S is for Steckschlitten!

We saw this briefly in a post about 10 years ago here, when I collaged all sorts of Bonux stuff into over-busy images - I was still getting the hang of this Blogging malarkey - so I thought we could look at it again in close-up.

Until quite recently (17th/18th, maybe 19th Century?) the was no orange as a colour, things were either red or yellow (gold in heraldry), and looking at this you can see where they were coming from, I mean; clearly on one level it's orange, but equally and in certain light it's really a bright scarlet!

11 pieces (I've lost a ski from the parts shot!) come - still on the runner - in the little Bonux bag along with a random, loose horse, and clip together with studs and holes. The driver has a separate arm with literally; a 'whip hand' but lacks any feet, to speak of!

Most of the cake decoration sleighs are beyond doing much with, due to their design or cartoonish appearance, but this could easily be thrown against the German panzers at the gate of Moscow; winter of '41 in a war-game.

Indeed; the floor's big enough to take a mortar, with the crew on the first bench and ammo/supplies piled on the second seat? The driver would need a helmet though or a little red star on his flat-cap, give it a go - a self-propelled mortar . . . but you can't have mine; you vandal!

S is for Several Similar Sleighs

Just a quickie really, as you may have noticed this week has been a  bit slow, and while there's a bunch of stuff cropped, collaged, ordered and [nearly] ready to go, all the posts lack blurb, so I'm not sure what's going to get up before Tuesday, but a rest is as good as a break! Anyway, this was started last year and I finished it the other night.

Three seasonal sleighs, intended to slice through fondant or get stuck-fast in royal iceing, and two copying the original, but which is the original? The one at the front is marked CHINA, so has to be modern, but I suspect a Hong Kong version will be out there, and is probably the original. By co-incidence, the sizes are approximately N, HO/OO or O-Gauge!

As I mentioned; the sleigh is marked CHINA, Santa' is unmarked and both are polystyrene, while the deer and reins are polyethylene, with the left-hand deer marked 44 (x2) & 55, the right-hand animals bare 10, 20 & 77, all marks are found in the top of a hollow body-cavity, like Hong Kong horses.

The whole of this assembly is in polyethylene, the sleigh marked MADE IN HONG KONG NO 33C, nothing else is marked. Quality is poor and the sleigh has been shortened in proportion, so looks stumpier and the deer are quite cartoony.

A shot I took last year which may as well go here as I forgot to take the teeny-tiny one apart and shoot it unassembled, and it's now been put away and I want this finished and out!

I can tell you it's (the N-Gauge one) marked with a reversed 'R' and part 'C' which can be seen on the sleigh, there may be other fragments under the lump of hot-glue/wax obscuring the under-floor, the sleigh is hard polystyrene, the deer are soft polyethylene and the (upper, clear) reins are a nylon or rayon; like fishing line or that clothing security-tag type polymer.

Not following the same sleigh design, but 'based on' if the colour-scheme is anything to go by, this is a single moulding, and is probably aping an earlier chalkware or bisque type cake decoration.

M is for Men (and Mecki) Behaving Badly

Or . . . P is for Preening Pants-down Pooping Presidents, Piss-heads and Personalities

This post has grown over the last 72 hours from what might have been a couple of collages to a fuller round-up of characters and caricatures real and imagined, most behaving badly! All the images - with the exception of a return from The Work's Trumpton - courtasy of Mr. Berke in New York, but sent at various times from 2016, through to the other day, so many thanks to Brian.

Possibly the two most famous reprobates in modern English-speaking culture, both pretty hopeless, both fans of a beer or two and both would be less than nothing without the efforts of the long-suffering womenfolk in their lives! I say 'less than nothing' as neither has amounted to much in the course of events as it is!

The figure on the left - for those of you who have been in a coma since the die mauer came down - is none other than Homer Simpson, but many of you may need to be told that the figure on the right is Andy Capp, but, not the Germans, where I belive he is a well know (and re-named?) import.

Seen before, so a quick reprise and sadly nothing fictional about this international joke, it's the pooping, preening-pratt President himself! Carried by The Works over here about a year ago, however it appears that great minds think alike, as retailers over the pond . . .

. . . are offering this variation - he appears to be evacuating solids! Euwe! The store Ollie's could be the source - if you're looking for a late stocking-filler idea - but Jiahua Trading Inc., are claiming for it and - like the UK one - it's also in the form of a key-ring.

However, and returning to fictional characters and their love of beer . . . Mecki's drunk as a skunk (not sure how close hedgehogs are to skunks anyway?) and courting a lamp-post! But if you will elect to have a night-out with the other two, it's a foregone conclusion you'll be in trouble!

This was shot in an NY gift shop a couple of years ago, and they managed to get Trumps G7 Summit conference-pose - I'm going to cross my arms and stare past you all while doing la-la-la's in my head - some months before he did it . . . acting like a petulant child in front of the worlds 6-other main leaders, their number 2's and their entourages!

It's a hell of a line-up! Cheers again Brian!

I just like the thought that starting a side-collection of pants-down, pooping, presidents is a very real 'thing', with at least two key-rings and probably some of those Spanish terracotta 'crappers'!

Q is for Question Time - Seated Sailor Sitting Serenely

Prompted by the Pyro/Kleeware AFV figure which turned-up the other day, Chris has sent this to the Blog with a plea for more information . . .

A smiling sailor sitting, one assumes from a vehicle toy but was it plastic or a die-cast/slush-cast sort of thing? Or was it a boat or landing-craft toy of some kind . . . a DUKW or amphi-jeep; anyone know?

He's larger than the Pyro sculpt so it must have been a large toy and he's not apparently driving anything, so there may have been a bunch of them sitting in a row!

S is for Santa Clause is Coming . . . and Going!

I know! But it's less than a month away!

You may remember back in June/July, when I finally got round to the PW Show reports that one of the items I highlighted was a Hong Kong copy of the Crescent Santa' sleigh, well, you may have guessed that that wouldn't be the end of the matter, indeed I may even have said as much at the time . . . here they both are together;

The copy is slightly smaller, with an unpainted St. Nick' but is in every other way a perfect clone of the Crescent parcel-delivery service vehicle and it's moss-munching motive member . . . I should have tried to get that in the title!

I assume from the Hong Kong effort than the Crescent one should also have a wire draw-bar arrangement, missing from mine? When I find my high-tencile wire-rod (read when I find all the modelling materials in the garage!) I'll make one, using the HK one as  a template.

While the sleigh and deer are smaller on the clone, the Santa Clause figures are pretty-much the same size, although the unmarked base and larger hole give-away the plagiarist origins of the doppelganger.

The wire reins clip into the front of the clone, but was fed-through the hole in the Crescent Toys original.

When you narrow-down the subject of a post there's only so many shots you can take and so much blurb you can produce without starting to sound like a half-wit, so we'll say that's them; done.

N is for National . . . Tree Week!

Yes loyal readers, it's National Tree Week - if you live in the UK (if you live elsewhere it's probably National Something-else Week?) - and the various parties currently competing for power in our General Election spent the weekend arguing over who was planning on planting the most trees! I think the highest bid was 40-million, by Boris, but you know that's a lie!

The National Tree Week people what us to plant 1-million between us, which should be doable, there's about 68-million of us so one in every sixty-eight citizens need to plant a tree in the next twelve months?

As covering the whole of the British Isles in trees wouldn't undo what's been lost in the Amazon this year, it's all rather academical, but you should plant trees because they're nice!

Anyway . . . by way of a bit of gratuitous band-wagoning; here are some trees!

Lego flats! But Lego from the 'acceptable age', that is the age before that pesky Small Scale World bloke reminded us all they are rip-off, corporate, plagiarist pirates, and before they apparently set out to cover the whole planet (including its oceans) in four-centimetres of plastic bricks!

The early set (upper shot) were stand-alone trees with small, flat-bottomed bases, and six designs produced seven trees by the expediency of painting-in flower-candelabra in red on some but not all of the horse-chestnuts. The later set (lower shot) had bases which griped the studs on baseboards, or the studs on spaceships - Lego is pretty flexible that way!

A couple of the latter set's trees were redesigned, and 'big round tree' was one of them, as was the hedge - they were given more lumps!

There is a minor variation on shade with the firs, but it's not as marked as with some of the other trees, while Samsonite had a franchise in the USA for a while and produced the middle tree in the upper shot, it's the standard tree, given two slats which lock-on to the studs and may have led to the second full-version coming to life? They treated the hedge (below) in the same way.

I ought to be able to tell you who made the two vague copies (lower left) as I have them on the dongles somewhere, but I'm buggered if I can find them, they came with a large boxed play-set of erzgebirge type stuff if memory serves, and while these are a little different from the Lego sculpt; the same name may be responsible for a couple more down the page.

The modern ones are actually quite cartoony, but equally more Lego'y! the early designs had sharp edges and although softish polyethylene and pretty innocuous, they were nevertheless redesigned with rounded extremities.

The small fir was the first to receive the kinder tips, and - as far as I know - there are no hard-edged versions, however when the two full sized trees were re-done, a second version of the little one appeared, also (as per the two full-sized trees) slightly taller than its predecessor.A forth design is a Lombardy Poplar, but I may not have one, or it is somewhere else!

The Lombardy poplar was softened in the clip-on tranche with the loss of the 'sand-tex' finish. It is also the most pirated of all the Lego trees, but all the piracies are in other tubs, in another crate out in the garage so we'll have to look at them properly another day! China firms are still using various sub-generation of this tree today, and one or two have been cobbled together below - final image.

On the right; touring in France, before they cut them all down to save the lives of drunk drivers . . . I would have put concrete blocks round their bases, after a decade you'd have had a leaner population with no drink drivers and you could remove the blocks!

The horse chestnut; in the upper shot are the basic versions with the two modern 'big-round tree', below are more variations of the early flat-base version. However, the two to the bottom left may not be Lego at all, and may - in point of fact - be either the same maker as the firs above, or another maker all together?

Both are finer, busier sculpts, but both are the same colours as the known Lego trees? A true HK copy is in the final image below.

The boring ones! Although the hedges are very useful for war-games scenery as you can build quick lines of natural obstacle from them, and in 1:330 type mirco-armour gaming each make a nice stand of trees or a coppice.

Note; the far right birch is also by another maker, possibly the same maker as the two look-alikes (firs and chestnuts) above? And there's a related hedge from Wing Luen below.

Between the flats and the full-on polyethylene lumps, there was a short-lived pair (I think it was only ever the two shapes . . . did they do a hedge; they may have done the hedge too?) where plastic granules in green were attached to formers or 'armatures' in brown polymer.

These were from the cellulose years, so acetone is the best solvent, useful, as they are hard to find, and when found have usually lost some of their granules which will be found scudding about in the bottom of their container.

But note that the conifer has large granules, while the 'deciduous' has smaller granules, I have a part-fir in small granules so assume both/all three came in either format. I'd imagine the parental swallowing-fear of granules which came lose, or could be prised-off, often in multiple-granule lumps, hastened their short life?

Mega Bloks came to my attention with a range of large (8/12-inches) dinosaur 'big-box' models (long before Lego did dinosaurs), which came in lovely shades of purple, brown, dark mauve, khaki and various greens (long before Lego offered such colours) and the shrub in front/to the left here, came in those sets.

The Lego grass tussock also has some age now, and is here to compare, as a red one (or other colours); it's sea-weed, or - I think - it was used as an alien planet's shit at one point? There's loads of greenery in Lego's inventory now, but there's nothing exciting about modern Lego, except . . . walk a mile anywhere in the UK and you'll find some in the environment!

I cobbled this together from scraps after the above was pretty much done, from the left we have the modern iteration of the poplar, it's Lego DNA all but gone; a generic which may or may not be the same as the Wing Wha screen-capcha next to it; a Hong Kong copy of the chestnut, a Wing Luen hedge which seems to be half Lego and half Gem? Finally a comparison shot with the relatively common Jean-Big-Manurba-Dom-Heinerle-Leyla-whoever, marked W.Germany on its base.

F is for Follow-up - Composition Guards

Further to recent comments on the original thread and - in a roundabout way - this morning's post, here's a little more on Chris's possibly-probably Zang Guardsman in the 54mm bracket.

Adrian wondered at the Harvey styling of the figure - particularly the bearskin, while I had mused on the possibility the figure may have lost a drum. As you can see both are slightly red herrings . . . or scarlet! Not least that - as Chris pointed out - the giardsmen are marching, but also there is some texture to the bearskin, if anything it's now looking more Herald Hong Kong (but I suspect further comparisons would reveal them to be smaller all round), his posing is more 'At Ease' than drumming and he therefore remains a mystery?

Compared with various figures of the earlier period, he's not a direct copy of any of them, although the coat-tails and bayonet-frog (hidden by paint on all three figures) is close to the Long Star chaps to his left . . . as are the shoulder-blades and back sculpt in general?

Anyone got any ideas yet? Not ringing a bell . . . ah! Bell, they're believed to have issued composition!??

T is for Thin Composition Line!

Mentioned in passing once or twice recently, these are the latest 'probably' Zang discovery, made by Adrian at Mercator Trading, who spotted them while cataloging a recent SAS auction.  I say probably as there's no sure and certain guarantee they are Zang, but that applies equally to about half the stuff attributed to them anyway! For now; they are considered Zang.

Ceremonial Guardsmen (with pop-guns!) in a vague 40mm, composition, and - in a sample of 21 - all the same pose. Possibly used to accompany a coronation coach in lead as street-lining figures?

Did Timpo issue such a thing? We know of all the others with metal or plastic figures from both the 1937 (? '36?) and '53 coronations, and the '77 Jubilee, but I don't know about Timpo?

Here compared (above) with two other believed to be Zang's, the 35mm Colonial/WWI era Highlander and the 50mm'ish New York cop, while below are a few bases. The colour of the base material is the same on all - a brownish-khaki where weathered, a pale grey where newly damaged.

As always, these types look better 'en-mass'!

Have I ever bored you with my street-lining tale? 1985, President of Mexico, somewhere down Victoria Street I think I ended-up, anyway; it takes ages to march-up to where you're needed, then the chief drill-instructor of the Guards Division (sort of RSM of the whole known universe) comes down the line with his swagger-stick, pacing-out everyone to within an inch, telling the odd chap to get lost in the crowd (to rejoin in his spot after the motorcade passes - or the end-drill wouldn't work), and moving everyone else.

Then you stand there for hours waiting for something to happen, occasionally being told to change arms, or stand at ease, until eventually you start to hear shouted orders coming toward you from what you assume is the general direction of Heathrow, eventually you're brought to Royal Salute - Present Arms yourself, the motorcade passes (in about fifteen seconds!) and you have to do all the complicated drill (quarter-guards in threes, splitting to two's and counting themselves off from the rear - like the dying patrol in Jungleburger - "Goddamn motherfucking mosquitoes, goddamn motherfucking flies") in reverse and march back to Horseguards for a late lunch!

It's a good illustration of how we've got it so wrong - as a species - a street-lining for a foreign dignitary probably costs more than keeping several Primary Schools open for a year?

Thought for the day - gap for the unit, no gap for the place? Who'd learn English!

T is for Tsarist Troop of Terracotta Tree Trinkets

I love these, they may be [quite?] modern, but they are so charming, and this is proper collecting of proper toy soldiers, sadly outside my budget, but I shot them before they had all gone, thanks to Adrian Little for that opportunity and let's look at them;

I don't know where Adrian got them from (and wouldn't ask, trade secrets are trade secrets!), but he did say one had broken which was unfortunate for him, but it means we know they are made of a very thin slip-cast terracotta, but fired beyond the 'composition' of the Spanish figures we looked at the other day, to a fine ceramic which rings just like glass decorations. They may be double-fired as the painted decoration - while fine - seems to be a glaze, but they are then dipped in a thick varnish so may only have been painted and covered?

The Cossack is supposed to hold something, a (wooden?) sabre? The chap on the far right is a Lancer (?) the other three are regular Russian infantry of different ranks or employments, I think; from the left - Officer, Line Infantry, Grenadier?

They are finally mounted on a wooden plinth which gives them the appearance of Central European nut-crackers, but obviously stylistically different, being accurate renditions of the uniforms worn by the Russian army in the Wellingtonian period!

For readers not familiar with the Wellingtonian period (I don't use the term as often as I used to), it is that period in history at the beginning of the C18th, when Lord's Wellington and Nelson ran around Egypt, the Iberian Peninsula and Belgium, or the nearby oceans, giving Frenchie a few good spankings, which he'd asked for, so that was nice! Sadly (and not for the only time) the Russians had to handle the eastern-end of the enterprise by themselves, a job they managed ably, with the aid of General Winter - not for the only time!

I didn't have a tape measure at Sandown Park, but you can see the figures are 140mm with a 10-mil slice of finest larch or birch (?) at one end. They have a loop at the other end which must be for hanging, and I know some of the nicest glass tree decorations come from the former Soviet Union (along with some pretty kitsch awfulness, but the same is true of any large amount of random decorations anywhere [TKMaxx yesterday!]; taste is a strange mistress!), so I assume these are tree decorations. Given there were other regiments/uniforms available; they must look stunning in numbers!

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Auctions; Saturday 23rd-Friday 29th November 2019

Well, I seem to have managed to forget to add the auctions section yesterday, so they'd better go here, now!

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Saturday 23rd November 2019

Newark - Northgate Auctions

Hummm . . . a bit late I'm afraid!

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Monday 25th November 2019

Lewis - Wallis and Wallis

West Street Galleries, Lewis, Sussex, BN7 2NJ

Web. - wallisandwallis.co.uk

eMail - toys@wallisandwallis.co.uk

Tel. - 01273 480 208

Fax. - 01273 476 562

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Tuesday 26th & Wednesday 27th November 2019

Canterbury - The Canterbury Auction Galleries

40 Station Road West, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 8AN

Web. - www.canterburyauctiongalleries.com

eMail - general@tcag.co.uk

Tel. - 01227 763 337

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Tuesday 26th-Friday 29th November 2019

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis Auctions (4-day sale)

Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JZ

Web. - www.vectis.co.uk

eMail - admin@vectis.co.uk

Tel. - 01642 750 616

Tuesday 26th - Specialist Matchbox die-cast sale

Wednesday 27th-Friday 29th - Dr. Cornel Fleming Collection;

• 27th - Day 1 predominantly TV and film related toys
• 28th - Day 2 features further TV-related and tinplate
•  29th - Day 3 is largely military vehicles

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Thursday 28th & Friday 29th November 2019

Chippenham - Wessex Auctions

Wessex Auction Rooms, Westbrook Farm, Draycot Cerne, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 5LH

Web. - www.wessexauctionrooms.co.uk

eMail - enquiries@wessexauctionrooms.co.uk

Tel. - 01249 720 888

10:30 - Finish

Viewing - Wednesday 27th 10:00 - 19:00hrs, from 09:00hrs on sale day

On-line catalogue, specialist toy auction

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Literally found while editing yesterday's dates post, this was the 20p to a £1 winnowing from a couple of charity shops in Basingrad, seven mocherettes, three modern erzgebirge tree decorations and an idiot devil-bear, he'd be better without the stupid card heart thing, but it's glued on with a blob of hot-glue, so any attempt to remove it would bring the flocking off! Also he's another Taiwanese item and a new name to add to the 23,000-odd; World Trend Ltd.

Final Item was a pencil-sharpener naval gun, I may already have it, but there are several sets of these from Spain's Playme and the US's Spencer Gifts through to several Hong Kong outfits and some issuers carried more than one version of the same item (Shun Fat Diecasting (SF) for instance), so I tend to buy them whenever I see them (cheap - some sellers think tourist tat is worth big money!), and check them against a master set!

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F is for Five Go Hanging About!

These were all in the lot from Peter Evans the other day, and (having still not collected my glasses prescription!) I thought they were all from the same source, as in 'maker', but the photograph shows different clip-rings, and coupled with the different styles of the figures I don't think that is the case.

However, the fact that they all had the same level of dirt accumulated and similar rust on chains and rings, so I suspect a single collection, found at different times but stored together? Typical of the 1970's; I remember having key rings like these, hooked on a jeans belt loop and lost when doing something - probably dangerous - in the woods or up on the heath and breaking the little PVC eye without noticing!

They are however all similar material, a softish PVC and would mostly have been tourist stuff, even the pirate was probably sold at seaside attractions of historic ship's gift shops?

Cleaned-up they are a nice group, one a memento of Mexico (or somewhere in that part of the world), the comedy pirate and three ceremonials. The beefeater proving for the third time this year why you can never do the 'definitive' post on anything!

The highlander is basically the same as one of the trio we saw earlier in the year (link), but from a different batch with heavier eyes dotted-in and an alternate colour of flesh as the base PVC which has been more carefully painted round the hands, the whole being quite different, visually, from the previously-seen twin.

The guardsman is I think new on me, although we may look at some others, despite working through the guards, I don't think we've been to the back of the box where the novelty Guards are, buried under the small scale cracker/gum-ball ones we looked at a while ago.

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events; Saturday 23rd-Friday 29th November 2019

Trump says he should be entitled to the same freedom of speech as everybody else, but actually, no, he put himself forward for the highest office in the land . . . and the responsibilities that go with such a position. Behaving like a gutter-snipe, trailer-park drunk when he feels like it just cheapens the office!

Netanyahu says it's all a set-up and a coup, and unfair, but actually the chap charging him, was appointed by him, and has charged him with a heavy heart, after years of investigations which have already lead to Mrs. Netanyahu admitting similar charges and doing  a deal to keep herself out of jail!

When Boris was asked about honesty in politics the whole audience laughed at his answer. Why would anyone be considering voting for a man a whole ITV audience laughs at? A man who took a commons-majority of 11 and turned it into a minority of 32 in less than fifty days! A man who horse-traded for an election on the 12th rather than the 9th, so he wouldn't be the shortest serving premier ever . . . self-serving little shit-bag.

But I love watching his hair fall out, almost hourly; by February he'll have to start polishing it because there'll be nothing left to comb-over!

Then the same audience laughed at Corbyn's attempts to nail-down his policy on Brwreakshit! He not the Stalinist beast they all make him out to be, but equally; he can't hit a ball into an open goal. Compare his speeches with Bernie's over the pond, Corbyn is a jolly nice chap with an over-developed socialist streak, but he's no leader.

Neither of them are 'Statesmen'? It's got to be the Liberals, to save ourselves from ourselves . . . or from our fellows!

Fortunately you can take you mind off such things by buying toys . . .

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Toy Fairs

Saturday 23rd November 2019

Didcot - Retro Ronnie

Civic Hall, Britwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN

Web - www.retroronnie.com

Mob. I - 07708 385 061

Mob. II - 07900 266 427

Hours unknown

Admission unknown

Henfield - David Parsons - Toy & Train Collectors Fair

Henfield Village Hall, High Street, Henfield, West Sussex, BN5 9DB

Web. - www.modelcarmart.co.uk/henfield

eMail - modelcarmart@gmail.com

Mob. - 07742 609 865 (David)

10:00-14:00hrs

Admission £2

'Delicious' breakfast/refreshments available

Oxford - Richard Atkins Fairs - Toy and Train Collectors Fair

Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1AB

Web - www.toytraincollectorsfairs.com

Tel. - 01869 347 489

10:30-15:00hrs

Admission unknown

Refreshments

Free Parking

Romford - SRP Toyfairs

North Romford Community Centre, 32 Clock House Lane, Collier Row, Romford, Essex, RM5 3QJ

Web. - http://srptoyfairs1.co.uk/

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

10:00-12:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

Worcester - Tony Oaks Toy Fairs

Perdiswell Leisure Centre, Bilford Road, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR3 8DX

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01270 652 773

Mob. - 07825 631 323

10:30-14:00hrs

Admission £2, free parking

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Sunday 24th November 2019

Aston Clinton - Joe Lock

Green Park, Stablebridge Road, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, HP22 5NE

Internet presence unknown

Mob. - 07866 641 215

18:00-20:00hrs

Admission £2

Barry (nearer Cardiff, not 'Island') - Chris Dyer Fairs

Barry Leisure Centre, Greenwood Street, Barry, Wales, CF63 4RU

Web. - www.chrisdyerfairs.co.uk

Tel. - 01643 702 757

Mob. - 07966 694 579

Admission £2

10:30-15:00hrs

Catterick Garison - Jim Corr - Toy, Train & Sci-fi Fair

Catterick Garrison Leisure Centre, Gough Road, Catterick DL9 3EL

eMail - jim_corr73@hotmail.co.uk

Mob. - 07504 035 955

10:00-14:00hrs

Admission £3, child/seniors £2, early bird £5

Free Parking, café

Exhibition layouts

Great Bentley - R & G Toy Fairs

Village Hall, Plough Road, Great Bentley, Essex, CO7 8LD

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01206 251 351 (Gary)

Tel. - 01255 473 509 (Richard)

10:00-14:00hrs

Admission £2.00, under 16's free

Free parking, refreshments

Haydock Park - Barry Stockton Fairs

The Exhibition Centre, Haydock Park Racecourse, WA12 0HQ

Web. - http://barrystocktonfairs.co.uk/
Tel. - 01513 343 362
10:30-14:30hrs
Admission - Adult £2, Children £0.50p

Lincoln - J&J Fairs (John & Julie Webb)

The Exhibition Centre, Lincolnshire Showground, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN2 2NA

Web. - www.j-jwebbtoyfairs.com

eMail - jandjfairs@virginmedia.com

Tel. - 01522 880 383

10:00-14:30hrs Approximately

Admission £2.50p, seniors £2, 1st child £1.50p

Midhust - SRP Fairs

The Grange, Bepton Road, Midhurst, West Sussex, GU29 9HD

Web. - www.srptoyfairs1.co.uk

eMail: srptoys1@hotmail.co.uk

Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)

[Probably] 10:00-14:00hrs

Admission charge unknown

Wimborne - Model Toys & Trains Collector's Fair

Queen Elizabeth's Leisure Centre (Sports Hall), Blandford Road, Wimborne Minster, Dorset, BH21 4DT

Internet presence unknown

Tel. - 01202 590 158

10:15-14:30hrs

Admission unknown

Large free car-park

Refreshments

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Tuesday 26th November 2019

Garstang - Janet Pearson - Garstang Evening Fair

Kirkland & Catterall Memorial Hall, PR3 0HR

Internet presence unknown

01282 439 009

18:00-Finnish

Admission fee unknown

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Other Events

Thursday 14th November 2019 (last week!) - Saturday 18th January 2020

Kilmarnock - East Ayrshire District Council (?) - Comics: Explore & Create

The Dick Institute, Elmbank Avenue, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland

Web. - www.eastaryshireleisure.com

From Denis the Menace (the original and proper one) to Captain America with interactive elements

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Thursday 21st - Sunday 24th November 2019

Newcastle - Ticketmaster - Marvel Universe Live

Utilita Areana, Arena Way, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Web. - www.ticketmaster.com

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Saturday 23rd November 2019

Colchester - Dolly's Daydreams - Doll Show

The Assembly Rooms, High Street, Dedham, near Colchester, Essex C07 6DE (venue)

Open 10.30am to 4pm.

Admission £1.50 (half price entry after 13:00hrs), accompanied children under 16 free

Dolly's Daydreams, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire (organiser)

Web. - https://www.dollysdaydreams.com/exhibitorlist1.php?id=54

email - dollysdaydreams@btinternet.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com/dollysdaydreams

Tel. - 01945 870 160

Mob. - 07860 517 048

email: dollysdaydreams@btinternet.com

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Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th November 2019

Exeter - Continuity Fairs - International Antique & Collectors Fair

Westpoint, Exeter, Devon

Web. - www.continuityfairs.co.uk

Ludlow - Ludlow Castle - Ludlow Medieval Christmas Fayre

Ludlow Castle, Ludlow, Shropshire

Web. - www.ludlowmedievalchristmas.co.uk

Festive shenanigans with a medieval twist, expect living history, jesters,  knights, carols and booze!

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Sunday 24th November 2019

Bitton - Avon Valley Railway - Santa Special

Bitton Station, Bath Road, Gloucestershire

Web. - www.avonvalleyrailway.org

Ride the rails with Santa Clause - prior-booking required

Nantwitch - MMFairs - Doll Fair

The Civic Hall, Market Street, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 5DG

Web. - http://www.dollshouse-fairs.co.uk/Nantwich_Dolls_House_Fair_Exhibitors.html

10:30-15:00hrs

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Overseas Events

Saturday 23rd November 2019

Dover (USA) - Regal Railways - Train Show

Hillsborough County Fairgrounds, 215 Sydney Washer Road, Dover, FL 33527, Florida, USA

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/events/hillsborough-fairgrounds/regal-railways-presents-toy-train-collectible-and-hobby-showsale/126097957903809/

Admission, $5.00US, children under 12 free , early bird $7.00 (reservation needed, 08:00hrs in)

09:00-14:00

Vendors and Model Train Layouts

Lunch Available

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Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th November 2019

Williamsport (USA) - Will Huffman - Toy Train Expo

Park Place, 800 West Fourth Street, Williamsport, PA 17701, Pennsylvania, USA

Web. - http://www.toytrainexpo.org

Wilmington (USA) - Greenberg Shows - Greenberg’s Great Train & Toy Show -, PA

Shriners Auditorium, 99 Fordham Rd, Wilmington, MA 01887, Massachusetts, USA (venue)

280 Carlton Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188, USA (organiser)

Web. - http://greenbergshows.com/

Web. II - http://www.trainshow.com/wilmington (show)

Tel. I -  ++6302 794 087 (organiser)

Tel II - ++ 19786 574 202 (venue)

Fax. - ++2405 974 482
10:00-16:00hrs
Admission is $10 Saturday (for both days) or $9 Sunday (on-site ticket sales cash only), children 11 and under free

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Sunday 24th November 2019

Antwerpen (Belgium) - Dipro BVBA - International Collectors Fair

Antwerp Expo, Antwerpen, Belgium

Web. - www.dipro.be

Tel. - ++032 395 638

10:00-17:00hrs

Toy, Train, Die-cast, Doll & Bear Show

Dublin (ROI) - Brian Collins Enterprises - Collectables Toy Fair

Collinstown Suite, The Carlton Hotel, Dublin Airport, Old Airport Road, Cloghran, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland (Eire)

Web. - www.briancollinsenterprises.ie

Tel. - 00353  879 827 712

[Findable on Facebook - Brian Collins]

Admission "Small charge"?

Merignac (France) - Burdijouets - Salon du Jouets Ancien et de l'Automobilia

(Old Toy and Automobilia Fair)

Pavillon du Pin-Galant, 33700 Merignac, France

Facebook - www.facebook.com/burdijouets

Tel. - ++0556 442 292

09:00-17:00hrs

admission €3.00, free for minors under-13

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If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable, military, historical or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here -  FOR FREE  - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!

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Missed

Almost missed the train auction at Vectis today, but covered it yesterday - phew!

Missed 'Comics in Ayrshire', but it runs until the 18th January 2020 so details are now above.

Missed MCM Comicon - NEC Birmingham - last weekend!

Missed 'History of Video Games' - Bristol - last weekend!

If I don't know about it in time, I can't post it here in time . . . seeeemples!

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Received with Thanks

Angelo has sent all the images needed for a comprehensive box-ticker on a quite sought-after Italian company's Wild West figures, I just need to work out how to best collage them to sort them into an article.

Chris Smith sent more images on Speedwell scenics (and Cherilea), so a follow-up to the follow-ups is . . . err . . . still in the pipeline, but getting there! He also sent a nice naval Q-mark which I will try to add some other matelotes too, and discovered (between eMails) a really nice game which I will try to get myself, before Blogging . . . maybe after Christmas.

And Adrian Little brought a few bits to Sandown for me last weekend, some of which may have posted by now (WHW blanks), others are in the pipeline (Zang Guardsman), as is a show report, but it's more of an H is for... post!

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Link

Socksmith - Merry Festive Gift idea!

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Toy News

GI Janes

The armymen 'Armywomen' thing took a slightly dim turn in the last week or two with the decision by BMC to use an internet funding platform to finance the enterprise, so it won't be quite what it's been hyped as to the media; a full-on production set of rack-toys, but rather; a 'print-to-numbers-ordered', limited edition (and probably commensurately expensive) experiment.

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Her Bookie-wook

Also mentioned here recently, the Bronte book sold this week, going over the higher estimate to finish above £half-a-million, before buyer/seller premiums are added, it has been sold to someone bidding for the museum and will join the four others.

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H is for How They come In

Not for me; for the tree! And actually should have been in last week's or the week before's post? But I thought I'd hold them until only a decent period of time remained between the posting and the day! These were both from the temporary charity Christmas-card stall which sets-up in the Library each year, and which carries a few other novelty items - the guardsman is a hollow ceramic like a small fairing, and also comes with blue trousers; the robin is poured resin, but pretty innocuous . . . I'll try to lose the glitter at some point!

20p, you can't say 'no' at 20p can you? Well clearly I can't! Hong Kong kake-dec, mid 1970's? And the painted has slipped on the rim of the hat, leaving him with a rather piratical patch over his eye!

Popped over to Farnborough on Wednesday and managed to bag these as otherwise I only had the snowman to show! Both resin, I didn't notice the damaged windscreen, but have now touched it in with a matching art-marker, dusted both and at some point will carefully remove the plinth from the hedgehogs, so they can join the rest in the Cabinet of Curious Things!

Thankfully on Thursday I picked up this bag, which bulked out what looking to be a spartan week! Nice mix of mostly modern stuff, the bear is probably my favourite here, but the tiger-cub and puma/cougars are well done too.

From the WTF-department! You look at stuff like this and realise we deserve to have the planet dying around us while we vote for self-serving, clowning, self-publicists like Trump and Johnson. Who the hell thought anyone would want four semi-naked surfing Santa's and four safari Santa's on their tree? We buy this shit so you don't have to, but out there in pink-monkey la-la-land people are buying it - because they want to!

I supose the purchasers (at full price) will bang-on about reverse irony, ironic-kitsch double-irony or the old standby "It's just a bit of fun", but actually, think about it for a minute and it's none of the above, it's just [expensive] cheap kitsch, cheapening the idea of St Nicholas in favour of the 'culture of puking, Brit-abroad, Balearic surfer-dude types!

Anyway, that's them; I'll keep one of each and churn the rest back to charity! And may the God's of all things show charity to whoever came up with these! I'd also like to know what was in the other cavity; owner's kept it?

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Other Stuff

♪♫♫♪ It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! ♪♪♫♪♫

By the way - those four-pack mince-pies from Sainsbury's are the best commercially available mince-pies (outside of Harrods or Fortnum & Mason's) ever! And I've tried them all over the years . . . that's the eighth or ninth pack this year already!

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