I bought these off a well known dealer, who
said he'd been told they were Nardi,
but with a face and a tone of voice which said "If you want to believe it too?", and it has to be said there
is nothing in the Nardi oeuvre that
matches it. It doesn't match the plug-together figures, nor the earlier
composition
Therefore - and pending any hysterical updates
from TJF or his PSTSM mates - this is an unknown, Italian nativity or 'Precepe'
set.
It's beautifully made, and if I had to pin
it on anyone I'd choose the Esci/Italiari/Ital-Hobby/Polistil/Supermodel group or chain, as
the colours of the plastic have something in common with some of their kits, as
has the material - polystyrene - and the kit-like construction, although that
construction has, for the most part, been done at source.
The camera's flashes (and the age of the
set) have rather led to some unrealistic colour-reproduction, but the
components come in a light- and mid-tan and a chocolate-brown, along with some
marbling on a few of the animals.
In the shot above we have three wise men,
while the below image shows the family doing their 'thang'!
The shepherds in this set have come
mob-handed with no less than four individuals, although you could employ three
of them as camel-herds, but you'd need to source the camels from elsewhere
first!
The upper image is my mock up of a smaller vignette
I've seen, made of these, on t'Internet. In the case of that 'budget purchase'
(?), the sheep has no base and all four elements are glued to a large'ish
steep-sided base moulding in the same dark-brown found in this set and probably
from the same tool as the other brown components.
The vignette on the left here, gives some
idea of the one I was describing above, although the sides of this one are
geometric and much taller. Marked ® and Made In Italy these
are the only real clues, there is nothing on the box; probably reflecting an
international issue/release; I've seen them on evilBay often-enough, before
now.
The angel is made to be attached to
something . . .
. .
. with two long, locating studs as can be seen here (bottom left). I suspect
it's the stable building seen on the box, which presumably was available in the
same sales-displays, or perhaps packed together with this set in a larger
liner?
The animals have been marbled from the two
tan-plastics (sheep) or all three colours (the donkey and cow), both the latter
also having a slot-in ear/horn section; which is missing on my donkey.
Whether there are two sculpts/cavities
of/for the walking sheep, or if its base was cut off for use with the other
vignette - I can't say.
A really nice set; does anyone know
anything else about it or who made it?
