Timpo Station Figures boxed

 I went along to the Sandown Park Toy Fair last weekend and this is what I found:

The Timpo Station Figures are fairly common but I've never seen this boxed set before, I thought the artwork was quite stunning but at £350 it was too rich for may blood (and thankfully not really my sort of thing anyway!) happily the vendor very kindly agreed to let me photograph it to share with you.

Inside the box the figures are separated by cardboard dividers and include station staff with various pieces of luggage, missing are the sailor on leave with kitbag and one other.  Sculpted by Roy Selwyn-Smith before he went to work for Zang and subsequently Britains, it includes portrait figures of him and his wife as Mr and Mrs Smith (top row third compartment in blue jacket leaning on cane and last compartment sitting on suitcase.

And so to the figures I did pick up for myself, all from junk boxes and mostly needing some attention I paid an average of £2 each.  Above Britains General Officer and Officer of the 11th Hussars.

An as yet unknown (but I'm working on it) French made 45mm solid Turco, a Britains gun, a 48mm Prussian infantryman marching made in Germany by Heyde and a Britains Sudanese who will be joining an existing unit.

Three medieval knights made in France by CGB Mignot the first two utilise the body of the archer with quiver moulded at the waist but have been given shields and sword/axe (missing) to make them into Men at Arms.  See previous post here.

The sitting U.S. Military Policeman was made post-war in West Germany by Arnold and goes in a tinplate model of a Willys Jeep, I have the other figures that go in it with him but always seem to miss out on the vehicle itself.  

At first glance I thought the mounted Lineol officer saluting was King Leopold III of the Belgians but when I cleaned the grime of ages off him I can't be sure that he is.  Both Elastolin and Lineol painted in the whites of the eyes on their 75mm personality figures, and that's the quick way to identify them, but not on these smaller 65mm ones and they sometimes used the same figure with a basic paint job as an unnamed General Officer with the eyes just drawn in by pen.  More investigation needed.

And finally three plastic Crusaders made in China and sold under the name Supreme, modern production but theyy usually come in large poly bags and I have only wanted these particular poses.  At 65mm they are a bit large to go with most other manufacturers ranges but they are great designs, made under licence from King & Country and will paint up great.

Knights made in France by CBG Mignot

Part of the Sandown Park plunder were these two knights made in France by CBG Mignot.  The paper label on the plinth helpfully tells us that this is Francis 1st, or at least it's his horse, sadly the rider is not Francis but a knight in armour by CBG Mignot who happened to be in the same £1 box along with the foot figure beside him.

  The horse trappings are specific to the horse for Francis 1st, which is a rather nice personality figure in court clothes, so I will probably remount the rider when I find a standard Mignot medieval horse for him.  The figure of Francis 1st was originally issued without the wooden plinth, which was a feature added later when the historical personalities were individually boxed and sold through high end tourist outlets.  I'm tempted to remove the plinth as I don't really care for this sort of thing.

The figures are cast in solid metal, a lead/tin mix, the arms bent into position then weapons and shield soldered on, the heads are cast separately and plug into the body to create some variety. The mounted horse and rider carry no makers mark but the foot figure has "CBG made in France" under the base, which tells us this is late production as earlier examples were unmarked. CBG relates to Cuperly Blondel Gerbeau the three early proprietors of the firm which began producing toy soldiers in 1832, in 1912 Henri Mignot succeeded Gerbeau and added his name to the firm, all four had been  related through marriage.

The two new figures will join a small existing collection of CBG Mignot medieval figures: centre above is a personality figure of Louis XI (Louis the Prudent), the horse carries no mark under the base and the residue of glue suggests he may have been mounted on a plinth like the one for Francis 1st.  He is flanked by two knights who are essentially the same figure with arms bent into different positions and separate heads plugged in.  Both horses are simply marked "Made in France".

More examples of how CGB Mignot used the same body pose with different plug in heads and weapons soldered on, the two bowmen are the same, as are the swordsman and spearman advancing, the knight standing with pike is the same as the new knight with lance and shield in the first pic.  All of these foot figures carry no makers mark.  Dating CGB Mignot figures is very difficult as they produced the same poses in the same manner over an extended period, the only differentiation being changes in the hue of colours used to paint them, therefore it's a skill only achieved after many years experience of handling them. 

Ancient Gauls made by CBG Mignot

 A recent ebay extravagance, they're not the sort of thing I collect really, and they all have some damage but then again they are nice early toy soldiers made by the classic French manufacturer CBG Mignot (Cuperly, Blondel and Gerbeau).  I don't know what I'm going to do with them but for 99p my trigger finger was itching uncontrollably, and it would be unforgiveable not to give a good home to these strays.

Ancient Gauls made by CGB Mignot

Solid metal and 54mm tall, the first two may have held spears, which would be easy enough to repair with a spot of solder although, of course, I'm never likely to find original Mignot parts.  The first figure shows the sword, cast separately and soldered to the body.  The middle one is posed to give a clear view of the shield, which is made of thin pressed tin, this design was used for the Ancient as well as Middle Eastern ranges where they came brightly painted, as opposed to being left in the flat metal as here.

Toy Soldiers of the Great War

An early birthday present to myself (because I'm worth it), "Les Petits Soldats de la Grande Guerre" has been out for while but I've only just come across it, the cover announces that it includes 800 toys of WW1 so I had to have it.

Published in 2013 by Editions Glenat, A4 format, it has 256 pages illustrated in full colour throughout, ISBN 978-2-7234-0700-2.  Written in French only but light on text so not too challenging for anyone with with a smattering of the language and a grounding in the Great War.  The pic below gives an example of the layout and quality of the illustrations.  The cover price is 39 Euro, which I would say offers very good value for a book of this size and quality, I got my copy on ebay France, new and still in the cellophane wrapping for 19 Euro plus 9 Euro P&P from seller "Book77".  Bargain!

There are 12 chapters looking at different aspects of the war, into which the toys are conveniently slotted.  The cover gives little away and I half expected the book to include every type of toy from diecast vehicles to dolls and teddy bears, but fear not, apart from a chapter containing tinplate tanks and ships the rest is all toy soldiers.  

You can expect to see the perennial favourites from Britains, CGB Mignot, and Elastolin  but they don't dominate, it's packed with figures of every genre: paper, flats and semi flats, conjoint tin, wood, hollowcast and solid lead, composition and even a little plastic and modern white metal (but not much).  The more I flick through it the more I enjoy it, I reckon you will too.