A quick box-ticker today, these are the six-inch 'Scottish Soldiers' from Marx UK factory in Swansea, and were a standard 'going-home' or 'attendance' present, at Birthday Parties when I was a kid.
For those who don't, or didn't practice such a thing, this was when all the kids who went to someone else's birthday party, got a little something, usually of the novelty or 'Christmas stocking' variety, to take home, in part as a memento of the occasion, and in part because watching one child open lots of presents (at least one of which could have been yours, if you hadn't handed it over!) tended to bring out the green-eye'd monster in some!
There was a bit of a party circuit in the late 1960's early 1970's, and several of the members had large gardens or grounds (such as Elvetham Hall, now a hotel and 'village' development!), and these keepsakes would, if the weather was inclement, be hunted for, outside, like Easter eggs!
If you found more than one, though, you had to surrender the spares to those who hadn't found any, in the great divvying-up! I remember the hard-polystyrene Indians also from Marx, and little bags of the Minimodels/Culpitts wild west (very frangible!), card-tube kaleidoscopes one year, and the rubber snakes mentioned here yesterday. The whole concept was meant to teach, in the nicest way, sharing, fair-play and decency? Some just resorted to lucky-bags as everyone was leaving.
Which was funny-ironic, as I was expecting a second bearskin for three pairs, and actually it's a third Highlander, leaving two lowland/fusilier types (with odd headdress I'm thinking, sort of French colonial, 18-somethings, 19-oh-whatever?) and the one Scot's Guard. That site's are cleaner than mine!
The other 'Fusilier'
Slight colour variation between batches?
A couple of - also soft, unpainted, polyethylene, 6" - Wild West cowboys who have come in at some point, I haven't obtained the hard, factory painted, polystyrene Indians from my childhood yet, but they were the 'thin' sculpts also done in 'HO', and the archers and spearmen tend to damage when you do see them.
There isn't that much liberty being taken with the Scots uniform: They are all in doublet (not tunic) and the fellows in shako are pre-1914 Highland Light Infantry. So they covered the three distinctive 'types' of Scot: Highlanders, HLI, and Scots Guards.
ReplyDeleteAs per Wikipedia: The HLI's full dress in 1914 was an unusual one; comprising a dark green shako with diced border and green cords, scarlet doublet with buff facings and trews of the Mackenzie tartan.[21] Officers wore plaids of the same tartan, while in drill order all ranks wore white shell jackets with trews and green glengarry caps.[22]
Note that it fits in with the 'German' influenced British uniforms- Pikelhauben for Line Infantry, and the LI Shako apes the German Jager Tshako.
The Guardsmen is probably the worst: He appears to have a plume on his bearskin, and the buttons are arranged singly, marking him as a Grenadier Guard, not a Scot.
Cheers for That Gisby, they're fun, and I tagged them Nappy and Colonial as well as Ceremonial which should cover everyone's search preferences in the future! Odd though because they weren't available in the 54/60mm which had some WWI stuff, but maybe they had been intended for scale-down in some boardroom meeting, lost to the mists of time?
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They were only produced in the UK, so were probably never on the track for miniaturization. IIRC, the 6" British were not the same as the 54mm and smaller British figures either.
ReplyDeleteYeah-nah Gisby, I was only musing on possible conversations 60-odd years ago, the French 6" aren't the same as those late 54mm either?
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So sad, here in Canada we never saw the Russians, British, Scots, or French. But I was at an age where US, Japanese, and Germans were enough.
ReplyDeleteFor that matter, in Winnipeg, the 54-60mm and miniature sets were not available, although the Warriors of the World, Minikins, Disneykins, were.
Just ruminating.
I know the feeling, over here the Germans more often seem to turn-up as broken polystyrene, factory painted, like the Egyptians and Romans!
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