King Richard the Lionheart

 A recent acquisition, and one I've been after for a long time, is this figure of King Richard the Lionheart as a crusader, made by Cherilea.  It's made in hollowcast lead and has been repainted, but quite sympathetically, so I can live with that, what a shame they never made him in plastic.

This figure often gets listed as part of the Cherilea Baronial series, but it's not or at least it's not listed as part of that series in the catalogue.  But you can see why people might think it was, the sculpting of the horse is superb, way above the usual standard for Cherilea and a similar style to the three figures in the Baronial Series.  Also it's slightly smaller size and a single piece casting while the others have separate horse and riders.

The back view, the shield is nicely engraved with three lions, I must remember to pick that detail next time I have my paintbrush to hand.  Cherilea used to produce the moulds for Richard Courtney, who is famous for his models of medieval knights, and I can't help wondering if he didn't have a hand in the sculpting of some of these finer pieces, of course that's just speculation on my part.