About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Friday, August 9, 2024

B is for Benefaction Bag and Benevolence Boys!

I haven't been doing much Charity Shop stuff for a while, but did have a couple of good plunder purchases, and this was all garnered back at the start of July, a small bag of plastics and a couple of larger figures from the white-elephant shelf.

A ceramic 'fairing' of a clown, probably copied from a better known or more commercially named maker, I thought it had shades of Fontanini's sculpting about it, and it was cheap, so home with me, it came, although home was - at the time - a motel!
 
A resin tourist jobbie, I don't know if it's a local British thing, of something brought back from maybe Canada or even Australia? There is a cap-badge of sorts, on the helmet, which vaguely resembles a Roman numeral III, if that rings any bells?
 
While the princely sum of £1.99 secured this for the stash, although if a Prince only had 1.99 he'd be considered pretty poor, as Prices go! I could see the level of damage, but thought , at that price, it was still worth a punt.
 
All that damage! It would have been nice if one or two more had survived, but I guess little fingers had handled the pack without due care and attention!
 
Relatively common Matchbox, mostly Germans, with Audie Murphy to keep their heads down! Interesting that they still have quite a few of the little 'sprulettes' (my term) on their bases, these are designed to allow the flowing polymer resin to continue-on beyond the limits of the product, ensuring the actual product section of the mould is fully filled, and you don't get short-shotting.
 
A few useful bits survived, although the Hong Kong copy of a Lone Star sailor is missing his foresight/muzzle. The US Cavalry food premium is worth the whole two-quid though, as his pennant is often short-shot, especially in the metallic variants, so he was a good find. I'm not sure if the two horses are Spanish, or copies from Greece, France or Hong Kong?
 
Survivors of the handling, but one has to remember they will be as brittle as the other Lone Star figures, and treat them accordingly? How they come in!

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