An interesting sample of mixed 'odds and
sods' (which is right up SSW's street!); most of them happy to wear the
'Novelty' moniker. /the contents of the small bag (bottom-left) is now a
separate post.
I'm not so sure about the large pink mouse,
however the similar mini-bath duck is a happy receipt, so I can't reject his stable
mate and one day there will be an overview of all rodents here on the blog (as
there - hopefully - will be for everything) and when that day comes
he/she-or-it will be ready and waiting . . . for a second viewing!
The three nutcracker'esqe (or 'Babes in
Toyland' style-) guardsmen are part of a larger family which hung around in the
late 1990's and early 2000's, I've pinned them to two or three brands and - in
at least two sizes - they were used in snow-shakers, the sort of mini-trees
truckers' put on their dashboards, as novelty earrings and possibly (as here?)
cake decorations.
Both the drummer and the blue-jacketed chap
were new to me and we will look at them all properly one Christmas, as that
seems to have been their destination, whatever the end-use.
The Kinder eggs carried the latest figure
type, and they are both nice (well sculpted and approximately 54mm) and
disappointing at the same time.
The disappointment steaming from the fact
that as stand-alone figures they are all in a silly pose, yet the point of the
pose is a bit pointless, you have to balance the 'shield' on the two hands (not
easy as a dextrous adult, god knows what kids will make of the job!) and then
flick them [the shields], using the over-designed base, at the paper/card flat
'baddie' targets. The hitting of which seems more unlikely than getting the
shield to stay put, but maybe I'm just a curmudgeonly old-git and it's easier
on a smooth surface?
I had discovered them a few days before
Peter's parcel, but typically in situations like this sod's law meant I had
found the same figure as two of Peter's so now have three gold'n'green
fish-men!
This is charming, possibly missing a few
toes, but then he's probably over eighty and clearly survived Corvid-19 so one
can't complain! Made in Japan and a fired bisque, hand-painted after firing
there has been a bit of rubbing over the years . . . and another cricketer!
Now . . . we saw the female addition the
other day and with another from Peter the total's become seven figures in a few
months, from one, and five from Peter - here they all are together.
The new one is a second Spanish National
Guardsman (like gendarme); an 'other rank' to my previously found officer, but
the officer had a cartridge-paper board to his hat (as the Beefeater also has a
card rim), while the new addition has the whole hat in the same clay.
He also has a slightly more expressive
face, and while - like Erzgebirge - I suspect a regional
aspect to the production, equally I suspect a different locale or town/village . . . the clay's a different colour to the other
six, as well?
11th February 2021 - Now known to be craft figures (artesanos) from Alborox in Grenada
Another fisherman! Sans rod, so I put a
'pole' rod into the hold for the photograph, the original was probably a length
of piano-wire with a piece of cotton-tread glued to the tip? Like the Spanish
'toristicas' in the previous shot, he's a terracotta/clay, rather than the
bisque of the cricketer, but is also Japanese I think? And he's been
glaze-fired rather than painted.
Aaaahh! I'm lovin' this! I already had the
archer on the left and had always thought of him as a cartoony/anthropomorphic
ancient or medieval type; a warrior archer, if you like, but the new figure
from Peter makes it clear there is probably a set of 'sports cats' somewhere,
and gum-ball capsule-machine inserts, or Christmas cracker prizes? Anyone else
got some?
I shot it without flash (inset) to show the
true colour difference.
Another excuse for a group shot was the
china cat, which is also a different colour (darker grey), but the flash washed
it out, so they look like twins (centre-left), and - as a group -growing ever
larger!
I also have plastic copies/versions of the
little kittens playing with balls of wool (front row), which are not direct
piracies, being smaller, slightly different poses and . . . for another day!
The three Siamese's (top right) are
chalkwear (plaster) and named, but I forgot to note it! The two dirty ginger's
are Whimsy's from Wade the rest are porcelain
'ornamentals'.
Finally is this interesting chap, a Maori
dancer from New Zealand, who has been glued to a paper or card base of some
kind, I suspect as part of a tourist keepsake, but has a brand; G.L Models and may have had a second
purpose as a colonial war-game figure, he's the right size and material under
the paint?
And many thanks to Mr. Evans again, for
another collection of eclectic stuff without the sending of which, I wouldn't
have been able to share with you!
2 comments:
Love that little Japanese angler Hugh! Classic earthy Nippon colours. Cool!
It is a 'pretty thing' woodsy, and - having said "probably wire", I wonder if it might have had a bamboo pole, which would be easier to source from a BBQ stick?
H
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