Help Identifying 36 piece set of flat wooden figures (1 Viewer)

[skinny]

Hello Everybody,

Recently I came into possession of this 36 piece set of flat wooden figures of what I believe could be the British Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, Mounted Band and Gold State Coach eight-horse-drawn carriage. The guards on foot are approx 2,5 inches tall (6cm) and the ones on horseback about 3,2 inches.

They seem to have some age to them. Not sure if the set is complete or not. There don't seem to be any makers marks on them. Home-made possibly? Any infos or suggestions would be very welcome.

Greetings from the NL,

Best Regards,

Skinny

 

[theBaron]

Welcome to the forum, Skinny!

I don't think your toy soldiers are homemade, though paper soldiers were popular in the latter decades of the 19th century and first decade of the 20th. Printers like Pellerin of Epinal, France, come to mind, though there were others. Towns on both sides of the Alsatian border between France and Germany comprised one area where the business was centered. They printed sheets of soldiers, which children cut out to play with or display. Some people did glue them to cardboard, or pieces of wood, to make them more durable and stand better.

Yours, though, look more like they were produced commercially. The images were likely printed, glued to the board, then cut out with a jigsaw.

Identifying the printer is difficult, because, as you noted there are no marks on them. I have seen similar toy soldiers in older books on the subject, like ones published by Massimo Alberini. In his "Color Treasury of Model Soldiers," he included pictures of paper soldiers in his books, as part of the history of the evolution of toy soldiers. One such series was produced by the Gin father and son, French expatriates living in Naples. It depicted a procession of the King of Naples and his court. Others depicted Piedmontese infantry.

Closer to your subject, he has a picture on p. 41 of that book, of a group of 6 British Grenadiers, marching at ease, as he notes. He doesn't identify the printer, but they show that the subject was depicted in the paper soldiers of the time.

As far as age is concerned, I'd venture a guess that they're over 100 years old

Could you post some more pictures, maybe some enlargements? It'd be nice to see more of the detail on these. It's not too often that someone posts paper soldiers-this might be the first time, actually.

Prost!
Brad

 

[DMNamiot]

I would say that Brad is on the money with his answer especially the reference to the book byAlberini. Great reference! I have a German lancer that was painted on wood and is interesting but the style is different so I’m going with Brad in this set of photos. If you can post some more photos that would great.

Dave

 

[skinny]

Hi,
Thanks for the infos so far. Very interesting and much appreciated. Here are some more close-up pictures of the set.
Cheers,
Stuart

 

[rekp]

For dates check to see if any royal ciphers anywhere ie ER or GR , especially on the horse equipment . Gold State Coach was commissioned in 1760 and only used for coronations , royal weddings and jubilees . The figures in the coach don't look recognizable as UK Royal Family .

 

[theBaron]

...The figures in the coach don't look recognizable as UK Royal Family .

Well, look at the level of detail at the rest of the illustrations-the ciphers on the shabraques, for example. The royal pair is probably as close as the artist could get, given the limitations of the printing process. I suspect that the toy is intended to represent either George V or George VI.

This thread gave me the opportunity to have a look at more paper and wooden toy soldiers in my references. There were actually more makers, than my original post might suggest. Here in the US, for example, there were toy makers, makers of wooded-and-printed puzzles, who brought out sets of toy soldiers, sometimes as part of a game, that were made the same way-printed soldiers, glued to board and cut out like jigsaw puzzles. MacLaughlin Bros. here in the US was a prominent toy and game company, and they made sets like that. One depicted US cavalry in the dress uniforms of 1880-1890, for example.

It will be interesting to see if anyone might have more info on Skinny's collection, maybe another example, or info about the maker.

I'm also reminded of a suggestion Dave made in another thread, and that's that you might want to reach out to Ray Haradin and send him your pictures. As a dealer in antique toys, as well as in toy soldiers, he may be able to provide an ID and more info. Ray's website is http://www.raytoys.com/

Prost!
Brad

 

[skinny]

Hello All,
Again thank you for your elaborations. I'd imagine those toys having, aside from the entertainment value they brought, also having some educational value especially on the subject of history, for kids back then. Would anybody have any idea of what a set like this might possibly fetch at aution. Looking at what toy soldies are selling for on eBay right now, probably not quite enough for an early retirement in the caribbran or anything like that but stil I'd be curious.
Followed up a few days ago on your suggestion and contacted the antiques dealerbyou mentioned. Hopefully he might be willing and/or able to shed some new light on this. If so, I will of course share it here too.
Thanks again for all your comments.
Best regards,
Skinny

 

[theBaron]

Regarding a value, I would reach out to Ray Haradin if I were you (see above).

Prost!
Brad

 

[skinny]

Yes actually did do that a few days ago already (thanks btw for the suggestion). Be great to get an expert's opinion.
It does seem often times the more obscure a collectable items is, often times it's mearly worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. We actually have a saying for that in Dutch:"Het is maar net wat de gek ervoor geeft" Which roughly translates into:"It's whatever crazy will give for it"...
Be curious to hear what the expert has to say.
Best Regards,
Stuart