HIRIART Durbar & Indian Army Sets (1 Viewer)

[ucla1967]

I have always liked the colorful Indian Army sets of many manufacturers. Currently, in my collection, in addition to Hiriart, I have 136 Trophy figures, 90Nickolson figures, and 68 Kingcast figures. All are in sets.

Here is a fairly comprehensive photo line up of Hiriart's sets:

1080 Governor General's Bodyguard

1081 Bengal Native Infantry

1109 The Queen's Own Corps of Guides

1160 Bombay Grenadiers

1161 Punjabi Infantry

 

[ucla1967]

Please note that some of these photos will only show partial sets, but all foot sets have nine figures while cavalry sets have five figures. An exception would be eight figures when there is a mounted officer in a foot set.

1203 1st Lancers, Skinner's Horse

1204 31st Lancers, the Duke of Connaught's Own

1214 4th Madras Light Cavalry

1243 Imperial Cadet Corps

1261 Indian Mountain Artillery

 

[ucla1967]

Here are four more.

1283 Ordnance Corps Band

1303 24th Baluchi Light Infantry

1304 127th Baluchi Light Infantry

1306 1st Bombay Native Grenadiers

 

[ucla1967]

Five more. Note that the Delhi Durbar elephant sets each have foot figures which are not shown.

1309 Delhi Durbar with King George V

1310 Dehli Durbar with Queen Mary

1322 British Mountain Artillery, India

1106A Elephant with Machine Gun

1106B Elephant with Mortar

 

[ucla1967]

Here is a display of some of Bob Walker's Hiriart Indian Army sets. It shows set 1161 Punjabi Infantry plus two add-on sets of 9 extra men each in formation. Set 1283 Ordnance Cops Band follows them.

 

[tdubel]

Very nice, I have the 1106a and b, but not the Durbars, have to find them!
Tom

 

[W T Allison II]

Here is a display of some of Bob Walker's Hiriart Indian Army sets. It shows set 1161 Punjabi Infantry plus two add-on sets of 9 extra men each in formation. Set 1283 Ordnance Cops Band follows them.

Hi Mike: Where do you find the sets and a list of what he made for the Durbar? Terrific collection! I had no idea that period was covered by Hiriart.

 

[ucla1967]

Hi Mike: Where do you find the sets and a list of what he made for the Durbar? Terrific collection! I had no idea that period was covered by Hiriart.

Tommy,

I am not aware of any store or mail order dealer who carries them in the U.S. There are a couple of European sources. Buzz Thorpe sells them at the Chicago Show and I sell them at the West Coaster in California, but I am a collector/importer rather than a dealer, per se. I don't know if they are sold at any other U.S. shows. There are also a number of eBayers who sell them periodically, especially PATRON in El Salvador. That being said, I place one order a year with Hiriart which includes orders for about 12 U.S. and Danish collectors. About half of the U.S. collectors are here in California, the others are in Texas, Nebraska, Florida, New Jersey, and North Carolina.

Actually, I attached photos of all of Hiriart's Indian sets. The only two that are specfically refered to Durbar sets are the King George V and Queen Mary elephant sets. Some of you who are more familiar with the various Durbars may know which units were or were not present at that particular Durbar. If there is something I can order for you, please let me know via PM.

 

[W T Allison II]

Tommy,

I am not aware of any store or mail order dealer who carries them in the U.S. There are a couple of European sources. Buzz Thorpe sells them at the Chicago Show and I sell them at the West Coaster in California, but I am a collector/importer rather than a dealer, per se. I don't know if they are sold at any other U.S. shows. There are also a number of eBayers who sell them periodically, especially PATRON in El Salvador. That being said, I place one order a year with Hiriart which includes orders for about 12 U.S. and Danish collectors. About half of the U.S. collectors are here in California, the others are in Texas, Nebraska, Florida, New Jersey, and North Carolina.

Actually, I attached photos of all of Hiriart's Indian sets. The only two that are specfically refered to Durbar sets are the King George V and Queen Mary elephant sets. Some of you who are more familiar with the various Durbars may know which units were or were not present at that particular Durbar. If there is something I can order for you, please let me know via PM.

Mike: Thanks so much for the information.

 

[ucla1967]

Technically speaking, this set of Gurkhas, may or may not belong here since they are from Nepal.

1047 Gurkha Rifles

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi mike,

Great sets! The Gurkhas do belong at least in the 1903 Durbar. I dont have details on George V Durbar but they were likely in attendance as they were part of the Rifle Brigades.

You mention a European source for these sets could you please elaborate as I am in Germany and would like to see if I could get some of these especially the Ordnance Corps Band.

Thanks for posting these great sets

Dave

 

[VIRIATO]

Hi mike,

Great sets! The Gurkhas do belong at least in the 1903 Durbar. I dont have details on George V Durbar but they were likely in attendance as they were part of the Rifle Brigades.

You mention a European source for these sets could you please elaborate as I am in Germany and would like to see if I could get some of these especially the Ordnance Corps Band.

Thanks for posting these great sets

Dave

This is not Mike here but still hope this helps:http://www.saimextoys.it/azienda.htm.

Cheers,
Paulo

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Paulo,

Thanks for the link I took a look and was able to figure out most of it but I have a question. What does the phrase Non Disponibile mean? I didnt see a translation button but like I said most of it was pretty clear.

Dave

 

[ucla1967]

Hi Paulo,

Thanks for the link I took a look and was able to figure out most of it but I have a question. What does the phrase Non Disponibile mean? I didnt see a translation button but like I said most of it was pretty clear.

Dave

Dave,

Paolo answered before I could, but that is the Italian dealer that I was going to refer you to. His name is Stefano Alorini and he speaks English. I met him at the Chicago Show about three or four years ago; he is a very nice guy.

His sets have eight infantry figures instead of nine and four cavalry instead of five. I think his bands have 16 or 17 rather than 19-21 figures. They cost a little more at 110 Euros a set ($153 vs. $120), but that might have something to do with the VAT. I believe "Non Disponiblle" might mean that they are not in stock. It doesn't mean that they have been discontinued.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the information, I will drop him an email. I will also see if he takes a VAT form that we are able to use here IOT avoid the tax, its a nice break for us otherwise it gets real hard to do anything or buy anything with the tax rates the way they are. Belgium is already at 21% and Germany is at 19% and talking about a move to 21. I dont know what the rate is in Italy but I am sure its a pretty penny or euro. Bring back the good old days of Lira and Marks and other money that was worth a lot less than the dollar.

Anyway I appreciate the help here, there are some really interesting sets in this companies inventory and I am certianly going to pursue them.

Dave

 

[ucla1967]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the information, I will drop him an email. I will also see if he takes a VAT form that we are able to use here IOT avoid the tax, its a nice break for us otherwise it gets real hard to do anything or buy anything with the tax rates the way they are. Belgium is already at 21% and Germany is at 19% and talking about a move to 21. I dont know what the rate is in Italy but I am sure its a pretty penny or euro. Bring back the good old days of Lira and Marks and other money that was worth a lot less than the dollar.

Anyway I appreciate the help here, there are some really interesting sets in this companies inventory and I am certianly going to pursue them.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Glad to be of assistance.. I am sure Stefano will be able to help you. Hopefully his prices can be reduced through the VAT form you are refering to. If not, maybe I can help you. I assume you have an APO address.

Where is Leimen located and what unit are you assigned to? I served for one year in Bad Aibling, Germany, which is about half way between Munich and Salzburg, from 1963 to 1964. I was with the 320th USASA Bn (Army Security Agency) which has since been replaced by ISCOM. That is the ASA patch by my name.

The good old days include a four Marks to the dollar exchange rate back then---a liter of beer was one Mark. I travelled all over Europe using a book called "Europe on $5 A Day." When I worked as a civilan at our embassy in Rome in the early 1970s, the Lira was 420 to the dollar. We lived in an atico apartment which is like a penthouse with marble floors and bathrooms for about $400 a month which the U.S. Government paid for.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Mike,

We are about 6KM south of Heidelberg, and my wife works for USAREUR HQ.

We were here about 15 years ago and I remember the Mark to Dollar rate of 3.48 so we enjoyed ourselves as well. The cost for a half liter glass of wine at the fest in Bad Durkheim was an incredible 1.50 Mark so you could really enjoy your self, I also remember many trips where we just took off and didnt worry about making reservations because we could afford the pricey stuff.

Ah the good old days. I was in 1st Armored Division Units here as well as working in 7th Army which seems to have taken over here now. See a lot of the 7 Steps to H E ** Patches. I will also say it is interesting being a spouse here and not an active duty soldier. Change of pace to be sure.

Dave

PS Yes we have an APO address as well as a German Street address.

 

[ucla1967]

Hi Mike,

We are about 6KM south of Heidelberg, and my wife works for USAREUR HQ.

We were here about 15 years ago and I remember the Mark to Dollar rate of 3.48 so we enjoyed ourselves as well. The cost for a half liter glass of wine at the fest in Bad Durkheim was an incredible 1.50 Mark so you could really enjoy your self, I also remember many trips where we just took off and didnt worry about making reservations because we could afford the pricey stuff.

Ah the good old days. I was in 1st Armored Division Units here as well as working in 7th Army which seems to have taken over here now. See a lot of the 7 Steps to H E ** Patches. I will also say it is interesting being a spouse here and not an active duty soldier. Change of pace to be sure.

Dave

PS Yes we have an APO address as well as a German Street address.

Hi Dave,

When I was in Germany during the height of the Cold War, the U.S. Army had 250,000 men in West Germany. Under USAEUR, the Seventh Army had its Headquarters in Heidlberg. V Corps with three Divisions: 3rd Armored in Frankfurt, 3rd Mechanized Infantry in Wurtzberg, and 8th Mechanized Infantry in Bad Krueznach (west of the Rhine). The 8th ID was interesting because one of its three brigades was airborne parachute infantry and was tasked with either reinforcing Norway or maybe Greece in the event war broke out. VII Corps further south in Bavaria had the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division at Augsburg and the 4th Armored Division at Goerping (sp?). There were also three, later four, Armorded Cavalry Regiments screening the border. There was also an independent brigade in Berlin. We were facing 22 first-line Soviet divisions in East Germany organized into three Guards Tank, Guards, and Shock Tank Armies. They were backed up by eight more divisions in Poland and another 40 just east in the Byelorussian Military District. We would have been steam rollered in about two weeks; it is questionable whether many of us would have survived.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Mike,

I got here during the Cold War for 2 REFORGER's, I was up in the North with 2AD our pomcus stocks were actually in Holland and we were susposed to back up the units in the north against the Soviet Hord that was piled up along that area. I agree that if we had made it in before the ballon went up we probably would have been fighting a pretty nasty fight if we didnt get there before they had corssed the border I would not have wanted to speculate on how long the airfields we needed to stage in would have been held or for that matter if we had enough AF to hold them off IOT get an entire Corps on the ground. Would have been interesting to say the least.

During the last REFORGER did our maneuvers in the south down by Donauworth, man that was a great time but the locals were heavy in the Green Party and they were doing alsorts of demonstrations. It was interesting to see all the young Germans so angry with our mission. But we did have some fun during the maneuvers. When I was on a convoy as the convoy commander we had a Soviet SMLEM (pronounced Smell'em) try to break into our convoy so we boxed him in with 3 trucks and quickly edged him into the median, needless to say he was not a happy camper and when I reported him the Colonel was laughing and said we should have run him over with a deuce.

Ah the coldwar such good memories!

Funny how when I was here the 7th ATC was less of a force than USAREUR HQ was they seem to be coming back a little but the forces here are like a ghost of their former selves. Places that were thriving are gone or nearly shut down, The plan now if to close down Heidelberg and move everyone here up to Wiesbaden in the next 5 years. There are a lot of Germans who will be out of work because of it but there are also a bunch of developers who cant wait to get their hands on places like Patton Barracks and Nachrecten Kassern. I think Campbell Barracks will be handed to the Bundeswehr or perhaps keep Eucom HQ there but they could just as easily move eucom to Stuttgart where they have a lot of assets already. Even Patrick Henry Village is going to be closed and All of the facilities in Mannheim are going to shut down as well. I guess its progress but it certainly not fun to watch.

Anyway I was in 2AD, 8th ID, 1st AD and then 7th ATC in a span of 5 years.

Dave

 

[ucla1967]

FYI: I have listed both HIRIART Dehli Durbar elephant sets for sale under the thread "Collector Classified-For Sale/Trade." Post #4 above has photos of these two sets. They are MIB, as received from Uruguay, and are $240 each. I want to sell both sets togetherr, rather than break them up.