Dorset Greys, who are they?

With all the Collectors Shows cancelled I was feeling very much in need of a Toy Soldier fix, so trawling through everybodies favourite internet auction site I came across these:

Nobody seemed interested in them but they are toy soldiers and they were fairly priced, so they fill two of my buying criteria (well, all of my buying criteria really), but the question is What are they?

They were listed as Dorset - Crimean War period - Infantry grey uniforms.  I could see from the sculpting and painting style they were made by Dorset Model Soldiers (they're also marked GB under the base - Giles Brown, the founder of Dorset) but Crimean War?  I'm less comfortable with that, they look something more like U.S. infantry of 1812/20 to me, what do you think?

I may have to do a bit of basing to make them more table stable.  I have no qualms about mixing plastic with metal figures in my collection but have tended to avoid the later because of the weight when transporting them.   Anyway it's nice to be able to add a complete new unit where someone else has done all the work.  I plan to use them as the nucleus for a Napoleonic Swedish army, another project which has been on the back burner for a very long time!

HMS Neptune saved form oblivion

Another model ship, another cutting, this one has almost faded and sunk into to mists of time, but has been salvaged by the heroic efforts of digital technology.

The caption tells us this is HMS Neptune, which was a Collosus class Dreadnaught, launched in 1909, and saw action in the Battle of Jutland.  There is no indication of scale, you could assume the sailors were standard 54mm but I don't recognise the pose so they might have been homecast just for this model, in which case they could be any size, still it's a nice chunky little model and I wouldn't mind having it in my fleet.  The model is signed "Charles Ashley, 1916", the year of Jutland, it's reasonable to suppose he made it, maybe he even served on Neptune during the Battle, who knows?

Queen Mary had some Toy Soldiers.

Queen Mary, wife of King George V, was an inveterate collector with a penchant for things miniature, and she was reported to be "extremely surprised" when it was suggested she be presented with a dolls' house as a gift from the Nation.  But this would be no ordinary dolls' house, it was to be designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, the architect responsible for building the Cenotaph in Whitehall, and would be furnished with contributions from all the major manufacturers and artisans of the day to promote the names and products of Britain's finest craftsmen.

William Britains, being the leading toy soldier manufacturer of the day provided a miniature example of a box of their toy soldiers for the dolls' house nursery, and they made a second set for the daughter of Frederick Britain, this is what it looks like:

The miniature set was never issued commercially and never featured in any of the catalogues or product lists.  In 1988 the second set was put up for auction by the Britains family and this postcard was sent by Phillips Auctioneers to collectors on their mailing list in the hope that one or more of us might have the odd ten grand to spare.  I attended the auction and the bids fell well short of the reserve, I don't know if it was subsequently sold by private treaty but have never heard anything of it since.  In fairness it's very difficult to put a value on a set like this which is literally unique, given that the set in the Royal collection will never come to market, and that in every field of collecting there are those individuals for whom money is no object!

Work on Queen Mary's dolls' house began in 1921, it was first displayed at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 and is currently on permanent display in Windsor Castle (although at the time of writing it is closed until further notice).  

How they made Tin Flat toy soldiers

The recent post featuring some Tin Flat toy soldiers drew some interest so continuing the theme I thought I'd throw in this short Italian clip from 1937 showing them being made in Austria.  I quite liked this one because it goes through the whole process from drawing the design to engraving the mould, casting, cleaning up, painting and displaying in dioramas.  For anyone who already casts lead toy soldiers, there won't be anything new here but it's always fun to see a piece of old film, and the music's quite jolly too!

Enjoy.

Plastic Warrior Show 2020 - Postponed

The following press release was issued from Plastic Warrior magazine today:

"In light of the current situation and the government ban on meetings, we are unable to hold the PW Show in May. We intend to postpone the show until later in the year, at our usual venue, The Winning Post, ideally in the autumn.
Please keep checking our blog for further updates: http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.com/
We will post a new date as soon as it is confirmed.

Please post this on your own websites or blogs, and ask everyone to pass the word."

The Show was due to be held on 16th May, so with half of Europe on lockdown and borders closed it's not really any great surprise, there is a link to the Plastic Warrior blog in the column on the right and the new show date will be published there as soon as it has been agreed.