News, Views Etc . . . Bits

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The ladies at Vectis sent me a press release yesterday with three images to add to the 'Forthcoming Events' post, published last Friday, so I've added them to that post alog with the auction contents blurb.

eMail

I had a mammoth session yesterday afternoon/early evening and I hope I've caught-up with all outstanding eMail traffic, if you think you haven't had a reply you should have/were expecting, let me know - maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

Faceplant

Apparently the mob behind TJF have started a rumor somewhere that I tried to join a FaceBook group for toy soldiers and was refused, I can assure you I am only a member of two such 'groups'; Friends of Plastic Warrior and Plaid Stallions, both of which were by invitation and I'm not terribly active on either, by dint of not having much to do with FaceBook after my initial, over-exuberant enthusiasm back in 2013/14.

Things disappear off the bottom of a FaceBook feed quicker than they do off a blog, and - without decent tagging - are subsequently harder to find, nor do they get picked-up by Googlebot, so don't tend to appear in search results.

You won't find me re-posting things which appeared on a FaceBook group two-days earlier either, but then - being a collector - I have plenty of stuff to produce my own copy from!

I did see the Group in question on my feed once, about three or four months ago, but given one administrator's name, I thought I'd leave them to their own fate, they have been warned here (with empirical evidence) about his fairy-tales!

Toy Soldier HQ

Looking for Russians the other day I noticed that Kent Sprecher has greatly increased the content of the Marx combat/military section, indeed - it's now two sections with the commoner stuff on one page and the oddities on another; both can be navigated-to from a landing-page here.

Help

I don't want to set a precedent and turn SSW into a swap-shop, but I had a nice exchange with a lady from the US who is looking for a 1st version Commonwealth Scots Dancer (painted highlights over flesh-coloured plastic, single backing-card if possible), and if anyone can help her; I can put you in touch.

The reason I'm 'reaching out' is because I get a lot of 'how much is that' eMails (with a link to something on the Blog), I always answer politely that I'm a collector and it's not a sales site, so the things aren't for sale, never to hear from them again, not so much as a 'thank you'!

However Bonnie came back with a nice 'thanks anyway', and explained that she'd got most of the set and hoped to track the Scottish lady down, so I said I'd look out for one, but if you have a spare, I know where it can be loved.

Barney Brown

I've missed two updates from Barney over Christmas, quite a bit of the new stuff has already sold but there are still some choice pieces to be had on his website Herald Toys & Models.

What?

You want a picture of some toys?

Oh go-on then! 'H is for How They Come In'; Today (Monday)'s run up the High Street of the teeming metropolis of Fleet (two horses and an out-of-sequence post-code!).

Three purchases from two charity shops, for a total of less than 3-quid which gave me 15 items from six sources!

As it was a couple of months into 2018 that the first fairies came in we still seem to be in a fairy-year, that's the fourth or fifth recent 'lot'! She's made of a sort of foamed 'new type' eraser rubber which gives her a slightly furry surface! And what is it with me and eraser robots . . . from charity shops! They aren't going to fit in the new tub, I've only just given it to them, we've only just looked at it and they've already outgrown it!

The flag goes with the tree little astronauts - which I suspect will prove to be Pioneer - while the rocket and Luna Buggy (or Luuar Rover!) go with the three big chaps - all marked K&M (Wild Republic animals). I must have a session on these as there are a shed-load, but while I've found the lose ones, the boxed examples are still buried in the garage somewhere.

I was only musing on re-doing the old Totem pole posts the other day in an eMail with someone and a new one to the collection (Bully) arrives out of the blue!

I walked away from two Papo knights at £2 each, one dragon-head crested horse and rider, one unicorn pairing, but they were a bit big . . . actually; they were huge! But I may grab them if they are still there tomorrow (Tue.).

Links
The Simpson's finally have a Toy Soldier episode!

Good news story - I'm not the only one to receive presents of toy soldiers!

Mending Dolls