W is for ♫♪♪♫ Well, There's a Small Boat, Made of China . . .

. . . and a silver one, covered in gold! ♪♫♪♪

 

It's chapter three of the 'Brown Water Navy'

 

Chapter one - https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2018/09/b-is-for-brown-water-navy.html

Chapter two - https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2020/04/g-is-for-growing-brown-water-navy.html

These are very different from the previous (and each other), yet strangely similar, the smaller being the sort of chopstick-rest, a smart Chinese restaurant will let you take, at the end of the meal, as a keepsake of your dining experience, and people collect the rest in their own right. A simple glazed porcelain, in 'Blue & White', it's similar to the boats in chapter one!

 

While the other was inherited from my late Mother, and follows a common pattern, so, while very-much a handmade and hand-finished item, certain of the components were 'mass-produced', along the lines of a factory process, but at a craft level where things changed from time to time, or varied between batches/regions. The best bit it the crewman, who's about 25mm!

 

There's also a lovely cloisonné turtle on the deck, I'm not sure if it is a mate of the pilot, or supper! I guess it depends whether it is on its back, or the right way up! It doesn't actually belong to the model, of course, and the stand is carved wood, I wondered at the crudity of the carving, but suspect a deliberate thought, to represent rough seas?

 

This is referred to as silver nef, but is very much the late 19th/20th century substitute for the real deal, a growing middle-class with disposable income wants what the truly-wealthy have, but can't afford a large three-mastered galleon on wheels, so settles for something like this, or a filigree gondola!

 

And, also, very much a tourist piece, but up-market tourism, of the colonial administrators returning to the motherland at the end of a posting, type thing, or presented to someone upon retirement, or posting-out, you get the idea. And it needs a really good clean, as it is silver and silver-gilt under all that oxidation and dust!

 

The basket for the fish, being protected by the 'top hat' outer, has kept the shine of the gilding a little better than the rest of the vessel! You can also see from this, that the ropes and ties on the vessel seem to be twisted copper wire, some of which hasn't taken the plating terribly well?

 

The Chinese Junk style sail on mine is a pressed pattern of woven palm-fronds, while a couple of similar raft-vessels I've found on the Internet have actual interwoven, fine silver ribbon, which must have taken someone, probably a kid, hours and hours!

 

Both vessels are of simpler construction (apart from the intricate sails), and have a lower freeboard than mine, but they are also 12-trunks across the deck, to the nine bamboo poles of mine. Although both seem to be incomplete, so it's not a fair comparison, and I only use them to confirm their ubiquity, out there, rather than work out the who's, why's and what for's, of things which would have been made in different places, maybe decades apart.

 

♪♪♫♫ Everywhere you go'ho'hoh, always take a navy, take a navy, with yoooou! ♪♪♫♪

D is for Discovering Shire Albums in the Shire Library

Continuing with the meander through my collecting library, both for the general interest and/or hell of it, and as an illustrated bibliography which may or may not be of interest to readers, new or loyal, as to suggesting titles they might want to track down.

 

Shire Publications began with UK-specific travel and local geographic guides, known as the Discovering series, which I don't think ever got a full numbering system, even as they expanded into wider hobby interests, beginning with cultural/rural/folk stuff. That led to the larger format Shire Albums, which were renamed Shire Library when Osprey bought the intellectual property a couple of decades ago, now Osprey itself has been bought by Bloomsbury, and the future is unknown. Shire Albums were numbered more formally, and there are a couple of useful lists of early volumes, here;

Discovering series -  https://www.publishinghistory.com/discovering-series-shire.html 

Shire Albums -  https://www.publishinghistory.com/shire-albums.html

The main storage collection, as it stood about five years ago, these are the smaller Discovering series, with a few similarly formatted softback/pamphlet type publications. I don't know the full argot or jargon of book sizes, and as anyone who has a library will know, they creep in either height or depth by increments of millimetres, with hardbacks complicating things by having internal pages smaller than the dimensions of the whole 'box'. But both formats from Shire Publications were 'standard' sizes used by many other publishers/printers.

 

Here we see a MAP (Model [and] Allied Publications) guide to early plastic kits, which I mentioned while looking at the Burns guides in previous posts on the far right, and on the left a Hamlyn 'All Colour' guide to war-gaming on the left.

 

The Discovering's cover war-gaming and modelling, uniforms and militaria, artillery, horse-drawn transport and horse furniture, and while they are all small, are still very useful for research, especially when you are looking for something specific, or on the tip of an increasingly forgetful tongue (old age bites!), each is like a better illustrated Wikipedia page, you only need to reach for, no Googling lots of useless crap!

 

The larger format Shire Albums include an early tome by James Opie, and are in an even commoner format (A5), so we see an Argus Publishing plans book, and several self-published efforts, including the late John Clarke's diorama's, Britains [horse-]racing colours, and both the Spot On guide and overview of a private collection of cartoon die-casts are self-published, I think.

 

The Airfix history was one of the last new titles added to the Shire stable, numbered at 598, while the W&H list should be with the catalogues, where I have several more, it was a yearly thing for some years, I believe.

 

Added the next day - I thought there were a bunch missing! The core of the toy-related volumes are in the larger format Shire Album size, and here's their shot! 

 

Cropped out of a larger image we'll see in a future post, I grabbed this in the last few years, firstly because 'once you're collecting these things . . . ', and secondly I thought it might help ID some farm/Santon type stuff, and lastly, there is a bit of a costume sub-library in any case!

 

These were all issued as 'free gifts' in Military Modelling magazine, and used to be stapled into the centre-fold, but (with the exception of the one on top, which was a different size for some reason), they were all A5.

 

Private publications, there is very little in these which is still relevant or useful now, but they remain in the library, as all books should, in part as part of the history of the library, and against the concept of 'you never know'; always worth a flick if you're looking for something specific, like a code-number. I have no idea how many titles were issued in this private, or club (?) series?

 

Covers are different, contents are the same, -Album versus -Library.

 

Another MAP, they tended to be compendiums of material previously published in their stable of hobby magazines, and interesting to see an early publication from Pat Hammond, who would go on to become better known for his work on Hornby, Tri-Ang and Binns Road.

 

The MAP is an ex-library copy, both a useful source of old titles, and a guarantee of cheap-price, as true 'collectors' (Bibliophiles) don't rate them, so neither do the second-hand book trade!

 

 Four more minor publisher/self-published types, including more trams (all useful for manufacturers data), and three peripheral tomes, but it all builds the whole, and appendices often have useful stuff in them, lists of manufactures, or after-market (now 'garage') producers.

 

 More of the same.

 

One of the first of the new Library titles, and a useful little overview. Really belongs with the Atlantic Wall/Channel Island subsection of the military library, but should be with its brother volumes, a perennial problem when a figure or book sits firmly in two camps. Does it belong in Cake Decorations, or Ceremonials? Is it Fantasy or Medieval? Bought new, a few years ago, from Waterstones in Basingrad.

 

A visit to the secondhand bookshop in Alton, 2021.

 

Three titles I inherited, as I was sorting my late Mother's estate out, over the last few years, I have a subsection, or subsections on tiles and mosaic, so a useful work, while Shire Archaeology is a third series, running - to date - to 91 titles, listed here;

 

Shire Archaeology - https://www.librarything.com/nseries/15546/Shire-Archaeology

 

Three more interesting tomes, particularly the schools one, not something I have much on, in the library as a whole, an old ex-Public Library book on school architecture in the arts section, maybe? But an interesting read.

 

I don't know if anyone caught the history of Boarding Schools by Nicky Campbell, the Radio1 DJ, on Radio4 recently, but as someone shoved through that flawed and damaging system, I found it both poignant and nostalgic in equal measure.

 

Also inherited, these share one code in the partial numbering of Discovering's

Mum's own fields included furniture, silverware, and latterly oriental art and ceramics.

 

 Another visit to Alton!

 

The most recent but one visit, and seen before, we've also seen Horse Drawn Commercial Vehicles and a second edition of Antique Maps, from a visit this year. While 487, Garden Gnomes, has so far escaped me, but it's only a matter of time! Discovering Book Collecting is a good full stop to this post!

F is for the Falcon Steam Pencil Works!

Not often we have a piece of Victoriana on here, so twice in one day, and another board game, is a bit special! I shot these on Adrian's table at one of the autumn shows, and it's a very unusual thing, as its primary purpose seems to be the promotion of pencils, despite being plaster figures.

 

Burglar & Bobbies, a lovely litho-print label which conjures-up Sherlock Holmes or James McLevy running about in the dark while some villain from the slums fires wildly into the night hoping to stop the chase!

 

Slush-cast from plaster of Paris, or possibly blank-de-moudon (it's quite hard) suitably painted, and not that big, maybe 55-mil for the Bobby and 60-odd for the burglar, I didn't measure them, but sort of standard chess-piece size!

 

The dimples in the centre were probably caused by a wooden dowel 'dibber', being used to push the material into the corners, such as there are, while the air-bubbles were being knocked or vibrated out?

 

There were five Bobbies and one burglar, so I think it's best described as a variation of Fox & Geese (or Pig and Mooses, as I believe they play in North America!), or Hare/Fox and Hounds, as far as the game-playing mechanism goes, but with a smaller playing area, vis-à-vis number of squares?

 

Given the age of the game - it's obviously older than 1952 - the 'Her Majesty,' must be Victoria? And I was clearly born decades after 'The Bank of England' pencils ceased to be a thing! E Wolff & Son, being the actual maker, or issuer?

 

Given the amount of mentions of pencils on both the box - outer and inner, and the paperwork, the feeling is that this was a promotional item, like the Seagram's Whisky game, and like that, might have been bought in, or at least the playing pieces would have been? Although, I think Falcon pencils were still around, when I was a kid?

 

I forgot to shoot the other side, which must have had the movement instructions! I have two good shots of this side, so I suspect I was distracted, and thought I'd tuned-it over when I went back to shoot the other side! Many thanks to Adrian for letting me shoot this.

K is for a King Does Not a Republic Make!

I bought this in the Phillis Tuckwell charity shop in Farnham on Tuesday, I have to say the Phillis Tuckwell shop in Farnham has some very, very, very smart stock, lots of old collectables, stamps and ephemera, white elephant, ceramics, fabrics and clothing, old toys (a tray of good condition Yesteryear's), I could have spent a fortune, but this was in the window, and while not cheap, is near perfect, so I settled on this.

 

For reasons, I WILL bore you with another day, this is how you are supposed to display a chess set for sales purposes, one of each piece in one colour and a pawn from the opposing side. The set is bone, not ivory, I do have an ivory set or two, and one day we'll have a mini season on chess sets, but for now, these happen to be in front of me!

 

Exquistely hand-made threads on all the base discs, and several sections of the Kings and Queens, I don't know if these are a Napoleonic POW's work, or something more commercial, or later? I suspect something a little more modern, as the joins are all tight, unlike earlier sets, where some threads can be quite loose. Suggesting the maker had a jig, if not a modern tap & die set?

 

You can tell it's bone, at a glance, none of the warmth of ivory, nor yellowing with age/handling, and clear striations in the material, along with some rough areas like this crown underside, all easy clues to it being bone rather than ivory.

 

The greatest variation is in the Pawns where some look visually quite different, simply by being a millimetre higher, or a little fatter or thinner, and I think one Castle (first image above) may be a replacement, but it's quite a good, sympathetic one, just a slightly shallower battlement/longer neck.

 

The black side was fully coloured before fiddling cleaned/wore the threads. I suspect the whole side has been 'enhanced' with a marker pen, and at some point I will give them an alcohol dip and rinse, to remove anything like that, and then either re-stain with old India ink, or rub melted boot-polish into them with an old toothbrush, and buff with a soft cloth! Nice find!

A is for the Absent Minded Beggar; A Gentleman in Kharki

I said we'd return to this subject a few weeks ago when looking at the lead version, we also looked at the casein one a few years ago, here, and at that time I vaguely said "Believed to be a Boer War keepsake/trinket", well, the history is actually far more interesting, and the Britains lead one is the more 'accurate' while the apparently commoner surviving plastic one is not strictly the 'Gentleman in Kharki' but is the 'Absent Minded Beggar'

 

This (the subsequent Britains pose/sculpt) is the artistic rendition of the Absent Minded Beggar, by the artist Richard Caton Woodville, which was titled A Gentleman in Kharki, a generic called-up reservist, off to fight in the Second Boer War, taken from the poem by Rudyard Kipling, which would be set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame), all of which was part of a charity drive to provide for the families of those reservists, who were left behind, losing their only bread-winner to the war-effort - almost a precursor of the later Haig Fund.

 

A quick Googling reveals many renditions of both sculpts, but with this, the Gentleman in Kharki, being the more common in other materials, here the tin-plate clock revealing the budget or affordable nature of a larger piece, while more figural spoons can be found, than the plaque example above, alongside mugs, cups, medals (medallions) and many other typical fund-raising pieces.

 

The original poem having been donated by Kipling to the fund, set up by Alfred Harmsworth, proprietor of the Daily Mail. And ephemera featuring the poem/song lyrics/musical score make up a large portion of the surviving material.

 

While the casein renditions of The Absent Minded Beggar, the original subject of the poem, before Woodville's image became more widely known, were also used in a number of domestic objects, alongside a naval rating (to balance the thing!), although, as we can see from the vesta case and visitors card-holder, the Gentleman in Kharki got casein renditions too!

 

I now have one of my own in the pile, and he has been separated from whatever trinket, novelty or household item he might have been attached to (possibly the letter-opener?), and as can be seen in the previous, old auction-image, the tip of the rifle rarely survives; if I ever see a damaged one going cheap, I may purchase it, just to cut-out a sliver to restore mine?

The two together, on the left The Absent Minded Beggar in polymerised milk-powder, on the right A Gentleman in Kharki in very toxic, pre-Health & Safety 'white metal'! Britains ommited (for production reasons?) the fallen helmet seen on larger versions of the scalpt and all the casein examples.

 

I don't think a maker has been identified for the casein one, but it certainly looks as if one producer made them all and sold them to aftermarket firms who put them on plinths, pincushions, pen-holders, ink-wells, servant-summoning bells and etcetera?

The story - as known - and the poem is on Wikipedia

 

Nowadays - of course - we tend to say Khaki (without the 'r') and Daily Fail, Pail, Pale or Wail, it being, now, a nasty little tabloid rag, outpouring faux-outrage to give less-educated, meat-faced gammons a reason to vote Reform and undermine democracy, while keeping the new owners relatively tax-free!

A is for Antiques!

So, that show the other weekend, was possibly even more disappointing that I had feared, not only was it - as I suggested in my newsflash the day before - all  ". . . wooden games, barley-twist marbles, balding Teddy Bears and old dolls", there were in fact no marbles, few wooden games and really nothing beyond dolls and bears (and other soft toys), there were a few Gollies and Golly-related things, going under the evilBay police radar, but no tinplate, not even old carpet trains, not much dolls house stuff/furniture, just lots and lots of dolls and bears, which is fine if you're into that kind of thing, but a little disappointing, if you've come looking for other antique or 'properly' old toys other than those two genres?

 

However, the organiser's table (Daniel Agnew - ex-Christie's Auction House) did have a wider range, Adrian's table had everything but dolls and bears, and there were the odd tubs of interesting things, on some stalls . . . actually baskets, the antiquey-people use baskets! And I managed to find a few pieces of interest.

This was fascinating, obviously you find the same items in early Christmas crackers, but the five items are similar to those found, to this day, in Irish Halloween barmbrack cakes/puddings, which in the 'Brack are: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence), a ring, and a bean, the ring in both cases signifying marriage in the forthcoming year!

 

But it's also interesting is showing how traditions can be lost in a generation as well as created, as while in my childhood, the sixpence (not even included here, but maybe you provided the sixpence and bought the other five?) survived, we didn't have the rest, and now, apart from a few families putting a pound-coin in their Crimbo-pud', most people put nothing in their puddings or cakes?

 

In a similar vein, I bought these, probably also from Christmas crackers, but possibly from an actual charm-bracelet, but of a budget or penny-/market-stall variety? Some plated on a base-metal, the other items in the group-shot are a fancy 'brier' pipe, and two pairs of opera-glasses.

 

Obviously, these were on Adrian's stall and I grabbed both, just to have something substantial to take away from the day! We've seen the Thomas/Poplar plastic jobbie before, while the die-cast piece in front is from Morestone, and although rather tatty, does seem to come with the original gift-bag, nearly always missing, or replaced with some shiny-new thing, and it ticks a box!

 

This is also silver-plated, but on brass, and maybe an apprenticed smith's exam-piece, or just a small 'objets d'art' to be put in the family curio-cabinet or something, they were simpler times!

 

'A Gentleman in Kharki' (older spelling intended), the iconic figure of a Boer war soldier, which I will wax fully on, in the near future, but for now suffice to say this was made by Britains, but was a stand-alone figure, I believe, and probably sold with charitable intent, at a rate over the ordinary unit-price.