U is for Unknown Salesman's Samples

A bit of a find here, and not mine, Adrian found them, and thinking I'd like them, saved them for the blog, and posterity! There's no clue as to their origins, and the message on the slips of paper pasted into the inner edge of the boxes (suggesting they were placed rather as the shots below, upright in a cabinet of some kind), which reads "Specimen contents as used if boxed to retail at 5/6d" [five shillings and six pence].

 

The mix of metal and plastic novelty 'prizes' places this very much in the 1950's, as do, strangely, the hats, rather squidged into one of the boxes, which are about three times the size of the hats I've known all my life, but which I remember from old TV shows (think 'Love thy neighbour,' Hancock, the soaps), where people often had the taller ones? Hard to unfold now, but they all have crude 'jewels' made from silver-foil, diamond (parallelogram) offcuts glued to them, which I also remember.

 

Both boxes have similar contents, indeed, very similar to the Old World Series we looked at years ago, with wooden whistles, steel wire-puzzles, paper logic puzzles and the novelties, which include stand-alone flats, broach-badges, the inevitable thimble (Christmas was almost a disappointment, if somebody didn't get an impractical, plastic thimble!), and rings. Many thanks to Adrian for grabbing these.

F is for Flat Figures, Finger-Fancies, Fables, Fripperies, Flibbertigibbets and Fine Family Favourites!

If not actually an annual, at least an occasionally perennial, here at small scale world, is the look at Christmas Crackers and their little novelty playthings, gifts and joke items, this year it's two sets of mini or tree crackers, which tend to contain the smallest of gifts, and a few similar items which have come in.

This set, which I think must have been a bog-standard Tom Smith set, was held over from last year, as I ran out of time! In fact, most of the stuff held-over from last year is still waiting, and won't be looked at agin for at least 10 months! We also had these as kids, they replaced the earlier set (with the micro ships), when they finally began to fall apart.

 

The little decorative paper stickers of trees and candles were to be found on the larger 'family' sized crackers, and ran for many years I think, no hat at this size, but you do get a joke and a little polystyrene novelty charm.

 

I found them in a Charity shop, two packs of ten, and promptly worked my way through them, and the results were pretty meagre, but make a good sample of one brand's product at this budget level. They are harking back to the earlier metal ones which we recently saw here as cake-inclusions, and themes are common, locks and keys, guns/weapons, boots and strangely, skulls!

This lot was found at the first Sandown park of the year, which was September's due to clashes with the May one, and we've seen all these before I think, so for now just a group shot, but as I've said before, we will look at them all again properly in a year or so. Mostly polyethylene, the thimble is in a frangible polystyrene, while the jig-puzzle ball maybe a polypropylene?

 

Another set of mini tree-crackers, another Charity Shop purchase, and these were made for Safeway stores (bought by Morrisons in 2004) and are oozing that kitsch 1980's feel, people had (some poor miserable souls still have) whole bathroom tile suites of this silver/gold, sometimes with red stripes or patches of grey or black, the 80's were the start of The Decline!

 

 

But the toys are a little more interesting, being the same as you might find in the cheaper, full family-sized crackers, they would have been next to on the shelf. And more tropes with the mini-ship, ring, joke nail and hair-clip. While three of the figural toys (Troll, Angel musician and cat charm), which got me on to cracker toys, as a collection extension, in the first place! And all soft 'ethylene, unlike the harder 'styrene ones above.

 

This came in recently, I can't remember if it was something from Adrian, Peter or the late Michael Hyde, or even a large charity lot I got a while back, but it's clearly the same kind of cheapo-cracker fayre, and consists of a dollar loot-bag! It's soft polyethylene, which has probably saved its loop!

 

 

An evilBay (which has just locked me out again!) lot of similar items, this time showing musical instruments, animals and the sort of 'good luck' symbols which are also found rendered as traditional tattoos! The hedgehog seems to have more age than the others, being a much finer-etched sculpt. they look to be hard polystyrene, but it's hard to be sure.

W is for What Was All the Fuss About?

I'm so pleased with my efforts yesterday I'm going to force you to look, but first the annual round-up of my edible Advent Calendar, which is the same every year, so rather than the figurals, you're getting all 25, and I think they've loaded in reading order, top left to bottom right, 1st - 25th!

 On the 8th we got a double-sized one which rather knackers the whole collaging matching squares thing! 

 

Look wot I done did!

 

I ran out of space on the big plate, so I quickly warmed a smaller one in the microwave for the meat, transferred the pigs and stuffing balls, and put the roasties (which I'd forgotten were in with the meat, when arranging all the other veg', with a small gap for the meat) on the 'veg' plate . . . how decadent was that! 11 veg', if you count the onions as different, and the roast beetroot was this year's experiment, and I can recommend. No Yorkshire pudding, because that's not decadent, that's apostate!

 

I didn't finish it! No point in forcing yourself to get those last lukewarm bits down, and I would have had to cut more meat! It all made a really nice Bubble & Squeak omelette this morning, though, and we go again, this evening!

 

I wore the purple hat for the meal, and 'got' the metal puzzle! All now suitably bagged, labelled (Sainsbury's small) and in the stash, with the ones we saw at the start of the month! Not impressed by the fake moustache, which is printed-card, and while I get the eco-sentiment, and it will enhance a future post on such things, it seems to have hygiene issues in my eyes?

 

And I've realised (maths was never my strong suit) that the month record should fall today or tomorrow, depending on how lazy I am, while the 'beat 2017' target is quite doable now! Onwards and upwards!

C is for Cracker Crustaceans and Other Novelty Flats

I stated writing this last night, but realised I could barely keep my eyes open, and went to bed after the title (which isn't very good, but meah!), anyhoo's, here now and fit to go, more of a follow-up to the cracker posts, of a couple of days ago, and a fun thing for the Crimbo' season!

The rump of the late and still sorely missed Boysey-Boy studiously ignoring the goings-on, his equally missed mother would have been trying to stuff herself into that box, which is just too-small enough; perfect!

 

This is me sorting a bunch of 'cracker flats' into piles by colour, a few years ago, the duplicates to the left went to charity, god knows what they did with them! As you can see, there was a yellow for every animal, but shortages of green, white and red. Those on the right/lid stayed as a 'master sample'.

Aquatic critters

I don't know if it's by design or co-incidence, but the animals in the set break down neatly into four relatively distinct groups of four-each 'type', for a total pose-count of sixteen? You should recognise most, if not all of them, from your own childhood experiences with cheap cracker (the best, for this kind of thing), or from the many H is for How They Come in posts where one or two of these have featured!

The not-quite Insects

Who wants a tick in their Christmas cracker!

What struck me about both sets of full-sized crackers the other day, or indeed, the two mini-sets, and that whether the set with toys and puzzles or the other, there was no real duplication of boxes to tick, and for that to occur, I am imagining, there was a belt running through the packer's stations, where each packer has a bag of say, these insects, or rings, or curling prediction-fish, thimbles, wire-puzzles or whatever.

And with each operator (almost certainly women back in the day) practised to about the same speed of completing a cracker and putting it on the belt, you should with thirty-odd stations maybe, end up with a prefect mix of thirty different items travelling down the belt to the packers, within each 24-cracker group, arriving in line at the end?

Reptiles

I think the little-green is a gecko?

So, whether you have two, four or even six girls at the end of the line, and whether they can (with practice) pick 2, 3 or even four crackers per hand, as they pack the usually 10's or 12's, the chance of duplication is almost zero.

Where you do get duplication of contents, it's usually a 24 or more-crackers box, and then you find a different design/colour of insect, thimble, ring or whatever, there’s still an almost zero likelihood of a full duplication?

Proper insects

There WAS, often, duplication of hats and jokes, but that would be explained by the hats having a smaller variance, usually only five or six colours, sometime with different crown-cuts sometimes not. Bi-coloured crowns reduce full-duplication slightly?

 

While the jokes tend to be on sheets, and each packing-girl would need a bag, box, tote or stillage of cut jokes to grab one of, randomly, with each toy and crown, so A) she could, herself, put the same joke in two of her crackers, consecutively, and B) include the same joke, at the same time as one of her near neighbours, or anyone else on the line, which would be the same thing on a larger box of 18 or 24 crackers?

 

 Lobster and tick on evilBay

 

It's not that I lose sleep over this stuff (plenty of more important things to lose sleep over these days!), but I do like to know, or have an idea how it all works, because it's clever, isn't it?

Different sculpts

Probably newer, possibly a rubberised elastomer?

 

The ingenuity we show, and practice in ensuring there are no novelty/toy duplications in boxes of 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 24 or 32 budget Christmas crackers, is clearly wasted on us if we can't sort out fair pay, fair taxation or the state of the State of Palestine/Israel?

 On the beach!

 

This is what's here, in the TBS (to be sorted) boxes, the black spider is clearly from another set, as is the smaller crab in a fetching mauve! The red spider seems to be an injector-head purge, or colour-changeover figure, rather than sunlight damage?

Upsidedown!

 

And while the two 'stags' are from the same source (as each other and the above set), the red spider is apparently a sub-piracy by another maker. Like Airfix 'army men', parachute toys or Britains farm/zoo animals, there was a lot of copying of copies, of copies going on in the former Crown Colony! Although not the same level of variance as you find with the cat, Scottie-dog or elephant charms.

T is for Two - Full Size Christmas Crackers

Just a quickie, it's been a funny-old day, today!

We're looking at two complete sets today, both shot a few years ago, and both obtained for pennies, or I couldn't justify the philistinism of destroying them, although both are from the tail-end of the 1970's or - more probably - the 1980's, and both are budget types, so not exactly rare or valuable.

 

This one is a total generic with no identifying features or information. the photo-art on the box makes it recent in the history of crackers, but not ultra-modern, so the 70's seems likely, and there are 12 crackers in crepe-paper with metallic 'collars' - I'm sure all these things have their own piece of specific lingo within cracker-making circles!

Clockwise from top left we have a hair-clip, micro vanity-case/doll's accessory, motorcycle, cocktail ornamental-monkey, relief-flat spider, magnifying-glass key, elephant charm, moustache, two-part ring, fake fingertip, flat car (after a French original) and a baby's/doll's rattle.

 

Contents tick most of the boxes, there's no obvious puzzles or games? The cocktail-glass monkey was originally a design credited to Nosco in the 'States, but early plastics firms over here carried similar products - this one though will be Hong Kong.

The other set, equally cheap types, but in all-stiffer paper, and very 1980's is credited to a Napier Industries, who claim to be manufacturing over here, but using part-foreign pieces, we should get them on a boat to Rwanda!

Clockwise again - ballbearing dexterity game, hair-clip and trick rubber-pencil, Ultraman pencil-top, water squirter, magic maths puzzle, novelty curling-fish, metal puzzle, moustache, motorbike, rubber-spider and elephant charm.

 

Contents again ticking most of the boxes, but with the puzzles and magic tricks, which were missing in the previous set, note also, the motorcycle is a different design, I have bags of both, as with the elephant, but like the similar cats and Scottie-dogs there are many variants of them! Also we get a bi-coloured crown, but in the same easy-rip tissue paper!

 

Some of the LRG collectors get a bit excised over the Ultraman pencil-tops, not realising there were tens of thousands of them in British/Commonwealth crackers, and that they are ephemeral cheepies really!

Both boxes have a 'cut-out-and-keep' (or 'use') feature, for enhanced value-for-money, in a number of place-mat nameplates, which could equally be used as parcel gift-tags.

T is for Two - Mini Crackers

Way back when, Crackers tended to be limited to the actual dinner, you all had one and shared the hats and prizes if one person 'won' two ends, you then read the joke and wore the hat. Extravagant families might have a second pull before the pudding course, but there was the undeniable guilt of redundant hats?

 

In order to get round the unwritten limits on cracker engagement, some wag in cracker-central came up with the mini-cracker, which lived in the tree as a 'decoration' and cried silently 'pull me, pull me' for the entirety of the tree-up period. Pester-power (spoilt whining) did the rest!

Here we see generic and Sainsbury's branded versions of the same common mini-crackers, I'm really after another (1960's) set, which comes up regularly, but always goes for silly money, so clearly other people know what they are looking for, in the meantime these later ones (1980-2000's?) which flourished under several guises, are often going for no money, and these are from a few years ago (left) and this year, a charity lot (right).

 

You can tell they are the same from the little bells and Christmas trees glued to them, which didn't change for over a decade and can be found on the larger crackers, presumably from the same source/origin, too, whatever the design of the crackers themselves, which - with these minis - is always a variation of the metallic 'Christmas colours'.

 

But it's the contents which interest me and hopefully some of you, and here, mercifully, the rings have tied them together as closely as the glued tags! Only seven left in the first - generic - box, a full complement of eight in the newer, charity set.

 

Of note; another micro-racing car for my long-term project, the diminutive copy of a Layla type railway figurine, and it solves the question of the different bases on some of the copies, I thought we'd looked at more of the Hong Kong ones than we did in the linked post, but there are some (the above . . . golfer?) with better bases, but poorer sculpting than the Hong Kong bagged sets you could get in model railways retailers back in the day. Obviously, these crackers are one of the sources of them.

While the Sainsbury's-branded set is also interesting for having four items at normal cracker size (fake finger, moustache, ring and fly), and four mini-versions of what would normally be bigger - rocking bear, whistle, charm and the relief-flat crab. favourite here is the microscopic warship, we had a bunch of these in soft, silver polyethylene when we were kids, and I've found a couple over the years along with a red one, but this bright green one is the first polystyrene one I've found.

H is for High Days & Holy Days Hodge-podge

Well . . . you can drag it out to the 6th of January and some years I have, but only if I've 12 matching themed posts or images with which to do that, and this year wasn't the year for that kind of planning! Indeed, it's mostly been off the hoof, I've now sent what was left in the Nativity folder (most of the older images, mixed shots and comparisons) back to 1979 and renamed it Christmas 2023.

The Christmas cracker post (which I never really even looked at seriously) likewise, but we've got some bits and bobs here to cover, and I've still got the cake decoration folder up-here (in 2032), so I may grab a few of the images for a quick post over the next day or two, but otherwise that's it for the truly seasonal stuff.

I think I grabbed this last year, although it's one of many that make the rounds every year, but it's a little more cerebral than most, and directly aimed at people like us! I love the coloured wood-straw, we're immediately taken back to Primary-school nativity plays in draughty village-halls!

The apocryphal tale, or ultimate Jimmy-joke; little Jimmy gets the part of the inn-keeper and when the visitors from Galilee knock on the door says "Yeah, plenty of room, come-on in!" ushering them off the stage!

I sent this to a friend last year, but shot it for the Blog, because it's not bad - size wise - for 54/60mm figures! It was a traditional glass one too, none o'yer polymer shite! Miracle it got to its destination in one piece mind, but apparently it did! There's only a few left now, mostly repurposed into defibrillator-stations. unmanned tourist-information booths or community/free libraries.

We had looked at these, also HobbyCraft, last year I think, or the year before, anyway I went back for some more . . . it WAS last year, as I went back this year too and was disappointed to find the same selection, so didn't get any more, but this was what missed a Christmas follow-up post last year and has been sitting in Picasa for over twelve-months . . . just!

I also added a fourth hedgehog to the tree . . . my tree now, the larger one on the left, having added a third (second from the left) two years ago while Mum was in hospital, neither has hung in a tree yet, but I'm sure they've both been fully briefed by the veterans to the right, and next year, they will all swing gently and remind me of better times.

Found in a drawer, an old 'posh' cracker toy, still in the 'hygiene' bag! You can tell they are posh if the novelties are metal and/or have a use beyond entertainment; how many nail-clippers, nail-files, anodised mini-pens, over-sized paper-clips (or "Bookmarks") in chromed sheet steel and fancy bottle-stoppers do we all have in the various drawers round the house now?

I've bought a few ornaments this year, mostly from charity shops (I never pass the very small 20/30mm balls in green or blue as you just don't see them anymore, while pinks go on the 'gay tree'), but I did get a small pack of mini-balls from TKMaxx and this set of mini-shapes, which had two figurals, a soldier (who seems to also be a polar bear - not sure what the rest of the regiment will make of him!) and a gingerbread man!

I hope I always choose/send nice cards to everyone (but it's always a matter of taste), however I bought a couple of one-offs for friends of Mum who've stayed in touch, and as she was definitely a 'cat lady', I managed to find cat cards which I hoped would remind them of her, both were fold-opening, pop-up types and this was one . . .

. . . while this was the other! The first card's felines are a bit 'sweet' and cartoony, this lot look like a bunch of reprobates who've just about 'had' Christmas and being made to wear stupid headgear by stupid humans! "No, no, when I say 'Now' let-go and whip you hands out of shot . . . can't you make them smile?"! Obviously painted from life!

These were rescued from the Nativity folder before it was 'sent back', they've all come in this year at various points and may or may not be Crib-Nativity-Krip-Belens-Noël-Santon-Precepi types!

Left-hand figure is a Hong Kong plastic, probably a cake decoration, but is he magic/Harry-potter, or keys-to-life 18th/21st, or Old Father Time? Thoughts appreciated as he must be mass-produced and someone somewhere will know exactly what he represents!

In the middle is a composition figure on a wooden base, who could be a Joseph the Carpenter figure, a background shepherd or a priest, or the same as the next figure? While that 'next' figure, on the right, is probably a Mrs Noah from an old wooden Ark toy, she's all wood, turned with splint-arms, ignoring the various thick or no-bases they are 50mm (middle, priest/Noah) and 60mm - the other two.

It's a weak connection, I know, but I'm clearing folders here! Starlux farm items which wouldn't look out of place near a manger, in a stable, in downtown Bethlehem, circa the year dot! The milkmaid's clearly heard about Herod's men, and is prepared to do something about it while the shepherds all get stoned on frankincense and myrrh! I love the guy using an animal-skin water bottle, and even the cow has the look of a 'rare breed' about it.

Brian Berke shot these in a store window in New York before the really evil weather hit, and lucky he did as it wouldn't be Christmas without a nutcracker or two, cheers Brian!

Here's wishing everyone a happy New Year, lets hope it's a better one than the last three, being a cynic I doubt it, but some stable weather and a few less idiots in charge . . . oh, Israel have just shone a light on the New Year and it's not looking good! But Romania is arresting misogynists, so it's not all bad! Slava Ukrayini!

C is for Chris's Autumn Parcel - Wild West

So, couple of busy days have put me slightly behind, drove over to pick-up the dregs of Dave Pomeroy's archive yesterday - bit of a mini-adventure in itself! But I'll catch-up quick enough, life-willing, and it's back to the donation from Chris Smith a month or so ago, with a look at the cowboy and native Indian angle, of that rootin' tootin' shootin' wild Wild West!

A nice group of semi-flats in an 'ivorene' polystyrene plastic, it's probably rare to find them so undamaged as a group! They are unmarked marked Vortella Plastic, and while in the style of the Coca-cola animals, have thinner bases, they are also somewhat in the style of the US Cracker Jack set, but different, heavier sculpts, I don't think they've been attributed to anyone yet, but would seem to be Euro-premiums/margarine giveaways?

Bendy Toys; a striation of colour weaving its way through the marble of Small Scale World; I think we've seen the smaller chaps before, but the Brabo styled 'lanky-git' to the right is a lovely thing, I forgot to note any marks before that tub went up to storage, but I think it was a Hong Kong mark not Brabo themselves? And a Safari on the far end. [Next day - it's not Safari is it, I think it's Phiadal's Pocahontas set, I keep them all in the same tub; painted PVC!]

Fun chaps; There's a mix of modern China marked generics (first three) possibly accessories from a big-box play set, of exactly the kind of thing hardware, stationary, general stores and/or pharmacies get-in at this time of year, and an older Soma figure (on the right).

Base marks, I recently (well; about a year ago!) got a similar lot in with a mix of the Soma and similar premium figures from Haribo, so at some point in the future (year or two?) we will compare all three with the older cartoony stuff from Jecsan (Spain) and Lik Be (Hong Kong), in a much fuller post.

The de rigueur bag of Giant or Giant-like bits, these being mostly the ones I call 'Wavymane' associated with several brands/brand-marks, but that's all for the other Blog!

I'm pretty sure these are premiums, just not sure who, and I think we've seen them before, maybe always in this dark, metallic lilac, but I won't sware to it! Obviously, we'll return to them when they are all brought together! With a new pose to the left?

This is rather intriguing, nearly all the poles have come loose, and the thing's been 'ironed' into a stiff hankie by the weight of whatever toys were laying over it, but you can see feint marks where the original glue was, or where the past making-tape was applied as a first attempted mend, so eventually I intend to restore it.

I'm guessing it went with smaller 3 or 4-inch action figures or something like Playmobile figures, and is - clearly - a fabric Tee-Pee/Tipi with wooden poles; four present, probably six originally?

The painted cowboy with the straw boater can be found as a cowboy or a jungle/big-game hunter, and is probably missing a dog, usually attached to the front of the base, but this is a non-Blue Box sub-piracy and may not have run to a dog!

Below him is one of the very-well sculpted 40mm backwoodsmen and Indians (copied from a larger scale) which, like those AWI's we looked at a while ago, have some of the properties of DFC, but are probably older and of better quality than DFC's figures?

To his right is one of Nardi Mounties; a bit the worse for wear, but a useful sample against something better turning-up one day, good ones tend to command high prices and stay outside my practical (read: tight-fisted) budget!

Some interesting Hong Kong production, including two painted (newer) and two in blue plastic (older, one aping Texas, but probably from a coach-roof?), some cake decorations and another of the Lone Star shooting game figures, we'll have to return to them too, as after the original post and a couple of follow-ups, more have come in (four I think, three from Chris?) and the paperwork, so it should all be tied-together more neatly!

Finally, top-right, a wagon crewman . . .

. . . which I'm guessing is US, or from US moulds (early Tudor Rose or Kleeware, Salco, Selcol, someone like that?), nice, a sort of hard, coal-black 'styrene, and the hunt for an ID will occupy my mind from time to time!

Smallies; two of the horses from those cheap wedding-cake type coaches, and three of the Hong Kong coach/wagon crew, having looked at them before, I've since ID'd older French and Italian versions, some/one of which should be the donor! The broken horses are worth keeping as colour samples, as there seem to be so many variants of them!

More smallies! Top row; A Marx-copy cracker toy/Lucky Bag premium of Pecos Bill, two Marx Miniature Masterpieces, one damaged hard polystyrene (left) and one soft polyethylene (right) from the window-box sets and a Blue Box miniaturised Britains sculpt.

A Minimodels mounted Indian; I've just picked up two painted metal castings (because you DO cast metal) of these from the aforementioned Dave Pomeroy's archive (he didn't design them, they are Charles Stadden's work) and they are equally damaged; the weapons were just too thin! Finally a trio of Hong Kong'ies for the relevant tubs of such things - love the plastic colour of the cracker-toy, bottom-right!

So thanks again to Chris for another interesting lot of odds to share, and it's civi's next I think?