P is for Panther - Black Panther

When I used to help a large-scale guy with his shows and sorting his collection I discovered that the 54mm people get quite excited by black panthers, truth is...shusssh...they are not very rare!

I think everyone has had a go at a black panther at some point and these have all come from charity shops in the last 18 months. Most are Hong Kong, including the friendly one with his paw up and the small one at the front which is a copy of the Britains panther which itself was a black plastic version of their leopard.

Back left (with all the paint on his face) is the Timpo one, he's far more common than the Britains one, while opposite him (with his left paws joined) is one I assume to be Cherilea, he has an ENGLAND mark and sculpting similarities with that firm's otter.

My friend?...he had a tub-full in one of the sheds, a box-full upstairs and a few 'special' one's secreted about the place, like I said; they were mass-produced, in plastic, they're NOT rare (anyone got a spare Britians original...I'll give you two eggs and a cup of sugar!).

I saw one of these back in 1985 - watching our truck from the other side of a river in Kenya. Just his head, for a fleeting second, but the local guide confirmed that there was a black leopard in the area!