H is for How They Come In - December 2020 - II Chris - Introduction

A day or two after the lot from Adrian we looked at last Thursday here, I received one of Chris Smith's 'big box' lots, and it was a fantastic collection of odds, ends, rarities or novelty tat I'd never seen before, and I've broken it down into six posts, of which this is the overview/sorting.

I actually shot them over several days with no real order, so some of it confused me! And a Polar bear got shot before everything else, and again half-way through!

The first thing I do is pick through the box, finding the treasures (to me, some might be quite tatty or damaged but if I've not seen them before I get excited!), then I tend to put them all back in the box and do 'my day' as normal.

Then in the evening, I sort them again into thematic piles - civilian, combat, ceremonial and/or historical, space/sci-fi, fantasy, cartoon/TV/movie-related, animals (sometimes sub-piled; sea life, dinosaurs, farm and/or zoo etc....), Kinder/capsule, vehicles, 'planes, accessories/building parts &etc. That is where this shot finds me - little thematic piles of polymer playthings!

Then they get bagged-up as TBS (To Be Sorted [into the collection]), and yes, the themes are all muddled-up again here, but the fact that I've handled them all three times means I've got a good idea what's there . . . and I'm photographing as I go, as well as putting away anything where the master-collection box or tub is near to hand, or if I need to separate for reasons of frangibility, or forthcoming articles, or folders in the long queue, or for follow-ups etc!

Also I have to work out exactly what to shoot for these posts, for-instance I haven't shot the mini-plastic buildings (upper-left-centre) because we've looked at them here, but due to the three building types (two Whilhelmian barrack/flat-block types and a church), and various colours, they are always welcome in the collection, as there are many variations to find!

Slightly to the right and just below them is a bag stuffed with all the small-scale (15-25mm),which are next, but what else can you spot?

Those small-scale, tipped out of their first bag, for further sorting into smaller samples (same 4 / 5½" bags), the absolute highlight here is a clean pair of Blue Box ambulance men, you may recall mine were sun-stained coffee-colour last time we looked at them, all the more special as the white plastic, civilian stretcher-case came in more recently, with both staples (handles/legs) intact, so I now have a clean team for next time we look at them in detail.

Also of interest are the three soft plastic firefighters, also Blue Box, the pair of (Corgi (?) driver/co-driver) firefighters and the red horse racer, possibly from a  board game, but I suspect Christmas crackers or some of those 'early learning' types we looked at a couple of three years ago - where does it go!

This image - in sequence with the previous, but the next day, threw-me for a moment as it didn't make sense, but study suggests in the foreground I'm still sorting Chri's lot, in the middle distance I've got the TBS Matchbox and Corgi out, probably to sort some of Chris's stuff into, at the far right I seem to have lined-up my growing stash of Russian Malysh rubber Wellingtonians, adding the pastel shades to those I'd blogged the previous October?

While the red blob top left is a piece of Betterware from Chris, which was probably waiting to go up to the loft where the Betterware box was . . . actually they don't have their own box, the have a few of the index-carded 4 / 5½" bags in the A-B Minor Makes box!

A mixed line-up which didn't fit the other five posts! A home-made or heat-converted plastic confederate (I think?), two Cavendish Guards, both damaged but it's about the plastic colours, look at that smoky-pink on the left! Another blow-moulded Russian, you can't have enough of these are there are several sets, each of 8-10 poses and at least three sizes!

On the end of the upper row is a nice  - probably Italian 'precepi' or nativity figure, might be a king/wise-man, or just a villager, below which are four Russian knock-offs of the Marx 60mm Vikings, but closer to 54mm as copies.

They actually highlight the situation this year; I have these figures in the short queue, they are actually on the lap-top's desk-top waiting for final editing, but I don't think these four are in the article? As the article was shot a few months ago, and these came in nearly a year ago . . . they should have been united by now . . . so, while a lot of stuff has been sorted together on the way to storage (and a lot photographed), some things which did have two homes, now seem to have three - I fear these chaps are in that category, and it will be at least another year before it's all been fully put straight!

Another eclectic assortment, smaller sixes, clockwise from top left; New Ray (I think, a US model railway issuer has a similar range, so needs checking), the Hong Kong flat railway staffer we saw here, and a late Culpitts Santa Claus - Topical a year later!

The green horse is one I call 'Large Draft' and I've just (last few days) done a ready reckoner on all of them here, it's not how I'd planned the horse page, but it will help people sort theirs for now and as I post them in detail the riders, foot figures (if any) and accessories will be sorted too. Finally one of the hard-vinyl figures from Portugal who had several issues and - seemingly - several iterations of 'full set', which we will try to get on top-of, one day.

Many thanks to Chris Smith, there are five more posts to come, looking at some of the highlights from the thematic sorting phase, but all of it is greatly appreciated, it enhances the Blog and the readers experience and those figures/items which don't get to shine in these 'H is for . . . ' posts will enhance the Blog and A-Z entries for years to come.