the attic! These are pull-overs, in that cold, clammy silicon type mega-soft, stretchy rubber, which a generic white-button body underneath, and while two are the same design under the paint, the other had no second version, and all three were equally distributed? Asda for the win!

 

I would add - having mentioned them - that the Garden Centres had very poor Halloween displays this year, and seemed to clear them quickly, like over a week ago, they are too desperate to get their Christmas 'markets' up and running!

I'd found these online, and don't know the maker/brand, but if I see them out and about, they will find home-room in that slowly growing 'walker' sub-collection, I actually found a bunch of the other white-button walker soldiers a while back, but forgot to shoot them before they went to storage, so there's a future post!

 

Finally, these came from Lidl about two weeks ago, ghost tea-lights! I think I might paint-in the eyes and mouths of the other two to match the white one, black paint for the orange one and white for the black candle?

Apologies for spelling but Mozilla ad-ons don't seem to be working properly tonight, and I have no spellchecker!

M is for Motor Racing Series . . .

 . . . which extended to two sets! I picked this rareish carded set up from a mate a few weeks ago, I'd actually gone-over for an Arab, but he happened to have two of these, and I talked him out of the slightly tattier one!

 

 

 

The Kentoys Grand Prix mechanics, possibly designed in partnership with Victory Industries, the slot-racing and motor-boat people from Guildford. You can see the other set, St.John's Ambulance volunteers, as little stick-men in the background of the artwork!

 

They also did the wonderful set of six Dan Dare figures, in partnership with Eaglewall, and of which we have seen various elements of, here before, as indeed we have seen these loose, I think, even unto the very white-walled spare tyre, so really a bit of a box-ticker, but, it's a nice thing!

S is for Spooky, Shifty, Shelfies! Asda

While several of the supermarkets have had large (or 'larger') displays of Halloween stuff, and both Lidl and Aldi have carried their when-it's-gone-it's-gone stuff for a few weeks, the only one which was worth a photo-shoot, was Asda, and these are they! I was surprised by those stores which didn't carry any or much Halloween stuff; WHSmith, The Works, Waitrose and Dunelm to list a few.

 

We looked at these skeletal animals, and their incongruities last year, I seem to recall, but there were a bunch more this year, mostly more realistic, but the rendering of recognisable ears in 'bone' is the daft part, which also serves to remove some of the horror or 'disturbance' from them!

Tree hangers, or hangers for whatever you want to hang this stuff from!

I think these light-up, I can't remember!

Various skeletons, these were bigger than Action Man/GI Joe size I think, at about 14 inches? With various treatments of over-brushing, exhumed body's clothing, glow-in-the-dark plastic etc. . . were common to many stores.

Closer to 12-inch action figures, these seem to be the same or similar to those sent by Brian B, as shelfies, and presented as the same light-string, but with just the one visible in the window.

I don't know if there is a sequel in the pipeline, I know there is a new Beetlejuice in production, and both seemed to feature in several supermarket/large store displays, here it's the Nightmare Before Christmas which is providing the licence!

C is for Car Race!

My main purchase at the recent antique toy fair, up in London (report and bits forthcoming), was this little board game. Photo-dates say I bought it at Sandown, which makes more sense! A late Edwardian or early Elizabethan one, credited to a Geographia Ltd., the cars are pre-war I think, so probably the former, but all the board-game books are back in storage! I'm pretty-sure this is in one of them.

 

The board is almost mint, but the boxy nature of the box has attracted distress over the years with crushing, a large blob of paint (or liquid paper correction fluid?) and various nicks in the maroon paper foil-wrap.

A piece of tissue-paper, which I suspect is original, keeps two faux ivory dice in the tumbler and sets of hazard/penalty cards are part of the play mechanism. I think the rules were in the lid of the box, but I can't remember, and they may have been a separate sheet, which may have been absent? If they were in the lid, I forgot to shoot them!

 

I also forgot to shoot the whole board (I'll scan it for the eventual A-Z post), which was a map of the British Isles, and from the presence of the tissue paper and the state of the board and the paint on the cars, it would seem that while the box has suffered over the years, the whole has never been played-with? I think the cars are die-cast alloy, but they are so clean you can't tell if they mightn't be a lead/pewter?

 

And it's worth a thought that the aero-versions of the engines which powered these open-topped, roaring death-traps, would go on to equip both side's aircraft, in the Battle of Britain! Maybe that was the prophecy fulfilled; he didn't need to wake The Knights of the Round Table, Merlin worked his magic in the Spitfire and Hurricane.