Are These Britains? Can't Tell (1 Viewer)

[tdubel]

Ok, yet another id. Good lord I have bought a lot of one offs over the years.

Anyhow, neat set, not sure if I am keeping yet or not, trying to find a display to put these wonderful Gurkhas in!

These remind me of Hollowcast Britains, but I don't think they are unless they are a sample, but my Indians Sample from the 1980s, 1990s is still marked Britains. Anyhow, plain maroon box, base is thin. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Tom

 

[4th Hussar]

Not sure what they are but IMO they are not Britains. Looks like somebody made a set to look like Britains. I understand that was common at one time , make sets that Britains should have made.

 

[tdubel]

They are definitely made in the hollowcast manner. Pretty neat set, I agree probably not Britains, I don't think its Mark Time, definitely not Steadfast, Kingcast, Imperial or Trophy! I am wondering if it is a small maker like Victorian Toy Soldiers (usually have a paper label on the box though). It is a nice set, just not sure who did it.

TD

 

[theBaron]

Hi, Tom, I agree with you and 4th Hussar, they look to me like new old toy soldiers (thanks to Richard O'Brien for the term).

I'll look through my references and see if I can see anything similar.

Prost!
Brad

 

[thebritfarmer]

Jeff just posted this link on Shannons thread and it reminded me of this thread.

http://www.soldierssoldiers.com/index.php They do have a similar look to them.

 

[tdubel]

Jeff just posted this link on Shannons thread and it reminded me of this thread.

http://www.soldierssoldiers.com/index.php They do have a similar look to them.

Yes, Tunstill, I forgot about them, the only issue is that he does very nice boxes, these are definitely factory tied and the box is plain (of course not that that means everything!).

This is a good mystery.

TD

 

[theBaron]

Very good puzzle! Tunstill is as good an educated guess as I could make, too. I didn't find anything similar in O'Brien, but these figures look like contemporaries, if they weren't made by Tunstill himself.

 

[sonofzelda]

They look too good to be made by John Tunstill who used to own a model soldier shop in London in the sixties/seventies and decided he'd have a go at the growing toy soldier market. Also all his sets had the scenic background that you see in the pictures on the website. A whole load of his stuff came up for auction at Phillips in the nineties but didn't sell too well because standards led by the likes of Tradition and Trophy had moved on well beyond his crude attempts at sculpting. The maroon box looks like the one used by an English company called Bastion which I believe was owned by a chap called Andrew Rose who was not the Andrew Rose of Rose Miniatures which were highly detailed models and not toys. However I have never seen this set before but do agree that they are neither old nor new Britains.
Regards
Bob