C is for Comet: Comet-Authenticast and Comet-Gaeltacht

A play in two acts, opening in New York and closing in Eire! That's Eire with a 'F'!! I won't bore you with the history today, that's one for the A-Z entry one day, but there is a book which deals well with most of it, and we're really box-ticking here, although with a lovely set from Jon Attwood to start us off!

Their HO scale figure set, as produced and carded in the Republic of Ireland, there are a few lifts from other makers not least Hornby's pre-war sets, while some others have the unmistakeable signature of Holgar Eriksson's sculpting style about them, one wonders though, if he had been happy to know (if he knew) or would have been happy to know they were side-by-side with piracies?

 

A gatefold flyer, with the O-gauge on the front, a mix of both scales in the middle, and a plug for the Authenticast soldiers and sports sets on the back. Jon's set can be seen middle-right on the opened centre pages.

 

Reminds me I have some of the shrubs, and they work for either size, at about 2cm high, they are actually very crude and look like home-painted Skytrex! For all the hype about centrifugal casting, the 'authenticast' process, the railway stuff was mostly pretty basic in the paint finish?

The box Jon's card came in, it's the standard artwork for the time fitted to a smaller, squarer area, to the more normal long-thin toy soldier boxes, but a lot of the railway range had similar dimensions, as one can see in the flyer above.

 

The obvious lifts include two figures from Hornby, flanking a Horton-Trix-Britains Lilliput passenger in the middle, and, given the era and subject-matter, it was more likely laziness than any idea of fakery, which led to these three?

Copies of copies of old Xerox or 'Electrofax' sheets, from the James Chase collection, again the O-gauge leading with HO on the second page, now with vehicles, but all really aimed at the parent company's US market.

 

Probably Eriksson's, but could be the work of Frank Rogers, who was clearly influenced by the master. Those O-gauge which are Eriksson's are often marked HE, as the male in the recent show-plunder post was, but in the HO, it's not so clear, and we have the piracies to contend with, which I don't think he would have countenanced?

 

I have posted some before, both O and HO I think, but under which Tag I can't remember, it was quite early in the blog's history I think? Many thanks to Jon, again, for the rare card and box. We are slowly coming to the end of these, but there's still a few to come!

F is for First Show of the Year - II

Continuing with the look at what came back from Sandown Park last Saturday evening, although it's always nice to meet-up with people you haven't seen since the Autumn or Christmas, the plunder's what it's all about!

These came from Gareth for a fiver, the cowboy didn't make it home in one piece, but that serves him right for stealing somebody else's country! Lone Star HO-compatible figures, a bit brittle, but they add to a small and very slowly-growing sample!

 

While this was my purchase from the terrace-stand 'car-booty' which occurs while we're waiting for the doors to open, card is a bit knackered, so I may take him off and sort it out one day, but for now my first carded Lincoln 'biggie', I have a bunch of bits in a tub somewhere, and a smaller bag - from Chris - I think, so when they all come together we'll have a proper look at them.

 

Brain Berke sent us images of this Hong Kong one, for the canoe season, and he also sent a sample to the Blog, which was shot while still in the pack as I knew I had the seperate images 'in the bag', so I will compare this with the other when they come together, and open one for another look, in a wee-while!

 

Another eclectic mix of 'singles', the early (non-geometric base) Starlux has been mucked-about with, a complete cover of green paint has all but flaked-off (I cleaned the arm after this photo-shoot with a toothpick, but the paint seems to have adhered permanently to the gaiters), while a sailor's scarf has been painted in, but looks original, which doesn't tie-in with the Para' beret, so I don't know, but it was cheap as chips!

The policeman is another die-cast or plastic vehicle accessory to join the hundreds waiting to be formally ID'd, a Blue Box cowboy (Britains Swoppet copy) and cake decoration footballer (late, polystyrene) complete the upper line-up.

The lower image seems to include a 'fire chief' for those 1-ton Humber truck fire-engines, the wheels are the same, anyway, and a soft-polyethylene copy of the Blue Box copy of a Matchbox sports car - it needs wheels, but cannibalising a tatty one will take care of that! With a penny-toy motorcyclist, from the inter-war period (think TE Lawrence), in a flat gold spray finish.

 

I think the Timpo Richard III (sold as 'King Arthur') was also a fiver, but what an addition to the Lone Star and French copies, otherwise plastic, line-up of those figures, he's a lead hollow-cast, as are the two khaki types, both from Mercator's rummage trays, Crescent on the left, not sure on the right.

 

While the rail-man is an Irish-American Comet-Gaeltacht O-gauge railway worker from Holgar Eriksson's hand, and the mechanic is the die-cast replacement for the erlier Zang-for-Timpo composition figure, probably also bought-in?

 

Finally, a few more penny-toy types, with two naval subjects above, landing party (or is he a Russo-Japanese war type?) and a rather nice Scot's piper, who I think Adrian said was either a minor-make or actually French, but I've forgotten what he said now, and it's not obvious in Joplin's big book?

What is obvious from the photographs is that he is a well-detailed and quite finely cast sculpt, particularly the drones and their connecting cord, which - level of detail/care - would tie-in with a couple of other French hollow-cast in the pile?

M is for Mounted Malleable Mouldings' Men

Shot on Adrian's stall (link) back at the March Sandown Park show, sat in Picasa for a while, found them at the last minute and I was going to add them to the previous post, but though it would only complicate, so they might as well go here as a 'follow-up' kind of thing, especially as I've also found some other ceremonial type mounted's for a third post; make a day of it - it'll be tomorrow now . . . the time's slipped this week!

Royal Horse Artillery I think; they could be some esoteric Yeomanry regiment, but I don't think Malleable offered such rarities in their exhaustive, but complicated - to follow -  list (which I have somewhere and will post one day), so RHA until I know otherwise.

The figures appear to be hollow and have had their headdresses drilled to receive their hackles as very small slivers of plastic. Note also; the two very different bases, one; an integral moulding, the other; a glued-on piece of sheet material which appears (from the distortion) to be a phenolic or acetate of some variety. A situation which bears reflection;

There were other, earlier makers of plastics of interest to us, Bergan and German WHW types being the obvious, but Malleable were trying to invent a technology (or applications thereof) without the support the Nazi regime might have given their plastics industry before the war (IG Farben, polystyrene - 1929), or the booming economy of post-war America, but in an economy broken by the same war which had proved such a boon to the US.

Consequently, the fact that they produced such a variety of figures and figure types; whole mouldings, assembled kits-of-parts, integral bases, separate bases and soft polyethylene figures, hollow and solid; in such a short life and from both ex-metal and original moulds, in stable and unstable paint finishes, should come as no surprise to us now, and the work they did must have benefited those who came after . . . all of whom (Zang-Herald, Timpo, Charbens, Cherilea and Crescent) adopted the polyethylene Malleable were using at the end, but most adding chalk for paint adhesion!

And if you think that last point is a bit off-the-wall, keep watching this space.

A Life Guard or 'Royal', I've always preferred the Horse Guards or 'Blues', they are one unit now, anyway and that's him; blurb done!

M is for Malleable Mouldings 54mm Marching Marines

Title says it all, which leave me with a problem vis-à-vis blurb!

You were going to get Phidal Peter Rabbit in this slot, he'll appear this afternoon if things go according to a non-existent plan known as the 'see-what-happens' schedule!

I shot these on Adrian's stand back in September and they're actually cropped-out of larger images of a zoo I hope to Blog over Christmas, so I'm pleased they are as decent, image-wise, as they are!

I don't know if these are Eriksson's-hand; ex-Comet/Authenticast (Gaeltacht Industries), or latter production, if anything they are superior sculpts, while he's rated, he is formulaic; these have a more realistic countenance, I feel? Although the join-line is quite 'hollow-cast' or poured-metal in execution so I'm really just generating blurb!!

They appear to be in four parts; hat, two arms and body with a additional base that Malleable Mouldings seem to have cut from sheet material, pretty rough sheet material at that; puddled or rolled-out cellulose-acetate!

T is for Two - Irish Figures . . . From Ireland

It's funny, you should be looking at something else here today; but I put it on the back burner after faffing-around for three hours, writing two-and-a-half lines, renumbering the images twice and adding a screen-cap . . . it needs more work! Likewise some lovely Swoppets were sent to the blog this week, but I'll sort them over the weekend, they would have been rushed if I'd posted them tomorrow (Friday); so I grabbed these two from Picasa.

Except that it's three but we'll look at the one first! Hailing from Comet/Authenticast's subsidiary Gaeltacht Industries' works in the Republic of Eire, and frankly not up to the quality one would expect from Holgar Eriksson, so possibly one of the other sculptors?

It's also funny that last weekend I shot tons of stuff at Sandown Park, yet still haven't blogged most of the stuff I shot at Sandown three months ago! This was one of them (from three months ago), nice ECW musketeer, spoilt by the daft firing-arm with its elbow pointing at the ceiling . . . or sky!

These came from a charity shop (British Heart Foundation - I think?) about a week ago, clearly the gods (or 'your' god, if you've only got the one!) wanted a T for Two Irish! When I first saw them I though "Ooh, Wade", picked up the unmarked one first and thought "No?", and then found the mark on the other. I think they are related, the blue glaze is the same, but for 'T is for Two' purposes, the one on the right counts.

They are similar to Wade's figurines (Seagoe Ceramics?) but they don't have the lines on the bases. Equally they are similar to the bisque cake decorations of yesteryear, but gloss-fired enamel, where the cake toppers used to get a matt-paint over the fired clay. They also show signs of having been glued to something with brown/animal glue; so maybe touristy something's?

Anyone got any ideas? I mean - clearly they are Leprechauns and I have to be very polite to them, but - any other ideas?!! The one on the left (Pádraig) seems to be carving a crib (Christmassy) while the one on the right (Pádraic) seems to be panning for gold to put in a pot at the end of a rainbow . . . of course!