K&C Rarities (1 Viewer)

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storch

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Whether you collect coins, stamps or soldiers, there is always that one piece that is the most elusive of all. Everyone has heard about it, but very few have actually seen it. It is usually a one of a kind or a defective issue that was withdrawn before going into circulation, or a piece that for some odd reason was produced with a singular trait that was never repeated or was produced in a very small number. Does anyone know if there is such rare piece (or pieces) among the K&C figures?


Gil
 
Gil,

There are a number of K&C rareties:

1. The Glossy Free French & Glossy U.S. MP (1993) - Free French didn't sell well, very few of this set produced;
2. Matt WS04 Panzer Crew (1997) - never actually advertised for sale, phased out after less than 30 sets produced, by far the rarest matt set;
3. Les Miserables (1996) - 200 sets produced, mostly for the cast & crew of the Hong Kong production of Les Miserables, very few sold to collectors;
4. Afrika Corps Short Barreled Panzer IV (1998) - One of a kind repaint of the gray polystone Panzer IV used as a backdrop to standing Rommel figure in flyer, then sold to a collector (guess who);
5. 8th Army Sherman, wood (1997) - 2 produced, one sold;
6. Wood version of Iwo Sherman (1997) - 4 produced because a certain collector (guess who) hated the polystone version of IWJ11;
7. IWJ11(W) (1998) - Winter version of IWJ11 made specially at the request of Tony Cicarello of the Toy Soldier Gallery, 10 made;
8. RA05(w) Winter white version of T-34 Tank, made specially at the request of Tony Cicarello of the Toy Soldier Gallery, 15 made;
9. Prototypes of vehicles Andy decided not to produce, including Bedford Troop Transport Lorry, Bedford QL Radio Command Vehicle, Humber Command Vehicle, no more than 3 made of each, usually one each of different camo schemes;
10. Austin K2 Ambulance (wood) in Desert markings (1996), 5 made;
11. Vietnam Duster Anti-Aircraft Tank (1997) 5-10 made;
12. Resin & Metal Version of Hanomag (1996) 5-10 made.

These are pretty much the rarest of the rare K&C pieces. As you live in queens, if you want to see them all drop me a PM and take a trip to see my K&C museum in Roslyn Harbor (Nassau County, exit 36 off the LIE).
 
Of that list, I can only say I have half of the Free French and I wouldn't have gotten them but for Louis, so thanks again :)
 
Of course Richard. Anytime you are going to be in New York, just drop me a PM or an e-mail, and I would be honored to show you around. The best way to see the museum, however, is to arrange to come the second weekend in March (the weekend after the Westcoaster) and attend the Symposium. Then in addition to seeing the museum, there will be the opportunity to view two other equally extensive collections (Lawrence Lo's and Mark Hoffman's), and meet many people involved in the hobby, including Andy & Gordon Neilson of K&C, Tony, Jane and Dispatch Dave of K&C, UK, the Reuss's of Treefrog, Bill Sager of Sager's Toy Soldiers, Tim Tyler of Troops of Time, and some of the biggest collectors in the world, including Hans Hedrich, Lawrence Lo and Mark Hoffman (co-sponsors of the Symposium with myself), Doug Luna, Charlie Zucker, Clive Gande and Kevin Elliott, just to name a few. Last year we were honored to also have Mr. Wang from Figarti join us.
 
Hello Louis
I just took notice that you live in NY. Can I ask where? I grew up in Manhattan 42nd street and 10th avenue.
 
Until two years ago I lived at 24th and 2nd. Now I live in Roslyn Harbor, which is a village in Nassau County.
 
My wife use to work at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. at 23rd street. I worked in many areas of NY but mostly Coney Island's 60pct.
 
An aerial view of Louis' K&C Museum in Roslyn Harbor :eek:

Pierre.
 

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Louis Badolato said:
Yes, and I keep trying to convince the County that the art would look better in a historical colonial house, and that building is tailor made for displaying K&C, but you know politicians . . .
Click to expand...

I thought you ran for office? Guess it didn't work out :confused: Sorry:(
 
Funny, when I first saw the picture, I thought it was my guest house!
The money I have spent on K&C, you would have thought I would live on an estate like that.
Can you believe a year after I began collecting, Tony, from the Toy Soldier Gallery, my regular dealer, called me and asked if I wanted the winter sherman for $125.
I hesitated, having absolutly no idea of it,s rareity, and finally said ok, and I bought it.
It,s a shame I passed around the same time getting an origional winter tiger, thinking I,ll pick one up later.
Don,t know what the actual value would be on the sherman, but compared to the stuff being done now, it is one ugly tank.
Gary
 
I don't know if it's rare, but one oddity I found in my WS051 set (MG42 Gun Group) is that the NCO lying with the binoculars had the rank pips (dots) painted on both sides of his collar when they should only be on the left side. Hence there was no "SS" on his right collar patch. I've never seen K&C make this mistake before. A few months ago I saw pictures of this figure on ebay, but this time it had the correct "SS" on the right collar and rank dots on only the left collar, as it should be. So I bought it and now I have both variants. There were also significant differences in how the faces were painted (I've seen this when getting duplicates of other figures as well), and in the set with the double rank dots the machine gunner's ammo belt was painted black, but in the other set the belt was painted brass, which looks much better. Of course, there are also differences in how the camouflage pattern is painted. Bottom line is, due to the hand painting, there may be quite a lot of interesting (and potentially collectible) variations in K&C sets.
 
There are a lot of painting variations in early K&C figures (up to around WS15 or so). Different portions of the uniform and/or helmet in camo as opposed to gray, even the early bases are plain gray, with later production having earth/grass/etc. painted on the same bases. So the pips you mention are probably a mistake/variation along these lines.
 
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