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I know - it's not International Talk Like A Pirate
Day (ITLAPD) yet, but this was the other jewel in Glenn Sibbald's
parcel, and as they are cartoony, and the pirate 'rule' has been broken (with
whole ships) two Christmas's running, we're having some more pirates out of
pirate season!
And believe me; there's already plenty in
the TLAP folder for the 19th of September - six or seven posts-worth so far.
Now, I think most of these were sourced from
New Zealand, certainly 'in' NZ, but a couple have an Australian origin, where
they were issued (or are believed to have been issued-) by Nabisco in 1971. Four of eight poses (the other four will be along
in a minute) in various colours of a soft (Airfix type) polyethylene and almost
certainly sculpted by the same chap who did the Working Dogs (Crazy Canines for
Kellogg's here in the UK; November
1972).
In Australia they were given names known to
be (from the left above);
Black Captain Cutlass
Long Thomas Thumbscrew
Pierre Pegleg (who I've
dubbed Peg-legless Pete!)
Sir Swashbuckler
But - there's no evidence of them being
given the same names in New Zealand, or of them even being a Nabisco promotion, both Sanitarium and Griffins being more likely as the issuer, but no packaging or
advertising seems to have come to light . . . yet?
I think it's worth reminding ourselves
here, that while people tend to block them together (much to the chagrin
of the locals), Australia and New Zealand are much further apart than say
Britain and France, or Britain and Holland (or the US with Mexico or Canada),
and their markets and brands, their 'household names'; differ just as much as
ours, as anyone's does with their near neighbours.
The rest of the motley-crew; again naming
from the left, we have;
Hook
Mr. Jonathon Greed
Scarface (Dagger-legged
Derek!)
The Right Dishonorable Roger Jolly Esq.
Is it me, or are the three to the right all
cousins of Dick Dastardly!
Glenn has been trying to get a 'complete'
complete-set, e.g. one of every pose in every colour, and while it's proved
harder than he anticipated he's getting there, but the number of colours and
the relative rarity of the figures down there has been exacerbated by the fact
that they are quite hard to find in good condition.
You can see that Scarface/Dagger-legged
Derek (my favourite!) has at least six points of vulnerability, and Roger Jolly
is very hard to find with his rapier A) still attached at both ends and B)
still intact. All eight have either thin, sticky-out bits or very narrow
pinch-points, most have both!
And for that reason - again - I can't thank
Glenn enough, as while we've benefitted from his duplicates; he has also made
to send the Blog complete, undamaged and shiny-clean samples, which is
incredibly kind of him.
He has in fact sent us six which his
research leads him to believe are the [also] New Zealand colours, with two -
probably - Aussie [only] one's he couldn't spare in NZ-origin pigments.
The Oz collectors list - in alphabetical
order - thirteen colours;
Aqua
Blue*
Brown*
Green
Grey
Lemon
Lilac
Lime*
Orange*
Pink
Purple*
Red*
Yellow
Those with an asterisk are the [only] six
colours Glenn believes were in the NZ Issue, while in the quarto above the
outer pair are New Zealand or believed
to be NZ colours, the inner pair are the Aussie set's two, but clearly; there
are more colours or shades than those listed. It should be noted that elsewhere they were issued in still other colours.
And I don't want you to think they are New
Zealand exclusive colours, it's just that six of the colours out there are
those commonly found in NZ, the Aussies seem to have got some extra colours,
among which is an unlisted, second red, assuming one of the above blues is
'blue' and the other 'aqua'?
Scame in Italy produced a set of eight 'homage' copies as tourist 'mocherettes'
(a word of my own invention, which I will explain, one day!) for museums
and gift shops; these were also carried by Ferrero
in their Kinder Eggs, in the 1990's -
if memory serves?
Some sources state that 'some figures' are
marked MADE IN AUSTRALIA or plain 'AUSTRALIA' but Glenn - who has seen more of these than most (I
suspect) - has yet to find one. Other collectors 'down under' wonder if they
were from a British designer/sculptor, and while they are credited to Rosenhain and Lipmann (R&L), there's a lot of stuff
credited to them which I - for one - maintain big question-marks over.
Glenn has a note to the effect that a Consolidated Plastics in Auckland may
have produced these for the NZ issue, he's not sure where the note comes from,
but thinks there's some mileage in it?
He also talks of "...some scuttlebutt...", re. the
moulds ending up in Mexico (sometime in the 1980's), however, given the number
of premium moulds known to have ended up somewhere in South America, a cursory search reveals that indeed that seems to be the case so it's
probably not scuttlebutt, but the reality?
Many, many thanks to Glenn for donating
these to the blog, he calls them his 'Precious', yet he sent eight to this 'orrible
little 'obbitsis! If I remember - I'll do a comparison with other caricature
pirates in September; just to get them up here again!
11 comments:
I remember these! I had the Long Thomas Thumbscrew one but can't remember the colour and the blue Mr Jonathan Greed. Alas, Mr Greed's cutlass blade snapped at some point.
I'm in NZ and always figured they were from a cereal box but wasn't sure.
I have a pink "Black Captain Cutlass" that says "Made in Australia" on the base.
Interesting Unixlad, as the NZ's are unmarked. Thanks for the input!
Sorry Anon' I didn't get a notification of your commennt or I would have replied at the time.
H
The NZ pirates were made by Consolidated Plastics. In the 80’s I used to work across the road from the factory and they had a factory shop. Pirates were 50c for a bag of mixed and they came in six colours as mentioned but no markings underneath. I have quite a collection of these still.
Thanks Anon' that's an important confirmation, can you remember what else was in the shop of a figurative or toy kind?
H
Hi, no I dont recall any other cereal toys apart from the crazy pirates at the time. The factory shop mainly sold over runs or obsolete stock so I presume they were surplus stock. Most of the other products were plastic kitchen containers and buckets etc.
Pity, but thanks, it was but a hope! Pretty much what you'd expect, there used to be lots of these little firms, when I worked at Rotamould Camberley (a piddle-arsed place in the middle of nowhere) had three, that I know of, we were extruders, the other two injectors, all jobbing whatever they could get!
H
Hi I wrote the book Cereal Critters Breakfast Barons and the Rosenhain & Lipmann after interviewing the owners of the factory in Melbourne. The pirates came from original characters by local cartoonists. The book is available from Abbeys books in Sydney. But I am not spruiking the book just mentioning it to help clear up the mystery. All the best Craig Hall
I still have three that I got in Weet-Bix packet back in the 70s. The made such a mark on me I kept them for 48yrs or so. Still in good nick. The Weet-Bix packet had cut outs on the back,to make a scene. The three I have are blue,red and green. And I'm in New Zealand.Been scouring the internet for them for years, yours is the first informative page I have found. More than happy to send photos just let me know where.
Well, I'm not going to argue with a pirate! Glad you've still got your childhood ones Ray, they're always the most important! Photo's can go to maverickatlarge@gmail.com for now, it's usually hotmail but there's a problem, and piccies of the scenic would be brilliant if you still have it?
V
Cheers Craig, sorry, didn't see your comment 'till just now, yes I'd like your book but missed out when it was available!
H
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