B is for Benevolent Buys - 1 of 3

Clearing out a folder of Charity Shop purchases which seem to have escaped some of the other Charity Shop purchase posts over recent months, and nothing exciting here, but all grist to the mill!

 

Actually, from the tail-end of '24, and I can't remember where, a resin jobbie of the sort that fills and has filled window-space in high-street jewellery chains for decades now, it was in good-nick, and pennies to charity, it goes in the box of such stuff!

 

I think this and the next two were from a rare trip to Camberley, I undertook back in February, looking for something else, but it might have just got shot with the others, but be an earlier find in - probably - the Blue Cross shop in Fleet?

 

A couple of the expanded-polystyrene glider novelties, we've seen before here, and of which two more are in the queue, this pair marked-up to Henbrandt, but likely to be the same poorly printed ones we saw a while back in various packagings.

 

Three Disney Princesses, these were definitely from a large basket of such stuff, in a Charity Shop in Camberley, obviously ex-shop, or other 'stock' (NOS in feebleBay parlance), and probably from capsule dispensers of some kind, but could be off a Disney Store hook-tree?

 

While I vaguely remember these, as larger rope/string-dolls, enjoying a brief 'craze' of popularity back in the 1990's (?) As they came with the above Princesses, in a similar quantity, capsule stock, or something more independent is the likelier for both, than the Disney Stores thought, but never rule out what you can't disprove!

 

Two semi-deforms from a while ago, probably the DEBRA shop in Fleet, more Fortnite franchised stuff, and with quite a bit of dust on them, some age, a few years on a shelf at least, rather like the Skibidi Toilet stuff, a youth-culture which has grown, almost organically, away from the figure collection hobby.

 

They look like the kind of quite expensive stuff you find in those funny little t-shirt/gaming/metal 'head' shops in the quieter corners of shopping malls? But as cheap buys in a charity shop, provide 'reference samples' I'm in no hurry to add to.

 

Another Wimsey from Wade on the right, we've seen the one playing with a ball of wool before, but this one looks like it's foil, waiting a chance to grab the ball! On the left two resin, cartoon cats, with kittens, from crafty/gifty shops rather than jewellers I suspect, but maybe both sources? And I believe they are Peter Fagan sculpts from Scotland.

F is for Follow-up - Speedy Gonzalez

Just a quick follow-up to the Speedy Gonzalez from Res Plastics, which we saw in the Plastic Warrior plunder-post this morning, here compared to the relatively common, or commoner Kinder Egg steckfigure.

 

You can just make out the RP mark below the hole for a keyring or cord in the Res's hat.

 

That's it, Speedy Gonzalez from Res Plastics, on the right, Kinder on the left, a comparison! The Res is noticeably tailless. Both are polyethylene.

I is for Illumin' . . . with a Moomin!

I shouldn't be allowed, I know! Just a quickie here, I grabbed this in Waterstone's back in August as it was the last one, and went back a few times hoping they'd get a re-stock, and I could get others, but when eventually they did get some more, it was just a bunch of these, so generic early 'book' Moomin rather than later colour-coded TV character Moomin!

 

 

 

More of a nightlight than a torch, it would help you find key-holes in the dark!

Labelled Temptation Gifts

Q is for Question Time - Astronauts

Not really a 'question time' per se, as I know they are converted key-rings, and from the sculpting style, from the same stable as the PVC footballers we've seen here once or twice now, so Hong Kong originally, but these are actually solids in a dense polyethylene, so possibly a little earlier?

 

I just wondered if - given the faces - they aren't trying, despite the garish space-suits, to be the crew of Apollo 11? The chap on the right looks particularly specific, rather than the usual generic baby-face of the later (?) footballers?

Collins in the middle, Armstrong on the right and Aldrin on the left? I know the orange hair's all wrong, so am probably being over imaginative, but it's nice to think they might be caricatures of the original crew!

L is for Late Show Report - Animals, Farm & Zoo!

You could subtitle this post 'Wot no dinosaurs?', as it's rare show these days, where there isn't at least one dino' among the plunder, but, with the exception of the double-headed monster we looked at the other day, there were no dinosaurs at all, in this year's PW plunder, four legs or two!

A few interesting pieces here, along with a broken Britains flamingo, but I may have spare legs for it? The Cherilea panda is not common, and from the hollow-cast I believe, while the croc' is Clairet? The giraffe may be Clairet as well, I can't remember, and is missing a hoof, but stands as a sample (on the back of the crocodile!), and while the gorilla on the right is a bog-standard one-of-meany, the one on the left (from Stad's) is new to Blog with the key-ring/charm-loop.

 

This was silly, I saw the painted cow, and thought "Looks like the Tudor Rose" (which I don't need!), but I couldn't read anything on the belly, and as it looked interesting, grabbed it in a rummage-tray lot, only to find it was the T*R one, heavily painted at some point, with poster paint, which soon washed-off on the Sunday as I processed through the plunder . . . hay-ho!

Looking like the Britains late, PVC version, I think this goat is actually the New Ray moulding? Two Matchbox cattle, one with horns, the other, later one (brown) without horns, from the gift sets. The rest are grist to the mill, with the marbled pig (bottom right), possibly having some value/interest beyond the HK tat of the others.

 

These monochromatics can be found in cheapo' bagged rack-toys, but are as likely from Christmas crackers, particularly the really cheap budget ones, and I seem to have photographed them in such a way as to make it look like the penguin is briefing the poultry on something!

 

"Guys, none of you are safe, voting for Christmas"

 

Three novelty dogs (I think we've had other colours in a Chris Smith donation in the past), could be cracker toys too, or may be low-price (1d or two new pence) gumbal capsule machine prizes, while the tiger who looks like a leopard/panther is a current capsule toy. There is a round-up of capsule toys (with contributions from Peter and Brian) in the 'hopefully by Christmas' queue!

 

More of the same novelty stuff; charm elephants and Scottie-dogs being standard tropes, the micro-mini red plastic take on a carved tusk being more fanciful than the common fare behind it and the donkey/zebra (?) being one of several in a set of chunky sculpts we may or may not have seen here before, I certainly have a few now?

 

And yet more novelties; most of the main tropes covered here, elephants, rockers, charms, Scottie-dogs, other dogs, monkeys, poultry, camels! That blue elephant is about 4mm x 6mm, absolutely tiny.

 

These were mostly in the bag from Trevor, as were a lot of the above novelties, and Trevor has found inordinate amounts of useful stuff for me, over the years, since Paul Morhead put us in touch back in 1995/6?

 

Butterfly hair clips from two sources, and a magnetic fly I remember having as a kid, in that little box. Flies were a standard of the joke shop/novelty section, and still are, flies in fake ice-cubes, flies for real ice-cubes, flies in sugar-lumps, magnetic flies, flies with glowing wings, jumping flies . . . and giant flies! And I've just realised I have to correct both the tags, there's no flys!

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.

H is for a Handful More!

Back with key-rings, keychains, key fobs, they are different things to different people! I think this lot was a charity shop lot a year or two ago, I can't honestly remember, and I made the mistake - a mistake I regularly make - of trying to shoot them on a red background!

 

Several catering firms had similar dough-men mascots, this one - Turkstra - is Dutch, and appears to have awarded itself 1st and 2nd place in something, at the same time, their biscuits must be bloody good!

And I thought this was fun, as you could remove the chain-ring and have a perfect egg-box for a dolls house! I'm guessing, from the lack of a mark, that it's missing a sticker, and if it had a sticker, may have been offered to several egg-producers, so could be missing any one of a number of stickers?

Common 'Jig Toy' design of the family saloon, made key-ring, my experiance of this kind of key ring is that if you actually wore in on your trouser loop, you quickly found pieces missing, so it's nice to find it in one piece!

 

Not really my thing, but it will join the other novelty key-rings, alongside the other novelties and next to the figural key-rings, paperwork-wise! Quite a survivor too, as it's quite delicate, especially the visor, which has two little ethylene pins, and there is plenty of opportunity for loss, breakage or cracking, not to mention the sticker going missing, so a bit of a find I guess!

 

Relief-flat - a cockerel and grapes, is it a French regional mascot/logo thing? A winery? Or just a generic? Again, outside the main collection, but early plastic ephemeral, novelty/plaything, it has its place.

 

Another automotive subject here, with a small base-metal old-fashioned racing-car, might be based on an Edwardian board-game moulding? Not Monopoly, a lesser thing? But fun anyway!

 

Looking at the pre-'publish' close-ups, I think it's actually plastic, not base metal, and while possibly still from a board-game piece, is more likely to be taken from a charm-bracelet thing? Could even be homemade from a Christmas Cracker prize!

 

Another relief-flat of a cat and kitten, a bit bitter-sweet right now, I still miss Boysey-Boy every day, but these are black, and it's many years since we've had black cats, although once Dad brought six home in the staff-car, in a catering-sized cornflakes box, after rescuing them from the bin-stores at Browning Barracks!

 

Little Topo-Gigio, the Italian kids TV puppet, I wonder if some of the several similar small versions I have may also be ex-key-rings? I'll have to investigate them for loop-removal. This one was so hard to shoot on the red I gave-up and pulled up the winter cover, complete with cat hairs, only to find one of the red shots was actually useable!

H is for a Handful of Hangers

Back to Key Rings, a collection in themselves, there must have been thousands over the years of which we've probably seen less than a hundred, and we're about to see one of them again, and not for the second time!

Seven keyrings which will become eight before the end of the post for reasons which escape me, but they are all figural, except the cannon, so they aren't all figural at all!

 

Seen before, and we'll see them again for sure, there are several versions, but it keeps us close to toy soldiers, before we look at some of the more esoteric samples! This one was quite clean, so worth another look, the Highland piper, and a common-enough tourist keepsake.

The cannon, a lovely little thing, all polystyrene, and while the carriage wouldn't stand up to one shot from the likely calibre of that large barrel, if you remove the chain, stick in on the deck of your pirate ship and blast any boarders with a barrelful of ballast gravel and nails, it could still be a game winner!

 

This was why I bid on the lot, I used to have one as a kid, and, indeed, the head is still on my now museum-donateable denim cut-off, but seen here in it's entirety. Mine was stained green with verdigris, after the number of times I was rained-on walking back from the pub or the station, causing the brass rings to corrode and stain the plastic! Like the gun, this one's 'styrene, the rest are PVC rubber, of one type or another.

Almost certainly - without checking - another Xandria, from Holland, and I think it's a non-Disney Cinderella, trying on the shoe, I'll have to find her Prince Charming somewhere!

I took a reminder-shot for some reason, in which (probably 'because') a skier joined the crowd, I think I must have put him to one side then noticed him half-way through the photo-shoot?

Three of them from the rears! The Sesame Street (Sesamstraꞵe) character in yellow is credited on the still extant price-label to EM TV & Marchandising AG, courtesy of Igel Speilzeug GmbH, so German in origin, if not execution, which - like most of these - will be Hong Kong.

 

The skier again, specifically a downhill racer, and the Imp/Elf revealing he doubled up as a pencil-top in some long-lost or forgotten Hong Kong manufactories trade catalogues! More key-rings to come! Always more!

M is for Merry Mass of Malleable Model Mayhem! 3 - Ceremonial & Historicals

Part-the-third, of the plastic plunder posts from Chris Smith's most recent parcel, brings us to the ceremonial and historical section, Royal Fail or Parcelfarce did their worst with these, as you can see from the first image in the sequence!

To be fair to Postie, I suspect there wasn't much in the bag when it left East Anglia, and was being sent as a sample of . . . Malleable Mouldings? But, yeah, it arrived as so much dust and two legs!

 

Funnily enough, the first Malleable horse I got (still somewhere in the pile) was found in the car-park at SAS, off the old A4, or at least, embedded in the gravel/puddle at the bottom of the steel fire-escape! It was/is missing both back legs and a base, and while I've handled several of Adrian's over the years, and posibly shot them for the blog, I have yet to find a decent mounted figure by Malleable! It'll happen!

Initially thought to be Italian, these are 30mm polystyrene Hungarian Imperial, or 'Royal' Guards, and - obviously - the same colour scheme as those 30mm plug-together 'swoppets' both Chris and Peter Evans have donated to the blog in the past. Lovely little things!

 

While the British 'Royal Guards' of the Household Division include two nice Hong Kong copies of Crescent (seen here yesterday), but in a Hilco style! next to them, the chap with the herb-green base is a real treat, he's the Reamsa copy of herald, and I think he might have been Reamsa No.1?

 

I personally love the eraser guardsman in purple, he's that silicon rubber which really just smudges pencil, but they were 'novelties' first and erasers second, always, I feel? The key-ring guardsman seems to go with some of the Highland pipers, one of the Welsh ladies and probably the fisherman we saw the other day, while the KT is damaged and the Rocco guardsmen need glue!

 

Cake decorations and premiums, we've seen the AWI before, and the French Dragoon (?) is from that set of premiums which used to have one name but now have several in two sizes, with base differences and Kinder joining the mix!

 

A Crescent lead, and Blue Box sailors (Merten copies) signal a Hong Kong copy of Airfix trumpeter to deal with some French interloper (HaT Industries) while a rather legless Lord Flashheart courtesy of Skybirds, recovers from a night on the juice, in the Mess!

 

In discussion, we think maybe Brazilian for this horse, although he could equally be Argentine? Missing a rider who may send it to the Wild West section, I posted it here, as this post only had six images!

And Postie again! But they were all missing their tails already, so just samples, and while I don't know what colours of this Rocco guardsman I have, if I need a white sample, I'll have one, once I've glued a couple of heads back on!

 

Many thanks to Chris as always for all these, and even the broken stuff has its place, as place-fillers!

------------------------------------------

Added a few minutes later - I'd dropped some of the images in the Khaki soldier section!

 

It was looking at the damaged KT above and realising "Where are the other two?" that had me off looking in the other folders! Superb thing to get in the post without warning - two more boxed KT pencil sharpeners, and different boxing, both generic and serving the tourist trade, but aren't they lovely - I've already sorted the guardsman (forthcoming post) with a fully rifled replacement, so he's now a minter!

 

We saw him the other day, but he belonged here all along - the Blue Box Napoleon, which, with another figure in this parcel, get us closer to a complete pose-count, but we're still only half-way on the painted/chromed sets! Thanks again to Chris.

F is for Follow-up - WH Cornelius / Success

This was supposed to be a follow-up to an August (Rack Toy Month) post . . . at the end of August! But things slide here at Small Scale World, and now's as good as any time! I found the catalogue the previous post's images were taken from, and there was a bunch more stuff of interest to Loyal Readers, if their interests are as eclectic as mine!

 

Lots of Gum Ball/Cracker fayre to be seen in these random contents, along with larger novelties, and we've seen most of the smaller stuff in one version or another here, at least once!

Trolls; somewhere there was a mountain of these, and all sorts of people issued them in all sorts of formats and sizes, usually credited in the first instance to Russ Berrie (and no, It wasn't a pun, he was Mr. Russell Berrie), the iconic Trolls, recently trashed by a movie which changed them all into multicolour-skinned, multi-shaped parodies of our little tanned/pink childhood friends.

Another source/set of the small PVC-vinyl animals, and some bendy-smilies, similar to those we've seen here from Henbrandt and messrs' Generic!

Oww! More to find than we have so far found!

Bigger animals, novelty animals and counter-box stuff.

More of the same!

Jon sent us a tailess version of the scorpion only the other day! 

This was actually shot on 35mm I think, by me at one of the first toy-fairs I ever went to, I think I met Paul Morhead there, who I already knew (he'd got me the 'press' ticket), Peter Evens for the first time, and someone else, whose name/face escapes me now?

 

The other three were obviously looking out for 54/60mm stuff or useful scenics for Plastic Warrior Magazine, I had been tasked with the first small-scale Toy Fair report for One Inch Warrior, and managed these, some Blue Box fort sets (the animated cartoon mini's - Cavalry, Knights and Pirates . . . were there Romans?) and a few other bits, I think I mentioned the Balsa boat-kits from Hobbies Annual and possibly the Great Gizmo's dime-store revival stuff, but some of them might have been another year, it was all over 20-years ago, where does it go to, all that time?