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Tuesday, March 5, 2019

T is for Two - O is for Oddities

As Hausser failed and was taken-over by Preiser in the late 1980's/early 1990's, a lot of interesting things appeared from the factory, which like the similar production of Walter Merten - found its way to feeBay and toy fair dealers, where I picked-up a few examples, two of which are the subject of today's T is for Two.

ACW; American Civil War; Cake Decoration Figures; Cake Decorations; Confederate States; Confederate Toy Soldiers; Confederates; Elastolin Figuren; Elastolin Hausser; Elastolin Toy Soldiers; Old Plastic Toys; Old Toy Soldiers; Plastic Toys; Preiser Figures; Preiser Toy Soldiers; Saxon Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Tourist Keepsake; Tourist Mascot; Tourist Novelty; Tourist Trinket; Turkish Toy Soldiers; Union Forces; Vintage Novelties; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers; Vintage Toys;
From the ACW range, these were marketed in a Preiser bag, but I suspect were meant for a tourist trinket/memento/keepsake contract, most likely with a US museum or battlefield site? Whether they ever made that contract too - I don't know, but I've not seen anything on-line which might be the result?

The rider and standard-bearer both have pre-printed fabric flags, the footman having a 36-star version which dates him specifically to 1965-67 (ten years prior to the last stand?), while the mounted chap carries the guidon of the famous (infamous?) Custer's 'Seventh' (formed in '66). To whom are added marching and running officers and a drummer with separate drum.

The horse is moulded in a standard Hauser Elastolin horse colour, while the figures are moulded in a flesh plastic and four, late, marbled apple-green bases make-up the 'kit'.

ACW; American Civil War; Cake Decoration Figures; Cake Decorations; Confederate States; Confederate Toy Soldiers; Confederates; Elastolin Figuren; Elastolin Hausser; Elastolin Toy Soldiers; Old Plastic Toys; Old Toy Soldiers; Plastic Toys; Preiser Figures; Preiser Toy Soldiers; Saxon Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Tourist Keepsake; Tourist Mascot; Tourist Novelty; Tourist Trinket; Turkish Toy Soldiers; Union Forces; Vintage Novelties; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers; Vintage Toys;
These (outside pair - shot with two bog-standard figures for comparison) have also turned-up with a full over-spray in gold, again one suspects touristy stuff, glued to plinths or sold in little clear-plastic tubes maybe, but equally they could be aimed at the cake-decoration trade, and again I have no idea whether they ever made it to either job, or were only sold as factory clearance, representing a failed idea?

ACW; American Civil War; Cake Decoration Figures; Cake Decorations; Confederate States; Confederate Toy Soldiers; Confederates; Elastolin Figuren; Elastolin Hausser; Elastolin Toy Soldiers; Old Plastic Toys; Old Toy Soldiers; Plastic Toys; Preiser Figures; Preiser Toy Soldiers; Saxon Toy Soldiers; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Tourist Keepsake; Tourist Mascot; Tourist Novelty; Tourist Trinket; Turkish Toy Soldiers; Union Forces; Vintage Novelties; Vintage Plastic Figures; Vintage Plastic Soldiers; Vintage Toy Soldiers; Vintage Toys;
I stripped a couple of duplicates - so far only the two poses found by me, one Norman and one Turk, all of which are manufactured in yellow plastic (best base for gold), including the separate, glued-on bases - which has some bearing on another article in this sequence.

5 comments:

  1. I finally got my start in wargaming with 40mm Elastolins when I bought 100 of those gold plated vikings for $10 on ebay from a vendor in Germany.

    Those pink plastic kits were sold in substantial numbers from Henry Bodenstedt's shop in New England in the 1960's. I'm told he also used them to stage wargames at his shop using them (I've talked to people who used to play and have since bought a collection of such figures painted by the buyers). The kits themselves still turn up at flea markets and on ebay. Very useful for conversions.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bodenburg

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  2. Cheers Ross! I have a few retail 'kits' in white plastic I was saving for another day, but it's nice to know these have some age to them.

    Re. Your comment elsewhere - I've just finished reading the HE book, and would point out that they call Ally G (of Timpo) 'Sally' on page 28! Given it's three authors and 20+ year's gestation you wonder how that typo got through!

    Also, there's a quite big section on AHI's copies at the back, but Spencer Smith gets one line and a single thumbnail, while the Giant copies aren't even mentioned! It's beautifully illustrated, but the best thing to say of it, is that it's a 'very American' labour of love; if you know what I mean - enthusiasm conquers all!

    Funny thing is - I offered them my archive twice - 10/12 years ago - and they didn't take me up on it, so now they've published I'll dig out my Authenticast and Malleable catalogues and get them on-line, I've got the Baird, Castle, Corr's, Knights, and Polks stuff somewhere as well!

    H

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  3. Ross - were your gold one's the same two poses, are are there more of these for me to find?

    H

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  4. Just as well I don't have the funds for such books then.

    My 100 were all the one Viking pose. Since I also have a small collection of Lansknechts, 50 of each would have been excellent!

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  5. Cheers Ross, so cake dec's or 'touristika' holds for the gold ones . . . for now!

    H

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