B is for the Big Little Baby Jesus!

They don't often come much bigger than this, and Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a nativity, so without further ado . . . Jecsan's 10cm Belenes; Christmas Story / Crèche / Crêche / Crib / Crupio / Kresch / Krip / Krippen / Manger / Nativité / Nativity / Noel / Nöel / Presepi / Santons / Santoùos / Santous / Stable et al. . .

. . . as a group - I had to photograph them on the floor as they take-up so much space!

They came as a single lot, and so I suppose (like assumption or presumption but a bit wishy-washier) they were sold together, even though the Shepherds seem to have been taken from the 75mm set, as they would be - or can be seen to be - younger men or boys, it may be a deliberate move on Jecsan's part?

But as people buying a Nativity for Christmas don't follow the same criteria as toy soldier buyers, it may well be that both ranges where side-by-side in the store, and a 'pick-n-mix' ensued!

Three Wise Men, Magi, Kings, or Princes, three ships of the desert and three pre-Christian Jeeves's! A single camel moulding, reflected also in the smaller ranges, but the tassels seem to have been a feature of the 10cm set (the figures are actually only about 95mm)

Close-ups, again; I don't know if they are meant to be colour-matched (as in: sold as three-part sets) or if the original purchaser just matched them in the store, but it helps us to imagine they come from three far-off lands, as does; that the menservants have different coloured bases!

Bible fact - apparently - nowhere in the bible does it state that there were three, or only three, there are three gifts mentioned, but only by type, Jesus could have taken delivery of several parcels of each, from a dozen star-gazers!

The other figures, Joseph is looking suitably cuckolded, I fear! The chap on the far right should have a draft-animal with a shaft that plugs into the plough he's brought to the stable! The donkey is of a size that he may also be from the 75mm series, again I don't know. I have a few in storage, but not these, the smaller ones.

You are not supposed to place the big-little baby Jesus with the crib until midnight on Christmas-eve, but as this one is about 18-months old, I fear that metaphorical-horse has well and truly bolted!

Date palm and angel, the angel has a bit of fuse-wire which looks - if not 'original' - of the same age as the figures and it hooks over the back fronds allowing the Arch-angel to deliver the hallelujah from mid-air.

To help prevent unwarranted "Tiiiimm-berrr!"s, the base of the palm is weighted with a plug of bitumen, the bane of old model railway collections from the same era (1950/60's) as it was used to glue stuff down on the layouts.

As measured; for some reason I shot the chap bending over, the pair with the little girl are a better 75mm. The two outside items are HK copies in polystyrene of other nativity figures (Marx or Jean?), we saw my in-storage set of them years ago and they're just here for comparison.

09-05-2017 - It seems the smaller ones are Oliver - which explains the different bases! So a 'pick & Mix' did ensue, they just weren't all Jecsan . . . I'll add Oliver to the tag list! Thanks Fritzie!