N is for Nativity Figure Set . . . /s

These are almost, or probably - on the second-hand market - even more common than the Art Plastics set/s, and seem to consist of only two variants, but my sample is a bit dodgy, as is the narrative of this post, due to it being cobbled-together from last year's unused folder's images and a part/mucked-about-with set I grabbed the other day.

But I think we can weave most of the tale, and while I'll be looking-out for more chapters of the Art Plastics story, I'll also be looking for any further volumes which can shed a little more light on these for future posts/follow-ups.

A wholly (so far) generic set, which is typically Hong Kong, while carrying some of the elements of Marx's Hong Kong production about the style/values/materials, and is definitely a set of Italian sculpt clones, both Fontanini and others?

Here we have my recent purchase as it arrived, and after I'd unwrapped all the figures and set them up (top), the card after I'd removed the added (long ago) green baize strips (middle) and the scan I took before the remains of the box/packaging went on the fire - bottom!

There's a small lie in the shot above, in that the Joseph figure is missing his walking stick, becase he's the one from the spares box, as I thought the seller had lost/not sent one figure, but I found it a few hours later (or rather; Boysey-boy found it . . . whispers - he may have had something to do with the 'placing' of it?) under the bed! So he's now here, late, on the left with his stick.

Reverse of the other items, I'm not blaming the seller for the state of the set, it was clear in the pictures, and I was grabbing a few cheap ones for the blog without studying them too carefully, so Caveat Emptor . . . you get what you pay for! However it was missing at least the sheep, and possibly another figure or two

The angel Gabriel was wired in with something which was clearly not 'origial', while the tub of loose figures had an alternate angel from other sets in the series? It has a base like the rest and would have been glued into those sets, in the same fashion as the other figures. Inset is the sets code, the only clue we have; the 'L' suffix is probably for 'large' [set]?

Apart from the baize hiding the full number of pieces (from the white spot 'marks' where the actors are supposed to be placed) and the Sellotape damage to the outer, it was otherwise in good condition, but by the time the baize had been removed it was easier to get rid of it, and the two clever end shaping-pieces (and two hidden shaping 'steps' under the shelves) will glue-together to make a nice loading dock for O-gauge railways!

Last year's unused, loose images, one of the reasons I didn't use them is because I couldn't remember why some of the images were the way they were, but by dragging-out these and the Art ones, I may be able to make something of the ones which are left in the old folder!

The point to note is the much larger range of shepherds, pretty sure they are all Fontanini sculpts, but "Other Italian precepi-makers DO* exist, your list of Italian precepi-makers can go UP* in line with all information being subject* to change, this sentence does not affect your statutory rights"!

*The author/s maintain and accept no responsibility for any emphasis or lack thereof.

Here they are in close-up with the large animals below (I may have some of the sheep in with THE sheep, but I think I still have to find them), from behind. You can see one has a staff/crook which matches Joseph's stick and would have been on the same small runner, they are both soft polyethylene, while the box-end/shapers were hard polystyrene, so two tools?

The kneeling chap is a 'villager' with an edible offering for the Little Baby Jesus, while I think the chap to the far right of the upper shot is a camel-handler from a even larger set with standing camels, possibly with Kings/Wise Men upon them?

Some of the Animals; an older, handled-wear donkey, and two slightly different animals, from another set altogether; the two with the dark green bases, you can see they have simplified cavities as well - bottom shot.

A picture I grabbed off the internet to show a better version of the set than mine, with two standing sheep, but otherwise the same contents as mine, in the lower set we have two figures from the other set on the right; apart from the pose of the king (new) and the darker bases, they seem to be very similar to the commoner (?) set, even down to paint used and style of painting . . .maybe a little more measured, earlier issues/older tool from the same company?

Their (other set's) sheep is a variation on the Friedel and their bases are flat with pin-release marks like Marx production, or the Rado/Ri-Toys reissues! Again the animals do have the hollows of the other set, but simplified into more symmetrical shapes, or negative-shapes!

I suspect two sources, copying the same Italian precepis, but close to each other - two factories of the same company, or sister companies maybe . . . or just one contracted to help with/finish a contract or contracts of the other's?

I'm off to cook a chicken crown in orange-sauce (? Sainsbury's!) with all the trimmings, except stuffing, I forgot the stuffing, doh!