J is for Jack Sparrow . . . et al!

I managed to add to the Zizzle collection again this year, but I have to admit I didn't try too hard or do too well, finding only two suitable lots, letting the better one go and buying the other a few weeks later, a couple of three months or so ago! Of the eight figures in the lot, four were duplicates/damaged, but the other four were new for ITLAPD!

I then photographed them when they arrived and a month or so later, having forgotten I'd photographed them, did so again!

Two more from 'last year's' Chinese crew, another of Davy Jones's slimy pals and - at last - captain Jack Sparrow himself. Now, here's the weird thing, I remember seeing all these in the shops at the time and thinking I bet the 54mm guys are loving these, but not buying them as I was still only a small scale collector.

Now, of course, I don't know how many there were! But I think it's about two or three sets of three or four figures per movie, for the last two, with an unknown number of the simpler-based ones which kicked-off the sample three or four years ago, from the first movie - and harder to find.

So if I manage to get a few more additions over the next year or two and only show them, we can look at them all together in a future post?

The whole purchase lot before the rejects were hived-off, Cap'n J is definitely between a rock and a hard place, running from the frying-pan and heading for the fire or . . . between the devil-fish and a deep blue grave!

Close ups of Mr Depp and the four rejects having a scrap, just because they were there, and won't be! And because this might have been a funnier post if things had been different, but it's just a case of finding my feet again and getting it posted without my little editor on the end of the bed.

P is for Pirate Pugwash!

Referring-back to last year's ITLAPD's late post, these were a follow-up from Brian on the British TV-watching kid of the 1950/70's favourite pirate . . . Captain Pugwash and his adventures aboard the Black Pig!

Brian hasn't got a scale model of the Black Pig, so he's stolen a little jolly-boat and has sent Pugwash and [his nemesis] Cut-Throat Jake off to find a proper ship, in that! Although I fear one of them needs to move to starb'd as neither of them is exactly svelte, and it'll get rougher once they leave the comfort of the harbour walls - if you know what I mean!

Vivid are responsible for these polymer likenesses of the [mildly] derisible and very entertaining duo. Presumably based on the current standard animated-style version, Brian may have been entertained by the original B&W series while I got colour! For foreign readers who may not be familiar with this icon of British cuw'cha, the original animation technique involved paper cut-outs, live in the 1950's (on hidden sticks), recorded stop-motion (like Southpark) in the '70's.

A few days later Brian sent me another shot after outfitting Jake with a 'proper' sword! Thank you Mr. Berke . . . pirates and nostalgia; it's like going down the pub!

O is for Odd & Ends

Well, we've had a T is for . . .  already today! When I said we wouldn't look at Hing Fat in the last post, I sort of lied as we're looking at them right now, but these were latecomers to the queue, and just happened to fit as I'd used the figures to scale the Pen Plax fish-tank ornament earlier in the year!

So the Pen Plax fish tank ornament; just a bit of fun and it's supposed to be derelict, but with both wheels intact all you actually need to do is rebuild the chip in the barrel with some two-part epoxy-putty (or similar modelling compound) and give it a better paint, it could be used to defend the coconut grove on X-marks-the-spot Island!

Which leaves the Hing Fat; actually Billy V for Imex, and when I said the 'recently defunct' the other day I used a question mark to cover my arse as I wasn't sure they actually have gone broke, I'd just been told they had.

I think they are still going, but they seem to be running out of steam, the weekly deal is 'not found', they have lovely pictures of the Bismarck where there should be a Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, the Faceplant page was last added to in July and the website has no news, nor any Covid-19 info., so there's a air of tiredness to it all?

However, there's still stock of Billy-V's repacked Hing Fat to be found in Hobby Stores and Brain Berke added this to his stash the other day and sent a couple of images by way of a follow-up - cheers Brain!

R is for Return to Rack Toy Rascals - Round Up

Having seen several of the following in the last year or two, sometimes both years, I didn't think we'd be returning to them again, but life happens while you're thinking things, and here they all are for a reprise/round-up/return!

Additions to the 'probably Red Box' lot, both poses and colours has raised the pose count to nine which is unusual enough to keep me looking for a tenth, even though I've never seen one! And three colours, although I think I've also seen them in green?

Similar additions (in the same purchase) to the Dollar General sample brought them to only five posts, but added both light and or dark red and yellow to what I already had, the dark yellow's however, have washed out under the flash.

Brian had also, earlier, sent me his Dollar General acquisition, so by way of a close-up of both sides - here he is!

Toysmith's pirates are new to the Blog's collection and came as enemy for the unpainted Tomb Warrior skeletons in 'Battling Pirates' sets (from Toy Major) with six sculpts found, all in a black-as-your-pirate-heart charcoal plastic, these came from a charity-shop purchase I think, but see final paragraph.

I think Chris Smith sent these only the other day, but also see final paragraph; and they are smaller pirated versions of the Toysmith set in a softer green polymer.

So, excluding Hing Fat who got a good going last year and from the top; Dollar General, 'believed to be Red Box', unknown and the Toy Major-Toysmith newbie's with their two copies at the bottom. The unknowns are very 'unknown' at the moment - Jaru , D&D Dist., and Henbrandt carry Hing Fat and Imperial carried copies of Hing Fat (in yellow only) a few years ago, but I have no clue to these.

More imagery for the Toysmith set; base marking is similar to some of their PVC dinosaurs, and lacks the TM mark, while the copies are a lot smaller and - as mentioned - softer plastic, probably not a full-on PVC but one of these new hybrid compounds.

Toysmith as a distributor are running Toy Major push-through; in the Toy Major lists the set is currently titled W5545 - Action World Pirate Collection in a window box as opposed to the earlier header-carded bag.

Here I've taken the unknown and Dollar General's away and added the pod-footed, PVC rubber, 'probably capsule-toys' which came from Peter Evans and other sources in several tranches over some time. They are all copies of- or based-on figures from the Toysmith and 'believed to be' Red Box sets.

Last paragraph - I can't always and/or forever keep track of everything that comes in to the Blog, and there's stuff in this post which may not be correctly credited (like the Toysmith stuff for starters), suffice to say Peter Evans, Chris Smith and Trevor Rudkin have all contributed some of the above at some point, so thanks to them for everything they do!

T is for Two - Treasure-Hunting Terrors of the High Seas!

A couple of items which seemed too-small for separate posts but which I then found myself collaging-down to four images from an initial folder-full, and there's still a couple on the 'unused' sub-folder!

These shots came from Brian Berke, not something I'm collecting, as they are a tad big - and cartoony. They are interactive PC/Video-game pieces, or 'it is...'! Brain sent a few a couple of years ago, and I got-up some articles with Toy Fair and retail catalogue stuff, but they are languishing in the long-queue with me not confident enough about them to produce worthy blurb! But a pirate? Well, that's a different thing altogether . . .

. . . and if the figure in question is Captain Jack Sparrow himself ('Captain' of what remaining less than clear, through a four-film franchise!), he must appear! He thinks he's Captain of the Black Pearl, but several people think he isn't or shouldn't be!

A lovely figure, if both over-cartoony and a bit effeminate, but that was definitely the persona Johnny Depp wanted to get across, so it works. The figure will have electronics in the base and is part of a much larger range of Disney characters going back through the years of their cinematic output. I love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and think I can say with some confidence, that the raised finger is a sign that an unbelievable excuse or complicated plea for mercy is about to come-forth! "Now . . . a'bout thaaaat . . . yer'see, it was like this . . . "

From the we-buy-this-so-you-know-what-you're-getting-if-you-buy-them-too department comes this bag of polyethylene 'solid' pirates, currently findable on feebleBay. I could tell the images were deliberately 'cloaked' so knew it might be disappointing, but they were 2.99 or 3.99 or something, fo five and I could make out at least two, so bought them anyway just to see what they were.

They were three separate sculpts (less than 1.50 each?) and two duplicates of the 'captain' figure. They are also quite large and have a self-tapping screw-hole in their backs, so may have started-life as decorative items or knobs for children's furniture or something? More likely a manufacturing 'thing' left visible on [cheap] cake decorations!

Totally unmarked/unbranded (including the cellophane bag - no labels), they were a pleasant surprise for not being as disappointing as I had prepared myself for! What you get if you do look for and buy them are three slightly chunky pirates with a poorish paint-job of the stab-and-hope style, who would - nevertheless - paint-up better and go with theSchleich/Pappo/ELC stuff admirably!

These are on the Kipp Brothers website (wholesale store in Indiana, founded 1880! Store currently closed for Covid-19) at $2.95 for four poses in slightly alternate paint schemes but the same silver polyethylene, it puts the pose-count to six.

Thanks again to Brian for the Cap'n Jack pictures.

ITLAPD is for It's Take a Leisurely Approach to Pirate Day

I'm not in the mood for comedy text this year, so while it is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and I would urge you to do so; at least once, I'll be a bit drier than previous years, although my late assistant would - I feel sure - want the show to go on.

Starting with the odds and sods post again, and this first image shows the high-lid A4 'Really Useful Box' which this year replaced the other two tubs, several takeaway containers and stiff card box also in the picture as the repository of the main Pirate collection, the East European 'smalls' being the only absentees.

It looks quite comprehensive, but having been allowed to see Peter Evan's pirate tub about a year ago, I can assure you I still have a long way to go . . . so there will be ITLAPD posts with 'new to Blog' stuff for years to come!

Having mentioned him; these two both came from Peter earlier in the year, on the left a reissue of the Cane after Fontanini pirates, originally from Italy, by American Dimestore (from the plastic colour?), but more interesting is the figure on the right; who is in a soft foamed-rubber (probably as a pencil rubber/eraser) and clearly a copy, being quite a bit smaller. Neither has been manufactured in a colour that works well with a camera!

You can see just how 'rubber' the rubber pirate is, and he may be quite recent, if reissues were kicking around, getting their hands on a set and pantographing them wouldn't have been a problem for some Chinese producer.

Especially as - at that cheapo level - it's often the Western clients who bring/take the items to be copied, to the Chinese facilitators . . . in this case the pirating pirate pirates! Yes, we've had that one before, yes, we'll have it again in future ITLAPD's! Even more so [easy to pirate] if American Dimestore have had the moulds sent to China for running by a contractor there?

Also from Mr. Evans I think, a colour variation of the Supreme figure, we've seen them several times, so he needs no expansive blurb, but can be found on the tag ('supreme' or 'pirate') if you missed them

This one came from Chris Smith in the 'specially for Autumn' parcel, and while most action figures tend to go on to Charity, Chris correctly reckoned I'd want to retain this chap in the master collection, as he is a perfect 54mm.

Simply marked 'CHINA' I don't know anything else about him, although I suspect one of the dozen or so big-box, generic, pirate-ship play-sets in recent years, but he's a lovely sculpt of a slightly menacing brigand, who's clearly seen some adventures - leaving the odd body-part behind on-route to where he is!

Chris also sent some novelty coinage . . . in case I need to pay Davy Jones?

And an eye-patch of timeless toy-design - in case I need to pull the wool over Davy Jones' eyes!

While these 'piratey' things also came in over the last year, both from Playmobil, I won't be collecting that range (you need a bigger house and a bigger income!) although I will probably hang on to the parrot, if only until I can take a comparison shot with the yellow/blue varient I found Googling that particular Rabbit Hole! Actually . . . I should dig-out the Lego parrots and do that comparison-shot too - see; we're already preparing for next year's ITLAPD!

I is for I'll Just Put This Up Here . . .

. . . for any self-dubbed 'legends' who might need a hand!

I love the little lecture he gave us about Britains! And for those tempted to believe his much repeated lie that I'm some sort of racist . . .

. . . what I actually said was "...you're not a fucking 'legend', you're a fucking fool!"; nothing racist there (mere factual accuracy!), but he lacks the cognitive-reasoning or logical thought processes to know a racist from a retard if he were sat having tea with one of each!

I can't believe it! Four hours later and he's gone and posted it on another site, still calling it Britains! How stupid is he? I mean he's so stupid he doesn't know when to quit! Un-ber-fucking-lievable! And tragic!

"...or someone like that" . . .he is incapable of telling the truth, when in doubt tell everyone [as fact] you 'know it's Britains because...', then, when you're desperately backtracking your arseholery; try to make out someone else was wronger! What a mealy-mouthed turd - winging-it (with the occasional fight) for 'forty' years!

G is for Gone

Katie-Cat has passed away.

She went to the vets for a check-up at 8:30 yesterday morning, was released, groggy but with a clean bill of health at 4:30, got into difficulties at about five past ten, and was dead by twenty-past.

I was with her, Mum was with her and her son was with her, we could do nothing. I think she chocked on something left inside her by the Vets, and while I've now googled the Heimlich maneuver for cats, I didn't know it last night. She was young and fit and healthy (apart from the occasional cough she's had) and has left a huge hole in everything here.

She will be buried latter today in one of her favourite boxes, in which she has spent the night.

I'm in no mood to post anything else.

News, Views Etc . . . Vectis Action Tomorrow

I missed the Doll & Bear sale yesterday; problems with Girly-girl, but it seems to be asthma, not the dreaded 'C', so sigh of relief for us, fortnight of drops and a lung-draining for her; fussa-russa! I'll find her a nice box to sit in!

Tomorrow's sale is a majority single-collector collection of Matchbox, but some nice pieces including lots of military lots;

Lot 17

The Wayne Laughman Matchbox Collection - Part 1

Thursday 10th September 2020 - Sale Starts 10:00am

"Part 1 of The Wayne Laughman Matchbox Collection is to be held on the 10th of September; the sale includes Matchbox Regular Wheels, Superfast and Matchbox of Yesteryear. There are a number of interesting variations, including some 1980s production anomalies, such as an 8c De Tomaso Pantera, narrow profile, with rare factory 5-arch wheel error. Plus, group variations, including colour, wheels and interiors, and tampo printing variations, as seen in Lot 330. There are a number of interesting lots in this sale and a large selection of lots which would interest newcomers to the collecting market."

There is also more instructional bumph than usual, mostly Covid-19 related!

COVID - 19 RESTRICTIONS

Please note there is still NO viewing, or attendance in person at these Auctions.

Absentee bids can be emailed to admin@vectis.co.uk, or placed via the Vectis or Invaluable website, up until 2 hrs prior to the auction commencing.

ON THE DAY OF THE SALE, LIVE BIDDING is available on www.vectis.co.uk or www.invaluable.com, or TELEPHONE BIDDING can be arranged.

For telephone bidding please contact Vectis prior to the day of the auction. We will arrange for you to be involved live via telephone on the day of the sale. We will call you two or three lots prior to the lot being offered for auction. There is no charge for telephone bidding.

SHIPPING

Please be aware there is still a slight delay with our current despatch times.

Our packing team have been working hard to catch up with the 5 weeks closure we experienced in March/April.

When we re-opened in April we did so with a skeleton staff, we are now back to full capacity and they have been working tirelessly to ensure your parcels are packed as quickly and professionally as possible; the team are now currently packing and despatching August Sales.

We thank you for your understanding and patience in these unprecedented times.

COLLECTION

If you wish to collect items, we would ask customers to first call and pay for their purchases. Ask for a collection appointment date and time. This will allow the packing team to prepare your items and have them ready for you, reducing waiting times.

PLEASE ENSURE YOU WEAR A MASK WHEN COLLECTING LOTS (UNLESS EXEMPT)

Thank you for your understanding.

And Vectis are contactable as always here;

Vectis Auctions

Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JZ
Web. - www.vectis.co.uk
eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk
Tel. - 01642 750 616
Sales commence at 10:00hrs at the moment

C is for Collection of Colourful Crescent Clones & Chrome Copies

OK, so this post was ready back in March but I hadn't texted-it-up, when in conversation with Paul over at Plastic Warrior magazine (back issues available) he said he too had one in 'the queue' which was about to publish, so I said I'd hold this one back so we didn't tread on each other's toes!

As it happens, in doing so I can hoover-up a bit of info' from that article which published in Issue No. 179 (pp's 22/23 ), while only the other day, Brian Berke sent some extra images which could be surgically inserted to the back-end of the post!

The original hollow-cast lead figures from which all others (in this post) came-forth; Crescent Cowboys & Indians, that is; Native Americans, American Indians or First Nation Peoples, not the illegal migrant, cowboy-decedents currently running the show so abysmally like an amateur Rodeo!

There are two main types of copy (in the West) hard plastic (polystyrene, upper image) and soft plastic (polyethylene, lower image), smaller samples with paint, turn-up (below) as do West German novelty types (also below), before the story moves East.

The hard plastic ones - in this case - are all marked 'ENGLAND' somewhere, mostly on a thigh or shin, the exception being the red-plastic Indian whose mark is on his rifle-butt. Other than the mark, these are all visually similar - or seem to be - to the US issued Lido figures.

The marks are not found on the hollow-cast originals, while the Lido figures (after Lincoln Log metal clones of the Crescent) are unmarked I believe? The Plastic Warrior article (via Steve Vickers) also suggests Wood & Kotek Limited (W&K) as a possible source of these figures.

The soft plastic versions on the other hand are marked '737•X', where the 'x' is a single numeral presumably referring to either the pose OR the tool cavity? Found on weapon butts or trouser-belts for the most part, they are not all clear but I've listed the following;

737•1 - Cowboy Standing Firing Pistol (belt)

737•2 - Kneeling Firing Pistol (holster)

737•3 - ?

737•4 - Cowboy with Lasso/Lariet (belt)

737•5 - Advancing Indian (rifle butt)

737•6 - ?

737•7 - Kneeling Firing Indian (belt)

737•8 - Indian with Tomahawk (waist above belt)

737•9 - Indian Crawling (belt)

If the '9' is actually a poor or inverted '6' that would leave the three-slot for the other kneeling cowboy pose (with two six guns) which I don't have in this sample . . . yet? Can anybody confirm the number of the missing pose?

If the hard plastic ones are W&K, could the soft ones be an early plastic issue by Crescent themselves? All the other makers of the time; Cherilea, Charbens, Britains (Zang) and even Airfix (the 'eight' and the Bergan-Beton copies) have been tied to earlier, more esoteric production to that which they are better known for, could Crescent have run these as a first attempt as plastics?

Equally they could be a better-made Hong Kong version, but I don't think so?

The two painted ones are entirely unmarked, and while the kneeling figure looks home-painted, I suspect he's home-re-painted over the original paint to cover chips, the crawling figure is almost certainly factory-painted, and with both unmarked; pointing to a third iteration, they are both hard styrene.

The novelty pencil sharpeners are only marked 'GERMANY' rather than W. Germany, but will date from well before the wall and wire curtain came down for good. And the Plastic Warrior article fingers Germany for the un-mounted painted ones too?

There are differences between the various issues (look particularly at the left-hands or forward toes/foot), but subtle enough to point at a pantograph doing most of the piracy; tool engraver's finishing off the mouldings, by hand.

Which brings me to a theory . . . or another theory, as we've had one or two here, over the years! Some have been proven, one disproven (LB / Lucky tie-in), while this is one I've had hiding under my hat for about 20 years!

I suspect someone . . . someone like Commonwealth in the states, or Tudor Rose (who made the bulk of their early money supplying materials to the trade) here, or a big German machine-tool manufacturer (?) made, and possibly 'gave away' duplicate moulds to customers buying their hugely expensive (for the time) injection or other moulding machines.

There is not so much evidence within toy figures per se for this theory, as most of the 'inducement' tools would likely have been desert/breakfast bowls, combs, picnic utensils, screw-cap lid moulds, automotive components (buttons or fixings), beach toys, furniture handles, maybe?

Things that were easily sold and or consumed, that would enable the new investment to get into profit as quickly as possible, or at least start earning cash-flow, providing healthier books/turnover figures for bankers, or for shareholders to mull-over at the AGM!

However, we have these, we have the 'Lido' (et al) Captain Video stuff, some dime-store items, most notably, probably the X-100 Space Scout, which can be found on three (or four - Antipodes?) continents in various iterations, with or without an additional floor-plate or slightly different wheel treatments/layouts, while other space toys are in the frame.

William Lester (Commonwealth and Pyro) did a lot to push early injection-moulding polymer machines including the eponymous 'Lester' machines, and was known to sell mould-tools too; did he issue freebee moulds?

The bulk of Pyro's dime-store (not the later kits - which just keep getting re-badged!) production seems to have iterations with Lido, Kleeware, Randall/Merit and/or European names, and they were all helping each other to promote the new technology, including mould swaps (for tax reasons), and - possibly - buying similar tools from Lester or other 'players', a few 'earning-capable' duplicate moulds is not only quite believable, it was the state, but were some 'given-away'; as inducements?

There's more on the Lido angle in the PW article, and maybe they were responsible for duplicate moulds out of Portugal? Anyway, it's only a theory, and in the meantime Hong Kong's 'toymen' had spotted the main chance (again!), and jumped on the 'Saturday Matinee' bandwagon!

There are at least two sets; larger and smaller. and they commonly have a chromed/metallised finish, which - over here - is usually the over-wash 'antiqued' look of the above figures, my whole sample, which not vast, allows for showing both sizes. They are much cruder copies and may never have seen the relative refinement of a pantograph machine!

Brain Berke sent me these shots from New York, and we can see flat-metal finishes in two colours, although it should also be noted these are much better figures than mine, and may be direct (pantographed) copies of the hollow-cast originals, the corduroy pattern on the Cowboy is even better than the UK plastics, but as these may be Lido figures, they will be from the Lincoln Logs metal copies of Crescent.

While here we see a small version (blue one) which might be a premium or a capsule toy (but see final/next image and blurb for more), compared with the three others in my collection; there are two distinct poses, but with many similarities.

The blue one again; he may or may not be related to, or from the same sets as either or both of the other two, and some or all of them may or may not have been - in at least one iteration - gum-ball capsule-machine prizes.

They also may or may not, all or some; be of Italian origin. But - as you can see - the other two are very different poses, one being taken from Herald, the other a more generic kneeling firer who looks more like a Vietcong guerilla-fighter!

As well as thanks to Paul Morhead and Brain Berke, I must also thank Adrian Little and John Begg for helping find some of the figures in this article and Gareth Morgan for looking!