M is for Menagerie Meander

Yeah . . . well . . . when you keep returning to the same thing, you run out of ideas for titles!

This is one of those posts which grew from a couple of images I wasn't going to post as I wasn't terribly happy with them into something which should be of some interest to someone, through a sort of organic growth, which had me getting everything out for another shot, and another, as I kept thinking of new angles!

Starting with those two poor images! They were part of the big lot of Blue Box and other rack-toys I shot back in the summer, good idea - I thought! Take them out in the sun, keep them in the shade, use flash . . . but it was just too bright and lots of them really need doing again.

Anyway, with these one is colour true (left-hand image) the other has less reflection off the bag, so here's a bit of both! The animals have long-since broken-free of their perished elastic-bands, but the palm tree (again! But more in-context this time) has resolutely remained in-situ!

The base of the palm-tree is marked 'Made in Hong Kong', but I have seen them with the "Blue-Box" mark (more  commonly found on the WWII Figures and blow-moulded accessories) I think? Same as the other-day; copy of the larger Britains one in flat/semi-flat style.

What I could get with the light, the tatty polyethylene-bag and a bit of mucking-about in Picasa! The contents were arranged like a five die's dots (:∙:), the four animals in the corners with the trees in the middle and species vary from card to card (or batch to batch?), certainly I've seen other variations.

The 'gorilla' is supposed to be an orang-utan I think, and there are lots of them out there; here we have the same Blue Box one as from the set, on the left, a SINGAPORE-marked version next to him, a copy-of-a-copy and finally a cheat - an actual gorilla in brown!

I've marked the other one 'Tai Sang' as it (or the Singapore-marked issues - generally) has/(have) been associated with both Red Box and Blue Box (whose name was on the Singapore factory), although smaller; it is the earlier original from which the larger Hong Kong marked one was taken.

Some people will tell you endlessly that copies are smaller because they were pantographed, but they don't understand how a pantograph works - depending on the operator - a pantographed copy can be a little smaller or a lot smaller, a little or a lot bigger, but in skilled hands and with some luck thrown in for good measure; a copy, via pantograph, can be the same size.

You do lose a little of the fine detail, which will often be added back-in by a finisher or tool-engraver; here - for instance - you can see the fur is finer on the original, smaller Singapore animal, and lost on the larger Hong Kong copy.

The same thing can be seen here with the Hong Kong hippo' - larger, yet poorer than the Singapore animal which has the same flat-feet of the Timpo original. They are both three-part moulds, but the HK-one has run the joint-lines over the soles of the feet, Singapore ran the joins round the edges of the foot-pads, as Timpo did

Inset - bottom right - are some more of the Britains-clone gorillas compared to the brown orang-faketan, nothing special, they are mostly sub-sub-piracies, with three HK-marked above, two unmarked (to the left) and a 'China' (far right) below.

I didn't have the crocodile to hand by either company (and I don't think I've found a Timpo one yet?), but knowing where the development of the post was going, I shot the kanga' instead; earlier, painted, Timpo-original 'solids'

With their doppelgangers'! The kangaroo also comes in both Singapore and Hong Kong-marked verities; these are the Hong Hong ones. Note how the orang-utans are closer to big-feet-yetis than the ape they are supposed to be representing, and as if to confirm the species liquidity, Timpo gave theirs a head of raven hair - go; Cro-Magnon Man, begat homo-not-so-sapiens and install him in Pennsylvania!

This is not supposed to be any kind of definitive article, but rather a meander through a few points as they fell-together (or were stuffed into the post by me!), one day I'll pull them all together properly, but they (both farm and zoo) are spread about a bit at the moment and as a case in point, this lot came-in the other day; a pretty-clean sample of Blue Box farm and zoo mixed.

Not sure about the trailer, but it will fit the Blue Box tractor and has higher production values than a lot of these generic Home Farm/My Farm trailers, especially the donkey-drawn versions! Perhaps it's Hing Fat . . . 'course it isn't!

Some of the base-marks associated with the animals and accessories of Blue Box and Redbox; both marques of the Tai Sang parent - whatever anyone else has said. It's worth noting with so many HK marks out there, that the Tai Sang animals - when they have the Hong Kong only mark - have no gap, thus; HONGKONG, it's not an absolute rule but it's a useful guide.

And  - between the two brands, there are maybe a half-dozen 'sets' of animals, both Timpo and Britains-clones (the joeys above) along with a few other Western-brand's animals (the cart-horse above is a Charbens-clone I think), and some unique ones - one set from Redbox were pretty original.