T is for Trends

I'm showing these before the 'Plunder Posts' as if I did them afterwards, you would have seen them all once, but if I do them first they will be somewhat hidden in the plunder shots next time and it won't be so repetitive!

As I wander round the show grabbing stuff and 'making-up' round numbers from rummage bins, I'm not always paying that much attention to everything that's ending up in the plunder bags, also with people bringing me mixed bags of all-sorts, it's only when I sort it all over the Sunday after the show that a few trends or verisimilitudes show themselves as things 'go together'. These are a few of this years -

Pencil Tops; who'dve thunked I'd end up with six pencil tops! The Rabbit was a make-weight from someone's 50p tray, the Andy Pandy and Luby Lou were from a small tub of mostly circus stuff Adrian Little brought for me while I think the two 50p tray Biro's (you have to put your thumb in her crotch to click the Biro!) are a current or recent kids TV nature show and Peter Bergner's rummage-bins gave-up the purple Gnome (back in fashion - see 'News, Views . . . ' passim) who has a tight-fit PVC tube or cup, with an eyelet for a chain or string to hang the writing utensil or your choice, round your neck.

He then stars again in another small grouping along with a very small Gnome, probably removed from a snow-globe or similar 'Touristica', while the large one may be bisque, may be terracotta, may be composition, but his paint is so thick and all-covering I'd have to damage him to satisfy my curiosity - so I'll just stay curious! He's quite heavy, but not metal, and he's not too cold to the touch, so I suspect composition.

I also ended-up with a lot of early Airfix, most or all of it from Adrian (Mercator Trading) but at different times during the show as I spotted them. They will all be filtered onto the relevant posts on the Airfix blog at some point.

The real surprise was the amount of fish I ended-up with - at a 'Toy Soldier' show! I'd bought 4 different ones from Peter B's 50p bins (the Japanese blow-moulded goldfish, the modern eraser-type purple-rubber, blow-fish, the unpainted ethylene pipe-fish and the painted ethylene Hong Kong dolphin) when I started finding the painted ones in a huge bag of rack-toy tat Peter Evan's sold me (for next to nothing), the more I dug, the more turned-up until I had another six fish, and a giant crab!

I think they are mostly copies of old US mould-sculpts from the 1960/70's but will have to check with Kent Sprecher's Toy Soldier HQ website (where you find all this stuff), in the meantime I had bought a set of day-glow fish, and have a few un-blogged ones kicking around somewhere, so we may have a more in-depth post on these at some point in the not too distant future - if we do - I'll try to remember to shoot these from the other side!

I also ended up with the little tub of Circus mentioned above courtesy of Adrian, to which I managed to add the Crescent seal from somewhere, along with a couple of extra Crescent horses from Trevor Rudkin's bags and another Maysun ringmaster, he has very poor paint and I already have a better one, but again I was making-up a round-number from a 50p tray and marked HK from that era is uncommon.

The blue lion-tamer is a mystery, he's a dense PVC plastic of the type early Heimo or Corgi used from time to time, has probably been cut out of a bigger base and then super-glued to another diorama or vignette so a bit mucked-about with, but - the first example so he stays for now, also he's obviously expecting trouble from one of his cats as he's carrying a gun!

The yellow chap is unmarked but I suspect Gem or Festival from the George Musgrave styling, I have a tatty one (also yellow) juggling balls? The rest are HK copies of Crescent with the exception of the tall girl who is from another HK set - I already had a similar male.

In the same tub came these, I have a few more in storage, and there is a similar set of carol singers, and while Gem/Festival is the favoured option again, they too are unmarked and someone, somewhere (in the hobby) has linked them to Spain but I can't remember who, where or when - One Inch Warrior magazine? They are about 28mm and I think the green clowns are missing something; a barrel or hoop to roll-in; ball to balance-on maybe, or something for or joining their hands together?

Thanks to Adrian, Peter E and Trevor for the bits they saved for me.