As a result we're going to look at them
again briefly (but with lots of pictures) although it all raises more questions
than it answers! Obviously the first thing is to ignore the line-ups in the
previous post which were chronological by base-date, whereas [I hope!] today's
are in the correct sets.
In storage I had some more of the semi-flats in
their unpainted state; a white polystyrene of the same easy-glue type Historex used for their own products,
with two sets still bagged which helped get the sets sorted, this is both sides
of RB3 which I think is one half of 'Soldiers Through the Ages', however I'm
not sure, as the small quantity of ephemera I have only fully lists the solids
- Doh!
A comparison between one of the RB3 figures
and a rather tatty example of a Mokarex
original! Because the Figurines
Historiques were issued over here they were quite common a decade or so
ago, and while everyone else was ticking-off lists of 54mm British or European
solids or 60mm US imports, I was ferreting around the shows hoovering-up the
smaller stuff, and those of these, we didn't see last time, were among them.
However - I have hardly any Mokarex, and only these other three in
semi-flat (and the gold one below), all three of which are from a set of Mokarex Napoleonic uniforms not
re-issued by Figurines Historiques. You do see them
occasionally, but often for silly money given that both Mokarex and Storme were among
the bigger coffee brands and produced millions of these.
I have one or two larger solids (maybe 8 or
10 in total, some WWI and some Napoleonic cavalry in the smaller scale) but
they will turn-up in thematic 54mm posts in the future.
Another comparison; musketeers! The gold
one ('Buckingham', bottom-left) is another Mokarex
original and then there are a selection of painted and unpainted for the two
poses (the other is Porthos), along with (to the right) two smaller figures
from another set, but of contemporary subjects, being another musketeer (above) and (below) one
of Richelieu's goons! They are the smaller 50mm to the Three Musketeer's 54mm.
Now, the mysteries - while the semi-flats
(50 and 54mm) turn-up, they aren't listed on the various header-cards I have,
while the solids are (as already mentioned) listed, but I can't remember seeing
them, or if I have seen them, they were Mokarex
silver/gunmetal, not Historex white?
And I think I'm right in saying the shots used on the header-cards are old
Mokarex publicity shots - not unexpected if the Brethiot family (owners of Mokarex) were helping Nathan Polk and Historex with the re-issue.
Consequently, apart from the two sets I
still have on the runner, the other three set numbers are speculative 9along
with all the set-titles), while the listing for the solids (toward the bottom)
may be for stuff they never ran the tools for! Anyhoows . . . here's what I
think it looks like at the moment, one day - hopefully - we'll return to them
for a final time with a definitive listing!
I do have a bunch of Polk's catalogues in the archive, so when i find them I'll check if he ever advertised/listed the semi-flats, but I think mine are too early, they mostly date form the 1940/50's?
Listings
(Preliminary)
Flat/Semi-Flat Range
RB1 (?) - Kings of France (12 figures, listed chronologically, Mokarex series 1a - Les Rois de France)
[King] Clovis
465-511
[King] Clotaire
1 558-563
[King/Emperor]
Charlemagne [The Great] 768-814
S• Louis 1226-1270 (St.
Louis?)
[King] Louis XI 1461-1483
[King] Francois I..1515-1547
[King] Charles
IX 1560-1574
[King] Henri III
1574-1589
[King] Henri IV
1589-1610
[King] Louis XIV
1643-1715
[King] Louis
XV1715-1774
[Corporal/Emperor]
Napoleon I.. 1804-1815
RB2 - French Historical Personalities (12 figures, listed reading around the runner, Mokarex series 1b - Grande Capitaines)
Du Guesclin1320-13-80
Jean D'Arc
1412-1431 (Joan of Arc, also Jeanne D'Arc)
Turenne
1611-1675
ConnBLE de Bourbon 1490-1527 (Connetable de Bourbon)
La Tour
D'Auvergne 1743-1800
MAL
de Saxe 1696-1750
Hoche 1768-1797
Conde 1621-1686
Roland
Bayard 1473-1524
Vercingetorix 72·46·Av.JC.
Marceau
1769-1796
RB3 - Soldiers Through the Ages (12 figures, listed reading around the runner, Mokarex numbers in brackets, Mokarex
series 2a - Les Costumes Militaires)
Piquier [of the
period of] Louis XIII (Piquet/Night Watch?)
Carolingien 800
(Carolingian)
Merovingien 600
(Merovingian)
Fusillier [of
the period of] Louis XIV 1667 (Fusilier)
Infanterie [of
the period of] Louis XV 1745 (Infantryman, 33)
Infanterie [of
the period of] Louis XVI (Infantryman)
Chevalier Croise
(Knight Crusader 1100'ish?)
Capetien 1000
(Norman)
Fantassin 1792
(35)
Grenadier 1771
[of the period of] Louis XV 1745
Gaulois 300
(Gaul)
Franc 400
(Frank)
RB4 (?) - Soldiers Through the Ages (12 figures, second runner, listed chronologically, Mokarex numbers in brackets, also Mokarex series 2a - Les Costumes Militaires)
Archer 1520 1520
(date repeated, no bow, so; man-at-arms?)
Cent-Suisse de
le Garde 1558 (Landsknecht - Papal Guard)
Lansquenet 1562
(Conquistador type)
Mousquetaire
1627 (Musketeer)
Garde Cal
Richelieu 1628 (Cardinal Richelieu's Bodyguard)
Carabinier 1692
(Dragoon)
Garde Francaise
1724 (French Guard)
Colonel De
Hussard 1804 (Colonel of Hussars)
Grenadier 1804
Tambour Major
1804 (Drum Major)
Chevau-Leger
1810 (Heavy Cavalry, lit. 'Heavy Horse')
Cuirassier 1810
(34)
RB5 (?) - The Three Musketeers (12 figures, 'unknown' or Figurines
Historiques numbering, Mokarex
numbers in brackets, Mokarex series 2b - Les Trois Mousquetaires)
6085 - D'Artagnan
1611-1675 (28)
6086 - Athos
(25)
6087 - Porthos
(26)
6088 - Aramis
(27)
6089 - Maitre
Bonacieux (31)
6090 - Madame
[Constance] Bonacieux (32)
6091 - Planchet
(29)
6092 - Anne
d'Autriche 1601-1666 (22)
6093 - [Earl of]
Buckingham 1592-1628 (24)
6094 - [King]
Louis XIII (21)
6095 -
[Cardinal] Richelieu 1585-1642 (23)
6096 - Milady
(30)
PS - if anyone has spare unpainted versions of the three I still need I'm sure I can find something nice for a swapsies!
Unknown publicity card
or set's backing-card (solids?)
Fully-round Range (listed as given on above flyer)
1 - French Revolutionary Figures 1st
Series (12 figures)
Roget de L'isle
1760-1836
Camille
Desmoulins 1760-1794
Lazare Carnot
1753-1823
Madame Tallien
1773-1835
Marat 1743-1793
Laviosier
1743-1794
Joseph Bara
1779-1793
Hoche 1768-1797
Charette
1763-1796
Princess de
Lamballe 1749-1792 (Mme...)
La Fayette
1757-1834
Axel de Fersen
1755-1810
2 - French Revolutionary Figures 2nd
Series (12 figures)
Napoleon
1769-1821
Danton 1750-1794
Marceau
1769-1796
Kellermann
1735-1820
Marie Antoinette
with the Dauphin 1755-1793 & 1785-1795
Andre Chenier
1762-1794
Charlotte Corday
1768-1793
Fouquier-Tinville
1746-1795
Mirabeau
1749-1791
MME
Royale 1778-1851 ('Princess Royal')
'Sans Culotte' 1792 (revolutionary)
MME
Roland 1754-1795 (not on flyer/header-card)
3 - French 14-18 War Soldiers 1st
Series (10 figures)
Alpine Chasseur
Morrocan
Tirailleur
Infantry
Grenadier
Foot Chasseur
(#1)
Artilleryman
Trumpeter
Engineer
African Chasseur
Soldier of the
Marne
Tankiste
4 - French 14-18 War Soldiers 2nd
Series (12 figures)
Soldier at Present Arms
Drummer
Cyclist
Zouave
Legionaire
St. Cyrien
Senagalese
Communications Guard
Foot Chasseur (#2)
Machine Gunner
Marine
Supplyman
5 - French 14-18 War Personalities 1st
Series (12 figures)
Foche
Gouraud
Mangin
Petain
Pointcare
Joffre
Lyautey
Guynemer
Clemanceau
Gallieni
Fayolle
Franchet D'Espercy
6 - Personalities of the 2nd
French Empire 1st Series (8 figures)
Empress Eugenie
Princesse de
Morny
Duchesse De
Castiglione
La Paiva
Princesse de
Metternich
Carpeaux
Prince Imperial
George Sand
7 - Personalities of the 2nd
French Empire 2nd Series (12 figures)
[Ferdinand] De
Lesseps
Thiers
Musset
Canrobert
Hausmann
Lamartine
Corot
Dumas pere
Cantiniere
Victor Hugo
Gambetta
Balzac
8 - French Revolutionary Figures 3rd
Series (6 figures)
Robespierre
1758-1794
Louis XVI
1754-1793
Louis David
1748-1825
Saint-Just
1767-1794
Condorcet
1743-1794
Joseph Viala
1780-1793
9 - Louis XIV and Personalities (12 figures, may have been discontinued early or not issued)
10 - Louis XV and Personalities (12 figures, may have been discontinued early or not issued)
11 - Men at Arms of Louis XI (8 figures, from chess set)
12 - Bergundian Men at Arms (8 figures, from chess set)
Other side of above card
Chess Set (no
number, 32 figures)
Kings:
Louis XI
Charles le
Temeraire [Charles the 'Rash' or 'Bold']
Queens:
Charlotte de
Savoie
Duchesse de
Bourgogne
Knights (Dukes):
Duc de Bretagne
Duc de Bourbon
Duc de Malines
Duc d'Uytherke)
I had help . . . if you can call it that!
And she always looks so pleased with herself - You don't fit in the small-sample boxes!
4 comments:
I went into the store on 5th Avenue many times in the late 70's until it closed around 1980. Never saw these plastic figures then. The last items I bought there were paper/card railway buildings from the UK.
Yeh-no, I think it was a bit of a failed experiment, mid-70's maybe, certainly it had happened by the time Garratt was final-editing his encyclopaedia (Pub.1981), and my suspicion is that they ran the smei-flats, while advertising the solids, the semi's didn't do well and they gave up? As Historex Agents in Dover were 'the thing' in Military Modelling mag around '79/80 and beyond, we may have got a lot of the clearance here in the UK, but it's all speculation!
H
Ummm. I have the Set No 2 12 French Revolutionary Figures. Still in package. Contact me if interested carolynsredrose12@yahoo.com
Sorry Carolyn, only just found your message, and have eMailed you.
H
Post a Comment