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Hello Imperial lovers! Missed you guys and our favorite little 54mm wonders. Sorry for my protracted absence. It was both avoidable and unjustified, but everyone needs a break from time to time. Other things filled the void, but only temporarily. And now I am back. Have been slowly and...

I wish he would go ahead and discontinue making most of his past military sets, if only so he could spend less time making the same guys over and over and more time creating new sculpts. David Cowe's skill at sculpting is far more rare and special than even the spectacular painting. The sets...

There have been a few less than satisfactory equestrian designs in the Imperial catalog, the officer from Heirloom one being among the worst. All in all, I find that the Cowe baseless horse sculpts are among some of the highest achievements among the Imperial Productions masterworks. I much...

It is my understanding that the Regal Enterprises effort was staffed by ex-employees of Imperial. Several of their sculpts are definitely rough copies of Cowe sculpts. Outside of that, there is very little similarity, quality-wise, between Regal and Imperial toy soldiers... to my eye at...

There have been a few variations in paint. I guess the real question is to decide what sort of variations are worthy of note. The "produced variations" are those variations that were actually produced in some quantity greater than a few sets. These would include the Gordon sets of the...

Contrary to what you might expect, I have been lobbying the Cowes to actually RAISE their prices. When one considers the work and time that goes in to creating a single set of toy soldiers, not in some assembly line or by using a cast of skilled employees, but rather David and Kaye and...

May your day be glossy. Cheers, D

It looks as if someone took some liberties with the facial hair on a few of those figures!

Hey Mark, I was waiting to reply to your email until after I spoke to the Cowes this week. This I have not yet done, but perhaps I will try tonight. Anyway, shooting from the hip, I would say there is no US dealer currently ordering/receiving new Imperial stock. That said, I am very sure that...

Cool post and interesting info! If we tried hard, we could probably track down the location of all ten sets. Cheers, D

More excellent replies. I hasten to add that my comment about a drop in quality is relatively speaking. I should be more clear. Currently, it is just David and Kay Cowe that are doing all or most of the work. I believe they are being intermittently aided by their children to varying degrees...

Those are some excellent and thoughtful answers above. Sort of what I expected, but also more forgiving to the idea of farming out to subcontractors than I would have guessed too. There was a time when Imperial ramped up production to include several employees, painstakingly vetted and trained...

I always see people on this subforum "viewing" yet it is a pretty quiet corner of this website here in the Glossy/Imperial subforum. So, in the interest of fostering some discussion, I would pose a few questions for you Imperial devotees. - How important is it to you that your Imperial...

No sweat Paolo, just joshing you. I know you to be a long time Imperial devotee. I purchased a couple of those SOTW sets, just to check them out. Since I really have only our Imperials with which to compare, I suspect my negative impressions of the quality of those sets is not a fair contest...

Hi folks. Sorry for the long absence from the forum. Alas, my mind ebbs and flows like random tidewaters and sometimes time flies a lot faster than I notice. Anyway, a quick note regarding what may be the rarest of the many short issue Imperial Productions works... the Christmas Pudding...

To compare the quality of the magnificent Imperial Productions figures to those of SOTW is the rarest and most extreme form of blasphemy! For shame! D

Certainly not publicized well enough! Good call Andanna! I think the Cowes have the most fun with their Town and Around figures. The dresses alone make each figure practically one of a kind. D

Any of you folks have any extra sets and/or duplicate sets they might want to swap? I have a few, mostly Crimean sets, a couple of ACW sets, that I picked up over the years. Would be willing to swap one or more with one of you Treefroggers if there is a need or desire. Perhaps this thread...

A very doable and satisfying quest. Fifty sets of Imperial Productions Napoleonics... all or most of which are still being produced, albeit in very limited amounts, and by the Cowes themselves. In truth, some of the finest figures in the whole Imperial catalog are the Napoleonic range. Also...

Hey Al, Did your set come with a note, written on Imperial Productions stationary, stating that this was a special set, made for _____ ? There was one in each of my sets. Identified mine as having been made for the Toy Soldier Gallery. D