Conte appears Gone for Good (2 Viewers)
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theBaron
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Yeah, I second that, Farrelly. tryfon, do you have a link to some source that says Conte is out of business for good, or is it your opinion based on your own observations?
Prost!
Brad
semperrandyfi
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Nancy Conte sold me all 3 sets of plastic FFL a few months back.Today??
I agree that I think we have seen the last of Conte new releases, I think time and age has seen the end of Conte, the owner must be in his 80s now and his and his wife's health was not great.
Think there will be others going that way, I think Britains have gone but they are just plodding, I looked at the website yesterday and they have even yet got pictures up of the 2020 collector club figures. K & C, I do not know how long Andy will continue, he has had a long career and has done more the Toy soldier collector/sector over the last 25 years than anyone else I can think of, but he might be thinking of retiring.
Britains does have pictures of their 2020 CC figures. https://www.wbritain.com/product-store/wbcc-upcoming-exclusives/
King & Country
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Retirement is for people who don’t enjoy their work!
I still love what I do and bless the good Lord each and every day for him letting me play with my toy soldiers and go on making new ones.
God also gave me the brain of a 14 year old boy...and he was glad to get rid of it!
That helps,
Andy.
semperrandyfi
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..AND..may I suggest paying homage to the AEF 1918!?!!(I got lots ideas here....gratis!)To think upon the mirth and frivolity heaped upon your inner soul
in creating and displaying and selling and.............(That's quite enough of the Nazis' for a bit,wouldn't ya say, laddie buck?)
Stay safe.
Randy Dittmar
King & Country
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Many thanks for the suggestion Randy...
I think if you took a closer look at just some of K&C's releases over the last few years you would see a helluva lot more than only Nazis...
Ancient Egypt & Rome...Arab/Israeli War...The Real West.. The War in The Pacific...and a little place in South East Asia called...Vietnam!
Maybe not the AEF laddie...But pretty diverse all the same.
All the best,
Andy.
theBaron
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That doesn't prove that Conte has gone out of business, which is the premise of this thread.
theBaron
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No one has answered my challenge yet, which is to provide proof that Conte has gone out of business. So far, the responses consist of speculation. You may be right, but instead of speculation, and rumor, I'm asking if anyone has any proof, such as a statement from Conte.
Great to hear Andy, was not be critical of you, was just highlighting what could happen. Was a worry, as I know you are very busy and with the loss of Gordon I just thought maybe you might be looking to retire, but from your post above I get the feeling you do not have a job you have 'playtime'.
Will we be seeing an Andy or Gordon figure anytime, in the same way Britains produced a figure of William Britain.
tdubel
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Brad,
I am a Conte Fan, but can you honestly say he has been in active business in the last 5 years? He has continued to sell rarities and stock on ebay, no doubt as I have bought some. He also has tested the waters on a lot of ideas and potential releases, but none of it has happened as I am sure it is been a hard road reestablishing factory, supply line, etc. That can't be easy. So I don't know what proof we will or will not have. I have never counted Richard out in any sense of the matter, however, it is his business and he will make something if and when he decides to do so.
Conclusion - there is not a right answer to this thread - he is NOT out of business but he is not fully IN current business is probably the right answer.
TD
I agree with you, yesterday I went for my 1 hour exercise [as am under lock down] in the park and there was what looked like duck near the lake, it walked liked a duck, it swam like a duck, but I did not believe it was a duck because it did not tell me it was a duck...……..
Conte have not released anything new for years, they make William Britains look dynamic, on the site there are New Viking, New Zulus and New North West Frontier figures coming soon...………..oh but that was put on the site in 2018.
I suppose it depends on your definition of what is a Toy Soldier company, my definition is a company that manufacturers and releases Toy Soldiers and Vehicles for sale, not one that just puts up pictures on a website and/or produces a brochure full of toy soldiers but does not release them.
I hope they have not gone, as their figures are great, but we are hearing nothing and we should judge them by deeds and not silence/words, they and other TS companies talk the talk, while K & C, F Legion, J Jenkins, Warpark and T Gunn walk the walk, to use a mixed analogy they attack attack all of our bank balances. Producing some exciting and excellently detailed soldiers and vehicles.
tdubel
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Thanks for that information, I was looking and got to this page below, which said,
2020 CLUB FIGURES IMAGES COMING SOON!!! and did not go any further. Seems the site have a case of left hand doing and right hand not knowing.
I only collect the odd gloss Britains now, used to have over 1600 Zulus, WofN, C of Empire, Napoleonic etc but just sold them. i have most of the Gloss figures and can remember first buying them at £10 in 2005, but at the cost they would be now in the UK mkes them not worth money when compared with alternatives for the same price or close to that price. Along with the ceremonial and the bands they looked great in flat cabinets on the wall.
I only collect the odd gloss Britains now, used to have over 1600 Zulus, WofN, C of Empire, Napoleonic etc but just sold them. i have most of the Gloss figures and can remember first buying them at £10 in 2005, but at the cost they would be now in the UK mkes them not worth money when compared with alternatives for the same price or close to that price. Along with the ceremonial and the bands they looked great in flat cabinets on the wall.
https://www.wbritain.com/collectors-club/wbcc-exclusive-products/
Cheers, I have a bit of a 'thing' for how poorly the William Britains brand and company has been managed. I think it stems back to being born and growing up within 3 miles of where Britains had one of their major sites in England. In the 1960s and 70s [and before] Britains manufacturing was actually dispersed and Proto-industrialisation in ways, with casts made in the local factory and being delivered to peoples house and they were painted by people in garages and sheds etc. I can remember as a child visiting my moms friends and they and their husbands, many retired, would be painting figures and small pieces like rifles or packs, which once quality was accepted were collected and assembled back at the factory. It was part of my childhood. Then China manufactured happened and we all know the story from then. The Britains brand has been used over the past few years
to sell other peoples products in the TS market, prints/pictures, board games, etc.
Anyway this thread is about Conte, I think we will not see any new sets from them, pity as they were great, but as for many TS makers/owners it is not a business but a passion which makes for great soldiers and vehicles, but they cannot let it go as it is not a business and that means manufacturers like Conte will just fadeaway. On a purely capitalist standpoint what would it be worth now if someone tried to revive it against possible worth if they let it go 5 or 10 years ago….. If they let it go then I think it would now be an excellent little business for someone and we would all still be buying Conte.
Lockdown has sure my replies longer.
Anyway this thread is about Conte, I think we will not see any new sets from them, pity as they were great, but as for many TS makers/owners it is not a business but a passion which makes for great soldiers and vehicles, but they cannot let it go as it is not a business and that means manufacturers like Conte will just fadeaway. On a purely capitalist standpoint what would it be worth now if someone tried to revive it against possible worth if they let it go 5 or 10 years ago….. If they let it go then I think it would now be an excellent little business for someone and we would all still be buying Conte.
Lockdown has sure my replies longer.
Warrior
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Well regardless of whether Conte is still in business/a viable business, the fact is as I've stated time and time again, when he burst upon the scene in the late 1990's, the buzz and excitement he created was second to none, his playsets were and are mangificient achievements, as were his superbly sculpted and animated plastic figures which were later done for the most part as painted metal.
He and Andy converted a lot of die hard plastic collectors into matte finished metal figures, it was around that time Andy was doing WWII in full force and they were selling like mad.
I understand how collectors feel, he made wonderful product and they want to see more, plus they see what could have been and it's even more frustrating.
One memory that always stood out to me was the year at Chicago Richard rolled out his D-Day playsets, he had several set up in a suite downstairs and he had "Hold until relieved" set up wonderfully, he and I were chatting and he was so proud of his achievements as he should have been and as we were talking, a collector was standing there admiring the set, so Richard said "Hello, how are you, so what do you think of the set?" and without blinking, the collector blurted out "Well if this is supposed to be Pegasus Bridge, it's wrong as it was not a stone bridge, it was metal".......................to which Richard replied "Yes, you are correct; we looked into making a metal bridge, but the size, cost and complexity was daunting, so we chose this one instead"....................to which the collector replied "Yeah ok; but that said, it's still wrong"..........................I'll never, as in ever, forget the look on Richard's face, it was beyond classic, as was the smoke coming out of his ears...........................ah, another wonderful Chicago memory...............
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He and Andy converted a lot of die hard plastic collectors into matte finished metal figures, it was around that time Andy was doing WWII in full force and they were selling like mad.
I understand how collectors feel, he made wonderful product and they want to see more, plus they see what could have been and it's even more frustrating.
One memory that always stood out to me was the year at Chicago Richard rolled out his D-Day playsets, he had several set up in a suite downstairs and he had "Hold until relieved" set up wonderfully, he and I were chatting and he was so proud of his achievements as he should have been and as we were talking, a collector was standing there admiring the set, so Richard said "Hello, how are you, so what do you think of the set?" and without blinking, the collector blurted out "Well if this is supposed to be Pegasus Bridge, it's wrong as it was not a stone bridge, it was metal".......................to which Richard replied "Yes, you are correct; we looked into making a metal bridge, but the size, cost and complexity was daunting, so we chose this one instead"....................to which the collector replied "Yeah ok; but that said, it's still wrong"..........................I'll never, as in ever, forget the look on Richard's face, it was beyond classic, as was the smoke coming out of his ears...........................ah, another wonderful Chicago memory...............
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theBaron
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Well regardless of whether Conte is still in business/a viable business, the fact is as I've stated time and time again, when he burst upon the scene in the late 1990's, the buzz and excitement he created was second to none, his playsets were and are mangificient achievements, as were his superbly sculpted and animated plastic figures which were later done for the most part as painted metal.
He and Andy converted a lot of die hard plastic collectors into matte finished metal figures, it was around that time Andy was doing WWII in full force and they were selling like mad.
I understand how collectors feel, he made wonderful product and they want to see more, plus they see what could have been and it's even more frustrating.
One memory that always stood out to me was the year at Chicago Richard rolled out his D-Day playsets, he had several set up in a suite downstairs and he had "Hold until relieved" set up wonderfully, he and I were chatting and he was so proud of his achievements as he should have been and as we were talking, a collector was standing there admiring the set, so Richard said "Hello, how are you, so what do you think of the set?" and without blinking, the collector blurted out "Well if this is supposed to be Pegasus Bridge, it's wrong as it was not a stone bridge, it was metal".......................to which Richard replied "Yes, you are correct; we looked into making a metal bridge, but the size, cost and complexity was daunting, so we chose this one instead"....................to which the collector replied "Yeah ok; but that said, it's still wrong"..........................I'll never, as in ever, forget the look on Richard's face, it was beyond classic, as was the smoke coming out of his ears...........................ah, another wonderful Chicago memory...............
It's for the sake of that memory, George, and the sake of others who have fond memories, that I asked the question that I did, to clarify the discussion.
It's an attribute of online discussion threads, such as this forum, but it's irritating nevertheless, to listen to people engage in idle speculation. Because with this medium, comments rapidly spread, confusion spreads, and no one is served by it.
I get Tom's point-sure, maybe Conte hasn't produced anything in a long time. But this thread's premise is, "Conte is gone for good." "They haven't produced anything in a long time" doesn't answer that question.
A good response would be, "I reached out to them, and got this reply", or something similar.