About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.
Showing posts with label Corr's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corr's. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

T is for They're Too Big for My Layout!

As a fillip to this morning's post on the little railway figures Graham Farish carried (or commissioned?) from West & Short (West's Model Railway Accessories), these are some rather dodgy scans of even poorer old Xerox copies of a Corr's catalogue from the early 1950's.
 
Never pretending to be any sort of expert on this stuff, I'll turn to the often maligned JG Garratt, the sum total of his encyclopedia being always far more useful than the amount of (sometimes well-founded) criticism would indicate, and in this case, well worth a re-read;

"Graham Farish Ltd., London (fl.1950-53) A commercial firm which had many interests, model soldiers being in the nature of a sideline. For the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II they commissioned the then hardly-known Russell Gammage and Lieut-Colonel Nicholson to make a series of models which received immediate acclimation. At the same time they commissioned other models, including hussars, Duke of York, a highlander, an officer of the Horse Guards (1821), Bonnie Prince Charlie and military fashions of the 1830s from Nicholson, and a King John from Nibblet, which, however, according to Gammage, was never issued."

Obviously with little interest in model railways, Garratt, has only highlighted the 'figure years', so to speak!


So we can assume these are all the work of Gammage or the Colonel? And definitely no King John! It would be nice to link Nibblet with West's, because of the work he did for Airfix, but the railway figures don't have that facetted wax-sculpt style of the Airfix Cowboys or Combat Group, so we can drop that wish before it takes hold!
 
But, it cements Graham Farish in the Tag-list and introduces Gammage!

Sunday, December 31, 2023

M is for More on Minikins

Adding to the small scale railway stuff we looked at earlier in the month, here's a couple of dodgy pages from a Corr's catalogue, of the larger scale stuff, most of which is listed in O'Brian, but not all of them illustrated, although he has more, and better pictures, but ti all adds to the whole.


The war elephant is - I think - the important visual-addition to the hobby?
 
While I don't think this adds anything to the hobby's knowledge-base, but I might as well get it up here while I'm going through all this stuff! Dates and times for this is all, probably, 1950's? An eclectic collection of stuff, in a variety of scales, and a lot of it seemingly aimed at the gift market or museum shops?

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

V is for Vertunni

Having raised the level of the blog (while lowering the tone!) with a fragment of Cellose earlier, I thought I'd carry it on with some Vertunni!

 
Joan of Arc

Originally an Italian wood-carver, working in France who immigrated to the USA, his wife was the only person allowed to paint the figures, which are mostly of French subjects, although a number of others are listed, including a few Brit's, mostly royalty through the ages, particularly those who 'interacted' with the French . . . throws up two fingers to show he can still use a bow!


L'emperor, in various dress, his wife & marshals (and mistress?), shot on Mercator Trading's table (thanks to Adrian), these are something I know of, but will probably never own a sample of! They are really nice, lead, or high-lead-content whitemetal, the painting by Madame Vertunni is exquisite, especially the patterns on the coronation robes.
 
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Ephemera - after the original Corr's leaflet are various cuttings which will be from - in no particular order, because I don't know - Polk's, Bob Bard and either Americana, or [American] Moulded Miniatures? One is clearly dated to just after Vertunni's death (1955) the others will be (from the lower numbers) earlier?




Which - reading from the bottom of the page - would make this Americana or Polk's?
 No, it's the Corr's general catalogue!


These two are probably from Bob Bard's list?


I think these two might be from a Moulded Miniatures catalogue?