Following a comment from Ed 'Ice' Berg with reference to likely Indian production, on the plaster figures post the other day; here is the only piece of plastic from my collection which I can say is definitely from India. The guy I got it from had had it for as long as I knew him, so this isn't a modern piece, and I would tentatively date it to the 1950's or early '60's at the latest and it could be much older.
As can be seen this is trying hard to pretend to be an ivory carving on an ebony plinth, and does so from a distance while close-up looking like a piece of cheap plastic...which it is! The base (which is non-removable) is from fragments of recycled plastic. and the lack of 'use' as something else such as a pill holder or snuff-box suggests it is intended as a plaything or a tourist keepsake aimed at youngsters?
The camels, which are in a brittle styrene polymer (as is the plinth and the base plate) would work with 28/30mm figures - without the plinth! If anyone has other early Indian toy (or plastic) production, let the rest of us know.
3 comments:
I find them charming and wonder if they were hand carved or mass produced. Are there mold lines on them?
Wow. Is there anything you don't have?
D
Hi Ann, yes there's a pretty clear mould mark, it looks as if the smaller one is pantographed down from the larger one as well, it really is a cheepie, but yes, they have a certain charm for/of their time...
D - is that flattery or a request for my wants list?!! No I don't have everything, but I was 'specialising' in small scale for 40-odd years and picked-up anything under and including 50mm for the longest time leaving me with box-full's of this eclectic stuff.
Since I decided to collect all scales (about the same time the blog started) I have been less rigorous with the small scale, and gave up trying to keep-up with new production around the time HaT announced their 100th set!
I also have a lot of archive photographs from the time I was a dealer's gopher, and now I help Adrian from Mercator Trading occasionally - I get to photograph some of his better bits!
My wants list therefore is both very eclectic and impossible to put to paper, why don't you eMail me with a list of anything you have?
Hugh
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