Q is for Question Time - Spanish . . . ?

These are a bit of fun, as they seem to be copies of the more common terracotta figures, of which a small collection has been growing slowly in these pages, or on this slowly scrolling page?! 60mm, polyethylene, civilian caricatures?

 

They seem to be cake decorations, something I've never considered - do other countries have their own cake decorations? The British and US ones are well documented and easy to find on evilBay, while I've had some luck with Argentinian sets (divers, fairy tales and 'Beatles'), but who else had locally produced, or national-referencing cake decorations, and why are they not annotated on the collecting sites? So, if anyone can add to/explain these two flamenco dancers, I'd be grateful!

L is for Late Show Report - Civil and Sports

Often the section which throws up the more interesting figures, due to the vast numbers of accessory figures from other toys, die-cast vehicles, beach-stuff, tourist items and the like, and the last show was no exception with several interesting new pieces.

 

These, for instance, were totally new to me, presumably Spanish, and around the size of the Torres Maltas stuff, but the two riders are cruder and don't have swivel arms, likewise the bulls are similar to the Miguel Torres bottle-top mascots. But I don't think there's a connection. However, they do make you realise that there';s probably far more bullfighting stuff out there than the half-dozen or so 54/60mm makers commonly known to collectors?

Football; another genre with many examples, here we have premiums (2 cream/white), a Hong Kong cake-decoration (painted), board-game pieces from Waddington's (5, Soccer Boss) and Tomy (2) one as supplied, the other a 'paint your own team/spare, also supplied with the game (Electronic Super Cup Football), in a hidden drawer, and a couple of broken Airfix, front left.

'Allo 'Allo! It's thee leau! From the left; HIT/Teamsters, Timpo policewoman, Solido traffic cop and a currently unknown (I'll spot his set on Amazon or eBay at some point!) cop in a US style, who has the distinction of being a still warm piracy of the quite recent Teamsters accessory, or - at least - a very similar sculpt!

Other sportsmen include a snowboarder who's probbaly a cake decoration, a Marx and another premium, a teeny-tiny horse racer probably from mini-crackers and a baseball player from the 'States.

 

Dancers; they always look the same, donor wise, but that's just because there's only a few 'classic' or standard poses, which suit cakes, music boxes, make-up stations, charms and all the other places you find these!

 

The large charm/key-ring here is smooth-flat on the reverse, the purple is a new colour of the Euro-premiums/US comic Ad' set, and the fallen one may be missing a base or cake-spike, but seems to be a new size/pose, she's hard 'styrene, like the charm, purple is polyethylene.

Taylor and/or Barratt, most of the road crossing patrol set and a couple from other sets/toy vehicles, I think I have most in the collection, so it's a case of grabbing them to compare because they were cheap, or finding them in the donation bags when I got home, as they are all sub-scale, and tend to be sent my way sometimes, by the generous.

Bully (ex-Heimo) Bullyland farmers, a bit stumpy and juvenile, but a nice addition to tthe stash, and not a series I was familiar with, I now know there were animals too, and will have to check my piles for one or two!

Sort of civilian! Cheilea farmer, new production and Matchbox hunters, a Blue Box (or Redbox?), or, more likely sub-piracy zookeeper, taken from Britains and a French or Spanish (?) African native, possibly Clairet? He's missing a weapon, so a bit of a box-ticker for now!

Mixed bits, the two larger ones are from the closedown of the Elastolin factory a while ago now, and were probably supplied to someone else, Tipp & Co (Tippco/TCO), Bub, or a smaller maker? The smaller one has a metal locating-tab buried in the composition.

 

Not sure on the ringmaster, he might be quite new, or older (French?) but he's new to me/the collection, while we have a Corgi lab-tech, Leddo wagoneer, early stretcher-case (Matchbox or Dinky?), a Poplar (?) or HK-copy driver, and one of those tiny copies of the Britains cyclists, which come in smaller rack-toy bags and Christmas crackers.

Poor shot on the divers I'm afraid, but we've seen the bath toys before in quite full detail, with a fair bit of help from Brian Berke, and will return to them again, while the Triang boardgame James Bond diver is damaged, as - like yesterday's Wild West - they often are!

A comparison on the difference between the closest poses of new (behind) and Miguel Torres) bulls, the next post will go further on these. Many thanks again to Adrian Little, Barney Brown, Brian Carrick, Chris Smith, Michael Mordant-Smith, Paul Stadinger, Peter Evans and Trevor Rudkin, for contributions to this year's plunder-pile.

Y is for ♫♪♫♫ The Yanks Are Coming, The Yanks are Coming, the Drums Rum-Tumming Everywhere! ♫♪♪♪

Not the Confederates mind, the Yanks! "Over paid, over-sexed and over here!" went the saying in the early 1940's! And here we have some sailors on furlough from the Invasion Force gathering on the South Coast, who have decided to use the Summer Solstice for an impromptu barn-dance on Salisbury Plain!

Yes I know the shadows are all wrong thanks, and when I showed them elsewhere some fatuous little tick-turd (another of the men-with-two-names), said they were the wrong colour, well that's because they're phuqing toys, no, no; they're not even phuqing toys, they're phuqing novelty, phuqing cake decorations, you phuqing arse-bubble.

Possibly Wilton, but unmarked and of such poor finish/paint, you suspect they were probably issued by one of the lesser brands, such as Carousel or Gay-Gem, Unique or 'Stovers? having shot the above, I gave several away, so that shot can't be reproduced, or at least, not by me!

P is for Playset of Polymer Performers!

A small victory for my research efforts with this one, as I've had the cutting in the archive since 2005, but have only recently found the set, badged to someone else, but I suspect they are one and the same, certainly the carry-case/tub-graphics seem to tie in, but more globally it may have been a common contractable 'generic' at the time?

 

 

On the left we have the original cutting from Lidl's weekly flyer, so my handwritten date would probably have been the due date, the following week, rather than the date I got the flyer.

 

For those whose countries haven't yet encountered such stores, they started life in Germany (there's a similar-sized rival 'Aldi'), where I knew of them from my time there, not as a kid in the 1970's, but as a soldier in the later 1980's, although I think the one local to Wavell Barracks was another store brand altogether!

 

They pile-high with a basic range at low prices, and enhance their offering with bulk-ordered household furnishings, goods, tools, toys and the like which are announced the week before in the little flyers or pamphlets which in a quiet week might be a three-page gatefold, and in a busy period like now might run to 16 stapled pages, with occasional extra flyers/validation periods (of a few weeks, or 'while stokes last') for meats, wines & spirts, or - now'ish - toys and sweet treats/cheese etc.

 

It is from one of those flyers that this page came, while on the right, we have a Padget marked tub, which seems to have the same graphics. But the label goes on to say Padget Trading Limited C/O [care of] Padget Services, so apparently not our more commonly seen here, Padgett Brothers (A-to-Z), but probably a similarly-named, similar importer, who 'got the gig' to supply these to Lidl at the time?

 

Obviously, our interest is in the figures, which are of a mixed quality, around 45/50mm, and PVC, the dancer/performer figures, being based on sculpts going back to at least the 1960's are quite good, and the magician (who has to double as ring-master) is passable I suppose, as are the clowns if you assume they have papier-mâché heads, and take into account the giant shoes, but the pair of acrobats are bloody-awful sculpts of some hidiousity! I suspect I got an extra figure, but luckily of the better sculpt!

Anatomically incorrect, clumsy-looking and as un-athletic as it's possible to be, she still managed to get across the high-wire while I changed films; Hee-hee! The high-wire consists of three parts, so you can have a single span (as here) or a double, they locate into the crossbars with little spigots, and the trapeze uprights can be two heights.

 

The animals are really more tub-fillers than anything else, with an inordinate number of tigers, given the lack of a big-cat trainer! Most of the baby giraffes won't stand up and have a completely different paint-treatment to the adults, and all are in a very stiff PVC-alike. The adult elephants would make very nice war-elephant conversions in the 1:72nd to 28mm range.

 

The stands combine into a half-circle, so two sets would make a full ring, but leave you with a lifetime's supply of rather leery tigers! And the all-male lion family in two sizes are hardly going to jump that burning hoop! As I'm sure you can see, scale is all over the place!

 

 

The stands are all in a 'styrene polymer, but the other accessories (and the shrubs) are polyethylene, so the fact that the clowns' cannon looks like it might be the same as Hing Fat's pirate cannon, probably suggest an origin for those (polyethylene) parts, certainly I think the shrubs are theirs too, and possibly the zoo-cage pieces, with the [softer] animals & figures, and [harder] stands possibly from another/other source/s?

 

In total there seems to have been six sets in that week's 'assortment', and this poor quality image should help ID jungle (larger animals by the look if it) and sea animal (mixed sizes) sets in the future, although from time to time one would expect one or the other to turn-up in some sort of played-with condition.

 

 

Thought for the day

If you write - the animals and figures, and stands, it reads clumsy, but if you write - the  animals & figures, and stands, your brain reads the ampersand as 'n or un, so; Animals n'figures, and it reads better? I don't know if it's something unique to English, but it's purely psychological, both lines are technically correct, however one scans in the brain as acceptable the other doesn't? Is there a word for this, or is it a known 'rule'?

F is for Further Follow-up - Gay Gem Hawaiian Dancers

We looked at the Britains-copy Hawaiian dancers here, and then there was a quick follow-up here, and I've now found this in the archive, it's not much use without the figures, but from the illustration it would seem to be one of the straight piracies rather than the clip-on skirt versions, and with the tree, probably the ones in the latter images of the above link.

Gay Gem, who often turn-up on evilBay with this kind of stuff, as I say; not much use, but it's in the tag-list now, under 'Hawaiian'. This would have been from the James Chase collection, and as the figures weren't with it, they probably went through the main auction at Christies, while this was in the ephemera-dump/polymer-overspill sale at SAS Auctions a few months later, all back in 2006, I think?

B is for Best Show on Earth! 11. Plasticine

I shouldn't be blogging I should be painting, but I've had a couple of manic days and frankly my brother is being a c**t, so I've about had life, the universe and everything human in it! So, let's have some toys! Continuing with the show reports from Plastic Warrior's show, now over a month ago, so less than eleven months to the next one . . . bargain!

Many years ago, well, 2008 or 9, so fifteen-odd years ago, I was helping the guys up at the Potter's toy show at the NEC in Birmingham, when someone can up to us with one of these figures, or someone had brought it to show everyone (yes, it's one of those anecdotes where nothing is quite remembered!), and no one knew what it was, although there were some good guesses including something like clay modelling former, but the next day, someone sent some photo's (maybe me but I haven't Blogged them, so probably not?) to someone else (probably Paul Morehead at Plastic Warrior magazine, but maybe not?), who said Plasticine sets.

 

So far, so good, and if you had asked me at the show, last month, I could have filled you in with chapter and verse on it, as per what I have been told, or what others were saying about it, which is;

 

Cherilea for Plasticine, six figure sculpts taken from hollow-cast, who've had their midriff's scooped/scalloped-out for the purpose of modelling onto them with the Plasticine as if they are the maquettes they sort of are? And each having a name originally - two are named above; Lola and Lucy, but by a previous owner on paper tabs?

But . . . 

• By 'originally named' do they mean in Plasticine publicity (in kids comics, it would have been back then), or as the original hollow-cast dancers?
• The Cherilea dancers in Joplin don't look anything like these? Don't run to six poses, and don't seem to be named?
• Similar circumstances apply to the Charbens dancers in Joplin's book, the above sculpts being almost more Charbens'y than Cherilea'y?

 

So, I don't know what to think, as I've only been told what I've been told by members of the 'old guard', some of whom are always quick to correct me when I get something wrong! But apart from [possibly] Paul (or someone else, one of the Brummies on the day perhaps?) being correct about them being Plasticine, nothing seems to stack-up as reported. So I'd welcome not just facts, but any thoughts you may have on these!

 

If anything, the fourth from the left looks like the Women's League of Health & Beauty figure, also in Joplin, from Hill & Co.? Were there six of them, did they have names . . . all a bit pre-war and slightly fascist-sounding to me! There's nothing in the PW Hilco special publication (ISBN 1 900898 36 5)?

 

Clearly they are dancers, and they could be from hollow-cast sculpts and are more-likely to be commissioned or bought-in than manufactured by Harbutt's, the makers of Plasticine, but who made them, were they ex-hollow-cast, were they named, who by (supplier or Harbutt's), while the box reveals more . . .

. . . as there is a mention of 'mens' dress, and the box-art, itself, hints at male dancers (there are males in both Cherilea and Charbens sets), clowns, historical costume, foreign dress, Kings & Queens and a policeman!

 

So there were obviously high hopes that this would be the first of a whole new line of Plasticine sets, but while the Pres-to-Shapes press-dies did run to further sets, this would seem to have remained a one-off and doesn't turn up that often?

While this image shows other vaguely contemporary sets. I thought this image was from the Graces Guide page, but it isn't, so if it's yours I apologise, it's been in the archive for so long it's lost any note, or the 'X' I tend to use to ID such stuff, it's here now for research purposes, but if you let me know where the original is I'll gladly link to it with full attribution.

The Graces Guide page does have some interesting stuff, not least a large-scale lifeguard and an illustration of the Pres-to-Shapes dies, which look to be a hard rubber, like the Linka building system moulds?

More here - Brighton Toy Museum - Plasticine

And here - Brighton Toy Museum - Harbutt's

 

Thanks to all for everything last month; Michael Mordant-Smith, Peter Evans, Brian Carrick, Trevor Rudkin, Adrian Little, Andreas Dittmann and Gareth Morgan.

M is for Magneto's Magnetic Men & Maidens

I'm not going to suggest Magneto is responsible for all the magnetic novelties copied in Hong Kong from the 1950's until, well, now! Nor will I suggest they were necessarily first with any of them, but I suspect they can claim ownership of some of the originals of/and or some classic firsts.

 

This all (a huge Google session) came about after Chris Smith spotted this in a charity shop cabinet and realised it was ID'ing a past unknown here at Small Scale World, it's the Oompah dancer in his Tyrolean get-up and his lady (not seen before) in her Dirndl outfit.

 

They have a mirrored drum to dance on, with - presumably - a pair of clockwork magnets under the glass/polished surface providing them with their gyrations. I would add that 25-quid takes East Anglian Charity Shops onto a retail universe all of their own, so Chris left it there!

A reminder of mine, on the right, and another Magneto on the left, he usually has a lady to dance around his 'rock', who looks nothing like him having a round base (which won't catch on his rock's corners), and from the styling, I reckon the white ballet dancer we saw on another occasion may be Magneto too, but I haven't tracked down her set yet.

Although when I say tracked down, it was just Googling, and I found all the usual cars, Scottie-dogs, frogs, flying carpets, bath beauties and the like branded to the same German firm, and of better quality than the HK versions, but these things go back to the days of wood, lead and ceramic toys, so the true origins are rather lost. I did purchase the non-magnetic farm by the same company we saw a month or two ago.

 

The one on the right has lost his magnet, while the one on the left, fully marked, has lost power (as has the ballet dancer), but these novelty magnets often do, I found a horseshoe magnet the other day with no power left in it.

 

When I have more time I'll track down a few of the better toys from this company, and we'll have a couple of posts box-ticking their output and comparing them with the British (Bell, Merit, Fairylite), US (Lionel, Commonwealth) and Hong Kong products, but that probably won't be for a few years.
 

However, thanks to Chris, Magneto are now ID'd and can easily be found as the general toy collectors knew about them all along, and they are regularly on evilBay, Etsy and the like, if you want to find them.

M is for More to Come . . .

. . . but we've sort of sorted some of it out, for now!

This wasn't in the queue a few days ago! I bought a nice (well; tatty!) set of Shackman novelty pencil sharpeners from New York a few weeks a ago, which were going on the back burner, but Chris Smith posted some nice thematic shots on the Friend's of Plastic Warrior Facebook group earlier this week, which lead to a flurry of activity there and here at SSW Towers, leading to this post!

First a quick look at that Shackman set; it's been mucked about with - I suspect end-of-line/ex-shop stock, put back in a box and sold as a set when it's meant to be broken down in a small stores? There's an extra Beefeater and the Indian is a suspect inclusion, but a nice sculpt in a civilian role as hunter rather than war-path warrior.

Quick confirmation of the empirical evidence for the doubting Thomas's and make-it-up-as-you-go-along-brigade, Shackman were a jobber specialising in the novelty/tourist trinket end of the market (a bit like HCF here in the UK), I'm also collecting their novelty-matchbox pencil sharpeners with 'Mocherette' in them (I know, I know, I'll get round to it, but probably next year now - most of the photo's are done!), although, further back (1950's), they also imported some of the Erikson/Authenticast copy sets from Japan as more mainstream playthings.

If the boxes were sold as sets, I suspect the chap here would have been one (?) of the missing figures, the pair in the two central shots are Chris's, the sharpener on the left is mine now and the other pair on the end are an Internet couple! Tyrolean dancers who could be German or North Italian . . . Austrian or Eastern/Alpine Swiss!

Back to the set, and they all (including the Indian) have plug-feet and separate bases, which are glued to a standard pencil sharpener which I remember being included in cheap Christmas crackers, and have seen on gum-ball vending machine cards. The Indian however plugs straight into a flimsier pencil-honeing device.

Chris's however are integrally moulded with base and figure as single moulding, not two pieces. Now I already knew - and you may remember - we had seen the Beefeater before here, when by coincidence Chris and Adrian both gave me examples a few days apart, neither of them are marked, but a policeman we will look at in a minute has a small KT on his base in an oval cartouche reminiscent of the aforementioned HCF's little gold stickers?

My dancer has a fuller set of marking (as do the 'Internet pair' in the second image) and a stock/cavity number/code; 315, while Chris's lady (who's base has been home-painted/re-painted white over the original balck) is coded 673, her partner 674 and lacking her ® mark? The sharpeners, meanwhile, can be found with or without a pretty bog-standard HONG KONG.

The earlier Beefeaters, along with the stationary policeman from the boxed set have a disc-shaped blemish which people (including me) would more normally, and erroneously describe or assume (never assume huh?!!! Heeheehee!) as/to be mould-release pin-marks, but which are clearly blanking plates or pins to hide the smaller mark of the policeman.

In the conversation at FoPW, Chris had managed to find another figure on-line, which reminded me that Brain Wagstaff had sent two to this Blog ages ago, as they were clearly influenced by the Commonwealth/Van Brode/Codec 'dancing doll' sets. The 'Brain pair' having no mark on either side of the integral base, while the Internet one - also having an integral base - on a pencil sharpener; neatly tying all the above (bar the Indian?) to the same series.

Meanwhile, or actually closer to the Beefeaters and the start of this little odyssey, Chris had spotted a policeman on feebleBay ages ago, back near the start of Lockdown One, and I thanked him for the heads up and watched it half-heartedly for several months (it was really too pricey), now . . . I can't remember if the price came down or the seller listed something else to combine . . . but in the end I did get it in the autumn/recently.

Here we see pencil-sharpener and non-pencil sharpener versions of both Beefeater and policeman together, along with another Internet shot of a new sharpener colour - new to this article mind; many colours dropped out of Christmas crackers!

By this time ( a couple of days ago)n it had dawned on me that the Highlander was also rather familiar, as we saw him here at Small Scale World not that long ago - green sharpener! Now, a point of note; it would appear one is attempting Black Watch (left, 'new' one) and the other the Gordon's (right, 'old' one). It may be the out-painter was just running out of yellow on the brush, but it seems to be a deliberately different shade of green and has not been applied to the haggis-bag or the lower reaches of the pipe's webbing?

Which leaves us with the Indian from the boxed set and a conclusion to formulate!

The Indian, is lovely, I don't know if he's based on a donor, most of these seem pretty unique - only one of Brian's is a direct copy - as sculpts, and the hunting with raptor is quite a German/East German pose (if you know what I mean), however, he is plugged into a thin-walled base which has a different sharpener, glued in, and it - the sharpener - has a different blade design.

The differences outweigh the similarities; plug-in feet, gloss-paint in a stab-and-hope style, so for now he must remain a question-mark, there are other sources of figural, novelty, pencil-sharpener as we saw not that long ago here.

But I suspect he is from the same source, but the thin-walled case for the sharpener was easily damaged, and the extra glue-step of a separate sharpener was more expensive, so he's likely an earlier variant.

The conclusion is that with the possible exception of the Indian, these are all from one, evolving series, from the same source, and differing either for reasons of increasing the ease of production, over time, or to comply with caveats from different clients, such as Shackman, from contract to contract.

They can be plug-in, or moulded with a base, which may or may not subsequently end-up glued to a pencil sharpener which is also available separately elsewhere. A variety of marks or no-marking can be found on the separate bases, the integral bases and/or the sharpener-units.

There must be more 'world dancers', possibly another Indian or two, and matching quantities of cowboy, still to be found, maybe a Welsh lady and etcetera. I would also put a fiver, at least a fiver, on HCF being found to have shipped some of them into UK, and dare to say Tom Smith was in-there as well?

The only likely "KT" I can come up with is Kitoys Traders Co., who were making/marketing mini-deform, pull-back-and-go, 'hot hatch' novelty cars in the late 1980's from Connaught Road, West, Hong Kong and may have been responsible for something like these figures a decade or two earlier, if they were around then?

Despite the question-mark I will put them in the tags, as I have one of the little cars to Blog - one day! And many thanks to Chris Smith for several involvements in this 'Discovery', plus the photos, Bill B for the Kitoys reference and to Brian Wagstaff for the other images.

Small Scale World - weaving magic, with lots of help . . . and more to come!

H is for How They Come In - Eclectic Lot!

I haven't managed (read; wasn't bothered-) to get up to town for a couple of weeks so these are from about three weeks ago? And only a few pieces from three different shops, to make an eclectic group of odds!

The lightweight foamed-resin flamenco dancer and the china fairing of a Wellintonian officer were from British Heart Foundation in Farnborough I think, she being similar to the Reamsa one, he needing a plume-repair, the three little ones were from a rummage-tray in Scope while the ELC knight (another one!) was a shelf-jobbie in BHF Fleet.

From the other side! It's all grist to the mill, literally, the amount of stuff out there means that no one can have everything, but the wider the net is cast the bigger the picture that can be drawn-in!

All marked Hasbro, the hound doing a Ghostbusters impersonation came in only the other day - hence my grabbing the two boys when I saw them - either from Charity or from Peter or Chris, I can't remember now, but it means I've probably only got the two girls to find . . . maybe some 'monsters'? That is; evil, humourless, money-grubbing, local conservative types dressed as monsters!

I love the magnified eye painted on the glass!

Later the same day - err . . . no! The Hound is doing a Sherlock Holmes impersonation, it's Shaggy who's channeling the Ghostbusters!

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events - Saturday14th - Friday 20th September 2019

The Trump spent some time in his election campaign making hay from Obama having got through Three senior bods in eight years (I can't now remember whether it was Foreign, Home or Defence Secretary, I think Foreign-Sec.?), he has now got through more senior appointee's than the last three Presidents put together.

Not only is his original crowing reduced to a sort of premature-ejaculation of hypocrisy, but it suggests he's the worst judge of character ever to have appointed a senior staffer . . . or fall in love with a Kimjongwatshit!

Meanwhile - in La-la-Land - next Tuesday is possibly more important for Britain's future than the King's Speech in September 1939. If the judges find against Boris, we still have democracy and the rule of law, if they find for him, all bets are off! The idea you need to pirogue parliament for five weeks to write a Queen's Speech (which normally takes three or four days) is risible, but if the Supreme court judges choose to believe it, we've lost the judiciary, whatever side of Brwreakshit you're on.

Meanwhile all the hand-wringing and indignation over the Iranian tanker would help a simpleton believe in Bilderburg-plans and alien-lizard conspiracies, why did no one stop it? No point filling the Mediterranean (a large lake) with EU, US, Nato and other allied naval assets if you're just going to watch it via-satellite, while whinging to the media? Why wasn't it escorted to its supposed destination in Malta? Why wasn't a large bail held by the Gibraltarian court? Why was it released before the vessels Iran has seized were released?

The point is 'The West' is becoming increasingly irrelevant and voiceless in the world they used to organise!

Soon we will only have our toys, so best get out there this week and grow the stash!

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Toy Fairs

Saturday 14th September 2019

Bugger-all; lie-in this Saturday! Save some dosh for all the auctions later in the week!

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Sunday 15th September 2019

Birmingham - Barry Potter / BP Fairs - 'NEC'

Hall 18, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, B40 1NT

Web. - www.bpfairs.com

Tel. - 01604 846 688

Mob. - 07966 527 177

Hours unknown (probably 10:30-15:00hrs)

Admission £8, early-bird (from 08:00hrs) £12, OAP's £7.50, Children £2

[Note: adults and OAP's both up 50p]

Free parking

Eastbourne - Robert Horscraft - Eastbourne Toy & Model Collectors Fair

East Dean Village Hall, East Dean, East Sussex, BN20 0DR

Internet presence unknown

Tel. I - 01323 899 879

Tel. II - 01424 846 676

Hours unknown

Admission £1.50, under-12's free

Free Parking, refreshments

Eastleigh - Steven Clements Fairs

Barton Peveril Sixth Form Collage, Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO50 5ZA

eMail: clementfairs@aol.com

Tel. - 01380 725 322

Mob. - 07958 101 891

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Newton Abbot - Ray Heard Train & Toy Fairs

Newton Abbot Racecourse, Devon, TQ12 3AF

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01823 480 097

10:00 -15:30hrs

Admission £2.00

Free parking, refreshments

Potters Bar - Toy & Train Fairs (Peter Levinson)

Elm Court Centre, Mutton Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, EN6 3BP

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01282 051 518 (Peter or Diane)

10:30 - 14:30hrs

Admission charge unknown

Rayleigh - SRP Toyfairs

Sweyne Park School, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 9BZ

Web. - www.srptoyfairs1.co.uk

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00 - 14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

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Tuesday 17th September 2019

Wootton Basset - Steven Clements Fairs - Wootton Basset Evening Fair

Memorial Hall, Station Road, Wootton Basset, Wiltshire, SN4 7EN

eMail: clementfairs@aol.com

Tel. - 01380 725 322

Mob. - 07958 101 891

18:30 - 20:30hrs

Free parking, café

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Auctions

Saturday 14th September 2019

Poole - Cottees Auctions Limited

Mannings Heath Road, Poole, Dorset, BH12 4NQ

Web. - www.cottees.co.uk

eMail - info@cottees.co.uk

Tel. - 01202 723 177

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Tuesday 17th September 2019

Heaton Mersey - Capes Dunn

40 Station Road, Heaton Mersey, Cheshire, SK4 3QT

Web. - www.capesdunn.com

eMail - capesdunn.caroline@gmail.com

Tel. - 01614 321 911

Collectors and Toy Auction

Tunbridge Wells - C&T Auctioneers

The York Suite, The Spa Hotel, Mount Ephraim, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8XJ (Venue)

Unit 4, High House Business Park, Kenardington, Near Ashford, Kent, TN26 2LF (Auction House)

Web. - www.candtauctions.co.uk

eMail - enquiries@candtauctions.co.uk

Valuations - jamesopie@yahoo.co.uk

Tel. - 44 1233 510 050 (from abroad)

Tel. - 01233 510 050 (within the UK)

Viewing from 08:30hrs, sale starts 10:00hrs

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Wednesday 18th September 2019

Warwick - Warwick & Warwick

Charlton House, Scar Bank, Millers Road, Warwick, Warwickshire, CV34 5DB

(Auctions held in Court House)

Web. - www.warwickandwarwick.com

eMail - richard.beale@warwickandwarwick.com

Tel. - 01926 499 031

Facsimile - 01926 491 906

Catalogue on-line, printed version available on request

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Thursday 19th September 2019

Ludlow - Mullock's Specialist Auctioneers and Valuers

Ludlow Racecourse, Bromfield, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 2BT (sale venue)

Web. - www.mullocksauctions.co.uk

eMail - reception@mullocksauctions.co.uk

eMail - auctions@mullocksauctions.co.uk

Tel. - 01694 771 771

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Friday 20th September 2019

Chippenham - Wessex Auctions

Wessex Auction Rooms, Westbrook Farm, Draycot Cerne, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 5LH

Web. - www.wessexauctionrooms.co.uk

eMail - enquiries@wessexauctionrooms.co.uk

Tel. - 01249 720 888

10:30 - Finish

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Other Events

There bloody isn't any! A hot-air-balloon festival at Longleat (Warminster, Wilts) and a steampunky thing in Ipswitch 'till 3rd November (Marvelous Machines) but nothing particularly topical for loyal readers of the Blog I'm afraid!

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Overseas Events

Saturday 14th September 2019

Brooksville (USA) - Regal Railways - Railway Show

Hernando Fairgrounds, 6436 Broad Street, Brooksville, FL 34601, Florida, USA (venue)

Regal railways, 501 East Bay Drive, Apt. 1503, Largo, FL 33770, Florida, USA (promoter)

Web. - www.regalrailways.com
Adults $5.00 children under 12 free
09:00-14:00hrs
Vendors with antiques,crafts and Model Train Layout
Lunch Available

Mulhouse (France) - Club Mulhouse 1/43rd - Toy Fair/Show

Parc des Expositions, Mulhouse 68, France

Tel. - ++0389 406 465

Saint-Ghislain (Belgium) - Philippe Rousman - Train Show

Tel. - ++0475 809 839

Wettingen (Switzerland) - Mr. Romue - Toy Fair

Sportzentrum Tägi, Wettingen, Switzerland

Tel. - ++0566 243 802

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Sunday 15th September 2019

Arlon (France) - Train Modèle Sud - Train Show

Hall Polyvalent, Arlon, France

Tel. - ++063 388 205

Bonn (German) - Jergen Hörner - Toy Fair

Stadhalle, Bonn-Bad Godesburg, Germany

Tel. - ++0210 351 133

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Tuesday 17th September 2019

Knoxville (USA) - Marble City Comicon - Knox Nerd Comic & Toy show
5618 Academy Drive, Morriston, TN 37814, Tennessee, USA (promoter)
Web - https://www.knoxnerdcon.com/
10:00-17:00hrs
Admission $5.00, kids (age?) free - purchase tickets at the door

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If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here -  FOR FREE  - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!

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Other News

Rosa Parks Still Sitting Tall

The latest Mattel limited-edition Barbie doll, of Rosa Parks, the Montgomery, Alabama civil-rights activist (if keeping you own seat is activism - which it is to thick, meat-faced, red-necked, white men) sold out within 24-hours of going on sale alongside the Sally Ride doll (first American woman in space).

Poundland on the Move?

The intermediate owner of Poundland (Pepkor Europe) are looking to separate the business from the main owner Stienhoff of South Africa. Poundland has 853 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Lego Down

Hinted at last week - the expansion plans in India and China (and the setting-aside of capital for doing so) has led to a 12% drop in net profits. The plans for Asia include a regional office in Mumbai.

Vectis

Have announced news of a forthcoming auction; the  Tony Hillman Collection - Movie Memorabilia on the 26th of September more in next week's dates post.

"The Tony Hillman Collection, features 129 lots of cinema and film lobby cards and stills, Star Wars press books and literature, Photoplay and other monthly film magazine groups including Empire, Film and Picture Show etc; plus movie posters and production notes, film scripts and screenplays."

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Links

Plastic news, on Plasticsnews! The beauty of this story is that it's giving more publicity to little green, grey or tan 'army-men' than everyone else in the hobby has managed to generate betwwen them in 30-years! And it will run-on, as the same outlets will run the story again when they come out.

Barbie's a Burning Man? Then It gets more interesting

Art meets toy Soldiers with Maria Ansell (NSFW further down page)

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H is for How They Come In

The week got off to a slow but useful start with three Fontanini knock-off ballerina's in silver-plate base-metal (which I'm not showing you as I got the plastic set at Sandown Park  a while back and will do a full post) and a resin hedgehog to join the other's from the 'Cabinet of Curious Things'.

This was mid-week and 20p! It's another Chap Mai, and while slightly fictional, with the same chunky tyres as the Land Rover and Hummer, it nevertheless holds its own as a 4x4 Chevy' pick-up against the Airfix 6x6 as you can see. I removed the 'soldier' from the bonnet with nail-varnish remover and improved it 100%!

I saw this at the same time, but only running to 20p, hoped it would still be there the next day, it was! I think it's missing something from the back, two clip-ins of some kind, hopefully I'll get them off an equally cheap on with a damaged windscreen at some point. Modern Corgi and a bit of fun as it has a figure and will go with the old Batmobile!

Picked these two up this afternoon (Thursday), tub of small scale which is an odd mix of HK Marines and Russians and Esci-Ertl Russians, Italians, French and . . . err . . .Zulus! I got it for a HK motorbike which was also in the jar.

A large resin museum/tourist knight statuette made up the rest of this weeks plunder!

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Toys in the Media

Prieser or Noch again, stack of Pound Coins again - it's a trope! It looks like Queen Elizabeth the II's saying something pithy to Donald!

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The 'dividers' thisweek were supposed to be little red-brick houses, with colored 'mavericks' in each line, but apparently Blogger doesn't support webdings and I've run out of time, the fact that I'm an aitch, makes it look all a bit pretentious, but I can assure you they are supposed to default to forward slashes! Still better than nothing, or; Still - better than nothing!