Glossy Gentlemen's Club (1 Viewer)

Leadmen

Leadmen

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Small diorama at Chicago Show. Not sure who made the figures.
 

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Another pic. No tripod at show for taking pics.
 

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Hi, Leadmen, I've seen those before, and the name is on the tip of my tongue. I want to say Soldiers Unlimited, but I don't think that's it, because I know the maker of Soldiers Unlimited, Mike Ferguson, and he once said they're not his, when I asked about these same figures. But I'm close to remembering. The manufacturer made a couple of figures of British Army officers in mess dress. I think that these are also featured in a new products column in one of the older, now defunct magazines, like "Military Modelling". I will check through my library.

There are also some various Phoenix pieces mixed in, here and there. The billiard table, I think, was a Phoenix piece, as are the picture frames, the candleabras and other various diorama pieces.

These box dios are similar to those that Phoenix made available. They had kits in their catalog--I think that they were actually vacuformed pieces, to make the walls. You could make Victorian/Edwardian British officers' club, a Georgian tavern, or a Regency/Napoleonic drawing room/parlour.

It's great to see some classic pieces like these! Did you happen to note how much the seller was asking for them?

Prost!
Brad
 
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Oh, duh! I just noticed now the price tag in the upper right corner of the first pic. That is far, far overpriced. I would not pay $1500 for this scene. Maybe a couple hundred, taking into account the work that went into it. But the figures are still relatively available. And with about $30 worth of luan plywood, you could make the boxes, and pick up some of the detailing at Michael's.

I wonder if the seller actually got what he was asking...
 
theBaron said:
Hi, Leadmen, I've seen those before, and the name is on the tip of my tongue. I want to say Soldiers Unlimited, but I don't think that's it, because I know the maker of Soldiers Unlimited, Mike Ferguson, and he once said they're not his, when I asked about these same figures. But I'm close to remembering. The manufacturer made a couple of figures of British Army officers in mess dress. I think that these are also featured in a new products column in one of the older, now defunct magazines, like "Military Modelling". I will check through my library.

There are also some various Phoenix pieces mixed in, here and there. The billiard table, I think, was a Phoenix piece, as are the picture frames, the candleabras and other various diorama pieces.

These box dios are similar to those that Phoenix made available. They had kits in their catalog--I think that they were actually vacuformed pieces, to make the walls. You could make Victorian/Edwardian British officers' club, a Georgian tavern, or a Regency/Napoleonic drawing room/parlour.

It's great to see some classic pieces like these! Did you happen to note how much the seller was asking for them?

Prost!
Brad
Click to expand...

$1500 show special on the price tag shown below
 
The bar, the tables, chairs, the piano, the dishes and silverware, wine bottles-those are all Phoenix pieces. Now, those are relatively rare again, since no one is currently making them, since Soldierpac folded. But still, I'm afraid $1500 is too much.
 
*
This magnificent set is by Caberfeidh of Scotland.

The Old Toy Soldier Home website has a similar set on offer at about this price.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards, Raymond.:)

*
 
I'm still skeptical. I thought Caberfeidh produced Highland Scots exclusively, and I wasn't aware that they made any displays such as these, though I can't say that they hadn't. I've only seen the Highlanders they made, such as the Scots performing a sword dance.

I'm going through my materials now, looking for the figures I'm thinking of, and looking for anything I have on Caberfeidh, too.

I thought O'Brien included them in one of the editions of his "Collecting Toy Solders", but I was surprised to find no reference there. Garratt does have an entry in his Encyclopedia, though, but no mention of officers in mess dress.

Still digging, and I'll have to take a look over at Old Toy Soldier Home...
 
theBaron said:
I'm still skeptical. I thought Caberfeidh produced Highland Scots exclusively, and I wasn't aware that they made any displays such as these, though I can't say that they hadn't. I've only seen the Highlanders they made, such as the Scots performing a sword dance.

I'm going through my materials now, looking for the figures I'm thinking of, and looking for anything I have on Caberfeidh, too.

I thought O'Brien included them in one of the editions of his "Collecting Toy Solders", but I was surprised to find no reference there. Garratt does have an entry in his Encyclopedia, though, but no mention of officers in mess dress.

Still digging, and I'll have to take a look over at Old Toy Soldier Home...
Click to expand...

I saw this item for sale at the OTSN and it was listed as Caberfeidh.
 
Here's the link to the page at the Old Toy Soldier Home that includes the set:

http://www.oldtoysoldierhome.com/New Website/Products/Specials Page/MISC_SPECIALS.htm

There's actually a lot more to it than the dining and drawing rooms.

If there are around 100 figures, I can concede that $1500, or the undiscounted $1700, isn't so bad, when you consider $15 (or $17) apiece for the figures. That's actually a decent per-figure price, when we see single K&C figures going for $25 and up.

I'm still looking for the figures I'm thinking of, I will have to break out the old "Military Modeling" mags to find them. But I can see from the close-ups at OTSH that I'm talking about different figures.

I will also concede that I can be reasonably confident that if Craig McClain has identified the figures as Caberfeidh, then I can accept that as their origin. But I'll still say that, in that case, I'm learning something, because before now, I never knew that they made anything like this.

The dio pieces are still Phoenix, though :) although so many makers have used (sometimes pirated) Phoenix pieces for their dioramas or as accessories. Well, the bar is scratchbuilt out of wood, you can see that from the close-ups at OTSH.

Thanks for sounding the tally-ho, Leadmen, it's fun to track down all the info!

Prost!
Brad
 
Empire castings made mess figures years ago about the time of Phoenix. I am not sure if they were called Empire but I have seen the castings somewhere.:confused: John
 
Leadmen said:
Empire castings made mess figures years ago about the time of Phoenix. I am not sure if they were called Empire but I have seen the castings somewhere.:confused: John
Click to expand...

Maybe those are the ones I'm thinking of. It was a trio of figures, all three in mess jackets, at least one with a pillbox cap and one bare-headed, one leaning or sort of half-seated with a leg extended in front of him, and I think one bent over the billiard table, taking a shot.

I often confuse them with the Soldiers Unlimited figures, because Mike's figures were also mess figures, but his were more in a traditional toy soldier style. He made sets of British Guards officers at mess, at Christmas. There's a group with a punchbowl, a group trimming a ceramic tree and handing out presents, a choir, and a group carrying Santa in on their shoulders.

I'll have to look through the mags to find the ones I'm thinking of.

Prost!
Brad
 
Definitly my good ole' Caberfeidh...Still not not sold I see for the

mess Series:eek:
Mike
 
theBaron said:
Oh, duh! I just noticed now the price tag in the upper right corner of the first pic. That is far, far overpriced. I would not pay $1500 for this scene. Maybe a couple hundred, taking into account the work that went into it. But the figures are still relatively available. And with about $30 worth of luan plywood, you could make the boxes, and pick up some of the detailing at Michael's.

I wonder if the seller actually got what he was asking...
Click to expand...

That's the price for the whole series, some of which are in other rooms to the left and right of the photos.
Mike
 
I believe that the figures and scenes shown were made by Sarum Soldiers.
Sarum Soldiers went out of busines but on some other thread not long ago I read that they are back and available again. Not sure though.
Konrad
 
kogu said:
I believe that the figures and scenes shown were made by Sarum Soldiers.
Sarum Soldiers went out of busines but on some other thread not long ago I read that they are back and available again. Not sure though.
Konrad
Click to expand...



glossman said:
*

Konrad,

Here is the link to the thread on Sarum Soldiers:

http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13173

Raymond.:)

*
Click to expand...

Interesting...so the figures aren't made by Caberfeidh, just that they assembled the diorama? That makes more sense, with what I knew before, about their Highland Scots. Does anyone have access to any links that show the Caberfeidh catalog?

I went back through the catalogs I had from Armchair General, the mail-order auction house out of St. Louis, because I thought I had seen the sword dance set there, but it's not in any of the catalogs I have from them. And as I found the other night, I didn't find any reference in O'Brien's books.

I'm still tracking down the figures I was thinking of, pretty sure they weren't by Sarum, either, but they were contemporary.

Prost!
Brad
 
I wonder if the figures are by the same manufacturer? The ones the Sarum link are using cutlery those on here are not.

Could they be John Errol or John Eden :confused:
 
theBaron said:
Interesting...so the figures aren't made by Caberfeidh, just that they assembled the diorama? That makes more sense, with what I knew before, about their Highland Scots. Does anyone have access to any links that show the Caberfeidh catalog?

I went back through the catalogs I had from Armchair General, the mail-order auction house out of St. Louis, because I thought I had seen the sword dance set there, but it's not in any of the catalogs I have from them. And as I found the other night, I didn't find any reference in O'Brien's books.

I'm still tracking down the figures I was thinking of, pretty sure they weren't by Sarum, either, but they were contemporary.

Prost!
Brad
Click to expand...


You are not thinking of Alexanders/Lancer from the UK are you, they made the Duchess of Richmonds Ball which looks similar.
 
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