Toy soldier collector TruePDF february march 2019

All the best Mark Avery Editor 6 LET’S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING Chris Bartlett looks at the earliest toy soldiers known to have existed made from wood 10 NEW RELEASES PART 1 20 THE DE

W Britain

The latest from the sale room

THE LONDON SHOW: ALL OF THE DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS

NEW REVIEWS

Pigeon

English Homing in on new releases from Tommy Atkins

9 772631 307858

02

Issue 86

Welcome

I don’t usually cover politics in TSC because this is a toy/hobby magazine rather than some highbrow broadsheet However, by the time you’re reading, this hopefully we’ll have resolved the Brexit muddle, or

if we haven’t then we’ll be heading towards a ‘no deal’ exit from the EU In

my ‘proper’ job, I do a lot of importing and exporting from the UK and I know that without some form of agreement being reached, it will make my job a lot more diff icult and this got me thinking about our hobby and the impact it could have.

There’s the obvious issues of European-made figures like Alymer being imported in to the UK and the potential price increases due to additional duties being applied, and likewise all the UK cottage industry makers who currently sell to European collectors will most likely have the same problems Then there’s the eff ect

on shows Will it become harder for dealers like Saimex to come over and attend the London shows? And the same for the UK makers and traders that usually attend European shows like Kulmbach etc?

Beyond these simple issues there’s the likely impact of major delays at all ports and airports for inbound cargo due to all the additional products having to be checked, meaning even manufacturers producing in China, etc, could be impacted as the goods get stuck in customs for much longer periods Whatever your personal view on the whole Brexit situation, there’s no denying that without some form of agreement being reached before the March deadline, even life’s little pleasures like our hobby will feel an impact in some way or another Anyway, that’s enough about politics for now and hopefully by the time I’m writing my next introduction for TSC the future will be clearer than it is now

As always, enjoy this issue and I’ll see you all back here again in two months All the best

Mark Avery Editor

6 LET’S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING Chris Bartlett looks at the earliest toy soldiers known

to have existed made from wood

10 NEW RELEASES PART 1

20 THE DEATH OR GLORY BOYS

Keith Nairn-Munro looks at the history of the 17th/21st Lancers

26 CASTING AROUND

31 THE CROSS AND CRESCENT Gary Emery delves in to the history of the Crusades

37 WINTER WARMERS Early December can only mean one thing for the toy soldier collecting community: the advent of the final London show of the year

44 FANTASTIC PLASTICS

48 AUCTION REPORT

50 BRITAINS PLOUGHS

IN TO THE SWINGING SIXTIES AND BEYOND Keith Nairn-Munro continues his series of articles looking at the history of the most famous toy soldier company of them all, W Britain

57 LADIES OF THE COURT

OF LOUIS XIV

60 THE BLACK ROBES Robert Welham tells the story of eight catholic priests who braved the

‘Americas’ in the mid 1600s

to try and spread the Christian faith

64 NEW RELEASES PART 2

68 HOW DO I SELL

MY TOY SOLDIER COLLECTION?

70 TOY LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

Contributors: Mike Blake, George

Phillips, Keith Nairn-Munro, Martin

Ainscough, Gary Haines, Chris Bartlett,

Robert Welham, Dr Victor Wong, Andrew

Sutton, Tim Spanton and Gary Emery

(all prices include shipping and postage)

Front cover: Mobile pigeon loft by

Tommy Atkins

www.toysoldiercollector.com

Toy Soldier Collector is published

bi-monthly by Guideline Publications

Magazine Licensing & Syndication

Guideline Publications publishes top

quality magazines, books & bookazines.

Guideline Publications publishes a wide

range of publications that are available

for licensing and reproduction around

the world You can find out more by

contacting Tom Foxon.

Guideline Publications

6 Kensworth Gate, 200-204 High Street

South, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU6 3HS

Tel: +44(0) 1582 668411

Email: tom@guidelinepublications.co.uk

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All submissions to Toy Soldier Collector are

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off ice address as listed above Copyright

of published articles will belong to Toy

Soldier Collector unless a prior agreement

is reached Toy Soldier Collector can accept

no responsibility for lost or damaged

submissions.

Miniature knights

If you’re a fan of miniature knights then make sure to check out www.chevalierdelenfance.com which is a new website created by collector and ex-military man Pierre Neven Pierre freely admits the site is still developing but I have a feeling it will become a very useful resource for anyone with an interest in toy soldier knights!

Imperial Miniatures

Mike Lewis was at the show in December with a couple of

new releases including this little vignette titled ‘The death of

Marshall Lannes’, the piece

is available either painted (as

shown here) for £85 or as a

casting for £30

GNM Miniatures website

Graham Mollard, owner of GNM, has recently launched a new website, point your browser to www.gnmminiatures.com and take a look as it’s fi lled with tons

of photos of Graham’s stunning craft smanship (and if you like Graham’s fi gures make sure to get next issues TSC to see some reviews of his latest fi gures)

CONTACT:

Imperial Miniatures Nyetimber Norfolk Farm Road Woking

Surrey GU22 8LF Tel: 01483 855757 www.imperialminiatures.co.uk

The death of Marshall Lannes

Best of

Britains

Hardcore Britains fans descended on the

London Scottish Regiment headquarters

in Westminster at the end of November

to celebrate the 14th annual W Britain

Collectors’ Club event

On arriving at the venue – which also

doubles as the regimental museum –

guests were greeted by the team from W

Britain and seated at tables before a light

buff et and wine were served

Collectors were then treated to a

unique presentation from retired RAF

pilot Wing Commander Stuart Reid

Wg Cdr Reid fl ew Jaguar and Tornado

fi ghters while on RAF service but his

presentation focused on his role as a

Lancaster pilot with the Battle of Britain

memorial fl ight

His warts and all exposition of the thrills – and challenges – of fl ying Lancaster PA474, a 1940s-vintage heavy bomber, seemed to have guests transfi xed

Potted history

He explained how PA474 is one of only two Lancaster aircraft remaining in airworthy condition out of the 7,377 manufactured PA474 rolled off the production line at the Vickers Armstrong Broughton factory at Hawarden Airfi eld, Chester in May 1945, just aft er the war

in Europe had come to an end The aircraft was prepared for use against the Japanese but the war in the Pacifi c ended before it was deployed

The slide presentation delivered by

Wg Cdr Reid also gave his audience an insight into the cramped interior of the aircraft and the positions occupied by

the 7-man crewThe session ended with a lively Q&A session, with club members quizzing

Wg Cdr Reid about the history and operational characteristics of the ‘Lanc’

Prize draw

It seemed that every guest present won either a Britains toy soldier, scenic piece or military print in the prize raffl e

A nd the exclusive fi gure presented to collectors on the night –a dynamically posed member of the 24th Foot from the Zulu War – seemed to go down very well.The evening ended with a slide presentation from Ken Osen, General Manager and Creative Director of W Britain, in which he discussed new

fi gures in the production pipeline and some of the meticulous research that has gone into ensuring their historical accuracy

4 TOY SOLDIER COLLECTOR

Noticeboard

Email any hobby-related news to the Editor at tsceditor@darkmedialtd.com

or alternatively write in to: Guideline Publications 6 Kensworth Gate, 200-204 High Street South, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU6 3HS.

Capture the intensity of the action of Isandlwana, the first major battle between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom, with our latest hand-to-hand sets Hand-crafted in our matte style finish, they incorporate highly detailed sculpting and shading.

To view the full range of Anglo Zulu War figures please visit www.wbritain.net

1:30 Scale To view the full range of Zulu figures or pre-order from your nearest stockist please visit

B20189 ”Here They Come!”

24th Foot Yelling and Pointing

B20187 24th Foot Standing Firing

The earliest known

wooden figures

were found in the

Egyptian pyramids over

4,500 years ago

From there on wooden

fi gures as toys for both boys

and girls have been found

throughout history and all

over the world

Wood, as a medium for

making toy/model soldiers

has been used by many

model fi gure makers in the

last century Holger son and Gustave Vertunni sculpted many of their mas-ters in wood

Eriks-Although the majority of

my personal collection are metal and 54mm in scale, I have accumulated (as you do) quite a few fl at plywood cut out fi gures, along with some other fl at ‘toy’ like fi gures made in France (I think?)

I believe Rene North

These are all plywood figures which are around 11” tall and are signed Emspan or Eispan

13” tall plywood figures which I obtained from well-known collector John Ruddle There are

no markings on them and although he never mentioned it maybe they were made by John himself!

This is a 13.5” tall

‘Nutcracker’

which was made

in Germany during the 1980’s

TOY SOLDIER COLLECTOR 7

Let’s start at the

very beginning…

Chris Bartlett looks at the earliest toy soldiers known to

have existed made from wood

We carry a comprehensive range including figures from:

First Legion, King & Country, Black Hawk, Collectors Showcase, Thomas Gunn, Conte Collectibles, W.Britain, Forces of Valour, St Petersburg and lots more.

Maison Militaire,

Flint Barn Farm, Flint Lane, Lenham, Kent, ME17 2EN (Callers by appointment only please)

Tel: 01622 850336 Contact Tina or Robin 1pm - 10pm, 7 days a week Please leave a

message outside those hours

Exclusive First Legion dealers for the UK

please call as we have lots more items available

Reviews of new metal figures to arrive in the hobby by

Martin Ainscough and Mark Avery

10 TOY SOLDIER COLLECTOR

Nik Biberovic at Alexanders

Toy Soldiers added

to his extensive range

of Napoleonic fi gures

for his December new

release off erings The 27th

Enniskillen with their

distinctive buff facings is

depicted as they would

have fought at Waterloo

Illustrated here is just a very

small sample of a range for

which there are in excess of

20 diff erent fi gure variations

These come in the form of a

command group, consisting

of various offi cers, sergeants

and other ranks, drummers,

wounded fellows being

pulled out of the line etc;

more than enough choice

for collectors to recreate

authentic impressive squares

to repulse the French cavalry sorties Individual fi gures are priced at £16.50 which includes postage costs

Expect to pay slightly more for the two fi gure vignettes and for standard bearers

to refl ect the extra work involved in the production process

The second off ering from this excellent gloss painted

fi gure maker features one

of the newest ranges in the ATS catalogue – The Battle

of the Boyne This series charts the fi ght for the English Crown between William III and James II In no time at all this range has already grown into a substantial collection

on off er to collectors and features some of the

CONTACT

Alexanders Toy Soldiers

14 Constance Road Whitton Twickenham TW2 7HY Tel: 0208 894 5925 www.ats-uk.net

Alexander’s Toy Soldiers

Napoleonic Infantry

many varied and diff erent nationalities that fought on both sides of the confl ict

The newest recruits to this range come in the form of Danish Infantry that fought for William III They are depicted both kneeling fi ring and standing fi ring poses As with the Napoleonic fi gures the Danish Infantry too are priced at £16.50 painted and are inclusive of postage I

am reliably informed that a command group consisting

of an offi cer, sergeant and drummer at the advance is

in the pipeline for release shortly

Review by Martin Ainscough

Danish infantry from the Battle of the Boyne The 27th Enniskillen’s

at Waterloo

JAMES OPIE AT C&T AUCTIONS 11th TOY SOLDIER SALE Wednesday 27th March 2019

For Further Details Contact James Opie Tel: +44 (0) 20 7794 7447 Email: jamesopie@yahoo.co.uk

My eleventh sale includes Britains early, inter-war and post-war hollowcast sets, with more recent issues, King and Country etc with Civilians, CJB, and much more, featuring: THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE BRIAN CORNALL

CATALOGUES, BIDS & INFORMATION

Call: +44 (0)1233 510 050 Email: enquiries@candtauctions.co.uk

Auction Venue: The Spa Hotel, Mount

Ephraim, Royal Tonbridge Wells,

Kent TN4 8JX

SALES LIVE ONLINE AT: the-saleroom.com

Lot 5 Britains Rare PARIS OFFICE Chasseurs a Cheval at the halt with Officer and Trumpeter, 10 pieces, Estimate £400 - £600

Available direct from us and from all good quality toy soldier stockists throughout the world.

www.tomgunn.co.uk

email: welcome@tomgunn.co.uk

Thomas Gunn Miniatures,

Unit 21, Deverill Road Trading Estate, Sutton Veny, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 7BZ

Tel: 01985 840539

1/30TH scale

fully assembled and painted models

Albatros W.4 SeapLane JUNKERS D.11

Rufe Seaplane Phonix Fighter

The reputation of the

British cavalry in

the eyes of generals

and historian alike, I suspect

would be regarded in its

kind-est form as dubious Their

recklessness at Waterloo

nearly cost Wellington the

battle and there are many

other instances of their

ill-dis-ciplined, foolhardy bravery

nearly ending in disaster

Both the 17th Lancers

and 21st Lancers regimental

prominence was established

by such episodes, the former

taking the leading role at the

Charge of the Light Brigade,

whilst the 21st would turn

rashness into triumph at

Omdurman

Nonetheless cavalry did

have an important role

dur-ing a campaign and if used

wisely, could be of enormous

value to the successful

outcome of any such venture

As we travel through the tories of these regiments, we will see how their influence affected the conclusion of the various operations, in which they were involved

his-The 17th Lancers origins date back to around 1759 when the British forces suc-cessfully captured Quebec

The news of this victory was entrusted to a Colonel Hale

of the 47th Foot to nicate to the King back in England

commu-The King rewarded the harbinger of such good news with land in Canada and the commission to raise one of five new regiments of Light Dragoons Thus the 17th Light Dragoons were born Hale still

in mourning over the death of Wolfe at Quebec decided to adopt the Death’s Head with

the motto “or Glory.”

The 21st Lancers were also raised about this time as Light Dragoons by the Marquis of Granby, for the Seven Years War They were also known

as The Royal Windsor ers The regiment was chiefly used to escort French prison-ers from Scarborough to Hull

Forest-in England and then

disband-ed at the end of the war This

17th Light Dragoon Officer

Red Lancers charge at Waterloo

21st Light Dragoon Officer 1808

The death or glory boys

Keith Nairn-Munro looks at the history of the 17th/21st Lancers

e.mail shop@traditionoflondon.com

For telephone enquires contact Bob Prati of RP World Models on 0115 9427462 who are working with Tradition

RP World Models Ltd, Chelsea House, Chelsea Street, New Basford, Nottingham, NG7 7HP

Soldiers of Rye

110, High St.,Rye East Sussex, TN317JE United kingdom Mr.Chris Viner E-mail: soldiers.of.rye@hotmail.co.uk

The Armoury of St James’s

17 Piccadilly Arcade London, SW1Y 6NH United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7493 5082 Fax: +44 (0))20 7499 4422 Website: www.armoury.co.uk

Scarlet and Gold

Lansdowne, Cavendish Road Church Crookham Hampshire, GU52 6PZ Tel: +44 (0)1252 622604 www.scarletandgold.co.uk

Manufacture Belge de Dentelle SA

S.P.R.L Rayve

48 AV Albertyn

1200 Bruxelles Belgium Tel: 0032 2513 2422 E-mail: souvenir@rayve.be www.rayve.be

Saimex di Stefano Allorini

via guicciardini 24

41012 Carpi (mo) Italy Tel: 0039059699788 info@saimextoys.com http://www.saimextoys.com And shop at the following address;

IL SALOTTO DEL SOLDATINO VIA ASSISI, 19 ROMA enrico@ilsalottodelsoldatino.it

Berliner Zinnfiguren

Knesebeckstr 88

10623 Berlin Germany Tel: 0049 30 315 700 0 Fax: 0049 30 315 700 77 E-mail: info@zinnfigur.com www.zinnfigur.com

The French Army Napoleonic War

54mm Model Soldiers – Painted or Unpainted/ kit

The clangor of the swords

had died away, the shouting

of the slaughter was hushed;

silence lay on the red-stained

snow The bleak pale sun that

glittered so blindingly from

the ice-fields and the

snow-covered plains struck sheens

of silver from rent corselet

and broken blade, where the

dead lay as they had fallen

This opening description

by Robert E Howard of

the aftermath of a battle

in which eighty men have

died is from The Frost-Giant’s

Daughter A story in the age

of Conan that was never

published in its original form

in Howard’s lifetime It took

a change of title (The Gods

of the North) and also of the

main character (from Atali

to Amra of Akbitana) for it

to be published for the first

time in March 1934 in The

Fantasy Fan

The story tells the tale of

Conan meeting a beautiful

woman on a battlefield who

bewitches him The woman

inclined to diplomatic negotiations)

The level of detail on the figures are of the usual high standard and it is notable that these are also available hand-painted or as resin kits

so you can undertake your own painting

A single hand-painted

limited edition figure in this range is 40 euros and the whole collection can also be purchased hand-painted for

150 euros The figures vary in height from 75mm (Conan)

- 104mm (Ymir’s Son) due

to the elevated bases and height of weapons and In Atali’s case her gossamer

Marcos Navas Studios

The Age of Conan & ‘Agatha’s Mysteries’

is not of human origin and this adds to her charm from Conan’s point of viewConan chases the woman for miles but is lead into

an ambush by Atali’s two Frost-Giant brothers Conan

of course survives this encounter, Atali’s father Ymir knocks out Conan with a lighting bolt and he comes

to not knowing if Atali was a dream (and also presumably with a hell of a headache)

Conan realises that he holds

in his hands the gossamer veil that Atali wore, the only thing she wore, and which was not spun by human origin

The models released by Marco Nava Studios depict all the main characters in this tale of Conan’s youth when he was a mercenary

in the frozen wastes of Nordheim Conan the Cimmerian, Atali and her two Frost-Giant brothers (who are very well armed and not looking particularly

In this issue’s Casting Around we wander the frozen

wastelands with a renowned barbarian, return to civilization

with a good old fashioned set of criminal investigators and

then look at All the Queen’s Men We then look at a prequel

(of sorts) to last issues Richard Sharpe with a discussion on

recruiting in the British Army in the time of Wellington and

Napoleon I am also pleased to say that I have had other

manufacturers contact me and next issues Castin Around

will be more varied If you do know of any manufacturers producing 54mm castings for sale please do let me know though as the more the better!

We begin this series of reviews with a major release from Marcos Navas Studios This is I am very pleased to say available to buy in resin unpainted as well as the usual painted version

Conan the Cimmerian

Casting around

Gary Haines takes a look at the latest toy soldier castings

to arrive on the market

Andrew of Miniature Autoworld is

looking for all makes and scales of :

We will travel anywhere in the

Or post details to:

Andrew Sutton, Miniature Autoworld,

Green Ridge, West Down, Ilfracombe,

Devon, EX34 8NF

Visit the website:

• Modern & Vintage Diecast Models

• White Metal & Resin Models

• White Metal, Resin & Plastic Kits

•

•

• Modern & Vintage Toy Soldiers

www.HistorexAgents.com

NMM Paint Set (Steel)

SSE-001 NMM Paint Set (Gold)

SSE-002 Flesh Paint Set

It was hard fought, brutal

and unforgiving For 200

years a small strip of land

only a few hundred miles long

in the Middle East was fought

over It was a clash of empires,

religious beliefs and to this

day is remembered with pride

and hatred in equal measure

It seems no one has not heard

of the crusades and the bitter

aftertaste it has left in this

small corner of the globe Even

the word crusade can evoke

extreme reactions

On one side Christianity

had spread across the Middle

East and Europe from around

the 4th century AD outlasting

the Roman Empire and taking

root as the western world

descended into the dark ages

Indeed, the church was a

beacon of light during those

violent and turbulent times

During the 7th and 8th

centuries Islam burst onto

the scene Muslim conquests

spread from Arabia through

the Middle East enveloping

North Africa, Spain and as far

north as present-day Turkey

Both religions viewed

Jerusa-lem as their holy city The

Mus-lims took the city in 637 AD

from the Byzantium’s (Greek

Orthodox Christians) and held

onto their prize while allowing

a degree of religious freedom

to continue

Problems emerged in the

late 11th century Europe was a

brutal and lawless place The

rule of kings was diluted by

local warlords who invoked an

arbitrary and barbaric form of

justice within a feudal system

It was akin to the wild west with the church acting as the only sheriffs in town Some-thing needed to be done

The chance for salvation came when the Byzantium emperor (Alexius), on the back foot and loosing territory to the Muslims, asked for help

to alleviate the pressure on his capital Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) Being

of the Christian faith, albeit the Eastern Greek Orthodox ver-sion, Alexius appealed to Pope Urban II for assistance The Pope saw an opportunity to reduce the anarchy in Europe and importantly bring Jerusa-lem back into the control of the Christians The problem was it

wasn’t what Alexius asked for

He just wanted around 300 mercenary knights to help strike back at the Muslims

completely different

On November 27, 1095 at Clermont in France, Urban

II made perhaps the most influential speech of the

Pope Urban 11 at Clermont preaching

the first crusade Illustration from

Sébastien Mamerot’s Livre des

SATURDAY 30TH MARCH 2019

HAVERSTOCK SCHOOL

24 HAVERSTOCK HILL · CHALK FARM

LONDON · NW3 2BQ Over 150 trader tables

King & Country, W Britain, Thomas

Gunn, First Legion, Jon Jenkins Black Hawk

plus many traders check the

website for full list

www.toysoldiershow.co.uk

Free valuation from James Opie -

C & T Auctioneers Free traders parking,

visitor parking £5.00 Opening times Early bird 9.30 - 10.30 £10.00

10.30 - 14.00 £6.00 14.00 - 16.00 £4.00 For trader reservations and tickets kim@guidelinepublications.co.uk

Telephone: +44 (0) 1582 668411

Unit 6 Kensworth Gate, 200 - 204 High Street South, Dunstable, Bedfordshire LU6 3HS

www.guidelinepublications.co.uk

.

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