E is for Epemera - The 'Other' Gem

We often feature, here at Small Scale World, the output of Gem, Gemodels, Gem Models, the cake-decoration and novelty figures of George Musgrave's 'Gem' and Festival (as also supplied to and copied by Culpitt et al), he who also sculpted for Britains, among others, and I have mentioned from time to time the name change from Gem, to Gemodels, due to the threat (or veiled threat?) of legal intervention from the other Gem.

And here is a flyer for the 'new' narrow-gauge locomotive kits, which would have been mixed-media (whitemetal and brass) kits. Running on TT-gauge track for an in-scale rail-gauge, this was the existing Gem company which forced the name change on Musgrave's enterprise.

I is for Inflation!

For those Brwreakshiteers who wanted to take us back to the heady days of the 1970's, here is a lesson on the sunlit-uplands of post oil crisis inflation!

Basset-Lowke 'The Waterloo Cannons'

Daily Telegraph Magazine (Sunday Supplement)

No.469 October 26th 1973

Basset-Lowke 'The Waterloo Cannons'

Sunday Times Magazine (Sunday Supplement)

November 17th 1974

 

In less than fourteen months, they went up nearly 25%! That's how it was when we were begging to join the EEC, which De Gualle had tried to keep us out of (The UK's applications to join in 1963 and 1967 were vetoed by the President of France).

 

Basset-Lowke, an old railway modelling name often used by its various owners for oddities which don't belong in the standard lines! Lovely looking guns and just the sort of thing to turn-up in a charity shop, or auction job-lot. Possibly a bit big at around 60 or 70mm compatible? Anyone know them?

K is for Knock, Knock, Knockin' on a Corporal's Jaw!

It's been an odd 14-months, and while the light is at the end of the tunnel, I'm still uncovering things, despite thinking I've checked everything - I found four hedgehogs (of the silver-neff and chalkware variety) behind a curtain the other day, while another interesting thing I've found is this . . .

. . . door knocker, which I found in a drawer in the front room a while back, it's obviously Mr. the Lord Vice-Admiral Horatio,1st Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronte, Knight Bachelor and All Round Jolly Good Fellow! I will have it fixed on the front-door of what's likely to be my eventual last home, but I had an inspired idea for the knocker plate, which looks a bit plain . . .

. . . this piece of originally - probably - hideously overpriced tat from Atlas Editions (think Franklin or Danbury Mint, but remove any residual or perceived - they don't have much, if you dig - class) which I picked-up on evilBay for pennies - it's Napoleon Blownapart!

It will have to be domed which I will do myself, I have also inherited smithing tools including a sand-filled leather pad and fine silver-smith's round-peen hammers which should do the job (the eagle will have to 'buy it'!), although it's probably some shite base-metal alloy so I'll have to be careful! A few knocks might actually improve that etching - he looks like a shop-dummy!

Then it can be braised (like welding) or claw-clamped to the curved knocker and the Corporal will receive Nelson's boots to the snoz every time someone comes to the door - bargain! I shall invite random Frenchmen to the house!

S is for Scourge of the French!

It's one of those lovely facts which you think may be an urban myth but which turn out to be - at least in part - absolute fact! When Welsh ladies turned a whole invading French army into little defeat-eating, runaway surrender-monkeys! Indeed one unarmed lady of the 'Valleys' - 'Jemima the Great' - forced the surrender of several (a dozen or so), heavily armed invaders - all by herself!

Recent acquisitions either side of an older key-ring from storage, the resin one on the left is quite well done, with a subtle facial paint in a porcelain doll style and probably pretty contemporary if not actually still on sale back in 'The Valleys'!

The bell is only there because it was cheap, I won't be building a collection of them; there are thousands! My Granny (Walter) had a collection of them on her Mousy-Thompson sideboard, fifteen or so, which she used to buy one per year on their annual holiday to Blackpool (I guess they took day trips over the border!) and when we were kids we would ring them all and line them up by tone, next morning they would all be back where they started - poor Granny!

Anyway I don't know what happened to them when she passed away, so I thought I should have one for sentimental reasons and when I saw one in a charity shop for 50p, it had my name on it.

The key-ring is a Hong Kong sourced, and marked, piece of PVC Vinyl-rubber for the tourist kiosk/gift-shop trade of the 1970's and is a not too shabby 54mm sculpt. I need to give her a pitchfork and a dozen half-starved, sea-sick, revolutionary French, for her to frog-march down to the town square . . . pun? What pun!

We've looked at another Welsh lady here in the past and I meant to add the Charbens one to this post, but forgot to, so we can look at her another day!

Links

Popular mythical version!

Slightly more accurate and therefore slightly boring version!

C is for Cloisonné

Not quite up to Peter Carl's famous jewelled 'Faberge' eggs of Imperial Russia's Czars, but pretty nevertheless. My favorite type of decorative object - if I have just one! - as cloisonné tends to very rich colours due to the depth of the enamel - powdered glass - while the little trails of metal always give it an outlined, cartoon-like, quality.

Cloisonné is a method of enameling, especially curved objects, by reducing the area to be covered by breaking it into lots of little areas or chambers, using thin metal wire or ribbon which is then soldered into place.

The chambers are then filled with enamel powder (or on something as curved as this; a paste) and when fired it won't flow beyond the 'walls' of the chamber (which on these eggs; is formed of fine brass ribbon) due to a type of 'water tention' keeping them within their bounds.

From a distance we can see it's a mass of blue chrysanthemums (a typical oriental or 'chinoiserie' motif) with the odd green leaf sprinkled among the blue.

This one is a mass of butterflies or moths flying hither and thither! I don't know the significance of the holes both these eggs have, but suspect it's related to the firing; as in somewhere to hang the egg in the oven without leaving a mark in the enamel? It may be for more straightforward, decorative 'hanging' purposes?

And . . . is that the Cherilea hen we looked at the other day? It makes a good painting guide!

H is for Homemade Home-casts

Following on from the less than common Krolyn aluminium comes these, common enough to traveller as they are sold primarily as tourist keepsake items, they are sand-cast in back alleys from melted down drinks cans!

A typical 'rural' pair of females collecting maize and bringing back...firewood? Sugar cane? A minimalist paint job in a pallet of muted, almost autumnal colours over a worn undercoat of black which is probably either ink or boot-polish based.

Also from Africa comes this necklace of tiger's eye lumps with clay, stone and other beads, featuring four home-cast animals. In this case they seem to be brass or bronze, presumably recycled from electrical or engine parts? The patina probably gained with a urine bath (yes, pee!), lemon juice or vinegar?

They may - of course - be hideously commercial and just made to look vernacular?

Studies of the animals, the two big cats (a cheetah and a male lion) are a nice 1:76'ish, while the buffalo and rhino are smaller.

G is for Guards - Saxaphone and Trombone

Saxophonists - Very uncommon Cavendish starts this line-up, with a Charbens providing the party-wall for four Crescent and Crescent for Kellogg's.

Trombonists - Two more Charbens and three more Crescent and Crescent for Kellogg's. The shortage of these more complicated instruments is surly down to production complexity, and with me having few Cavendish (two!) and less Britains Eyes-Right (one figure!) it will be a while before there are more on the blog!

P is for Piggy-wiggy

Lazy post tonight - smallest is about 15mm in diameter - "Th'-th'-th'-th'-th'-th'-that's All, Folks!"

B is for Belt Buckles

A is for Ah!...Summer Grasses...

...all that remains of the dreams of soldiers.

Things I've worn or been entitled to wear over the years - of a now distant youth!. With the exception of the two flaming sword patches which I swapped with a guy called Eddie from the 502nd Infantry at Clay Alley in the US sector when we went on a rappelling (abseiling out of the old UH1 Hueys) course down there. The Green '1' flash was issued to a higher command I was once a part of but years after I'd left the army and the German national flash came off the Bundeswehr surplus shirts we used to wear in the field because our WWII pattern woollen things were bloody awful!

The red '28' and the brass plate next to it are from the 'Old Guard' and are based on Wellingtonian uniforms of the Peninsular and Waterloo periods (when we explained to the French politely - to begin with - that we wouldn't be driving on the wrong side of the road!).

There is also a pre-'Royal' Hampshire cap-badge, we weren't supposed to wear them, but as they shined-up far better than the Hong Kong produced 'stay bright' a blind-eye tended to be turned toward them, likewise - once I was cross-posted to the Glosters I got hold of gunmetal front and back badges at the earliest opportunity!

The little red square is all that remains of my 'A' company sweatshirt!

P is for Parachute and Special Force Insignia

B is for Barrels

R is for Russian Cap and Lapel Stars

V is for Very Small Elephants