kogu's "John Firth" collection (1 Viewer)

[kogu]

Fellow collectors, ladies and gentlemen,

this year sees me very much slowing down my collecting efforts, my spending on the hobby and even selling a lot of stuff I had accumulated of years. But there is one particular subject within my collection, that I more and more appreciate, and that is my "John Firth" collection.
It was in the fall of 2008, when John, a.k.a. "beating retreat" on this forum, posted in the Services section here, and offered to paint figures for collectors on a commission basis. He also provided a link to a website where his previous work was displayed. When I saw his "Superior Gloss" style figures, I was very much taken by the wonderful, precise and detailed finish, not always found in gloss style figures. John manages to combine the ever old charming appearance of a gloss style toy soldier with an actual face, and even an impression on the face, not only the usual two dots for an eye.
Back then I pretty much immediately contacted John and inquired about how the commissioning works and how we can make a deal?
A deal was arranged rather quickly, and then, a few weeks later the time came when I received my first "John Firth" piece.
It was a day in November 2008, when the first package came in from John.
I was very, very curious and excited what I would get to see, and boy was I amazed, once I had carefully wrapped out the figure.

Below you see some pictures from the very first piece I received, and with them you should understand that I got hooked right then ^&grin

It was a casting from the "Tradition of London" model soldier range, showing Sgt. Ewart capturing the French Eagle.

All the figures I want to show in this thread have been shown previously on this forum throughout the last couple of years, but I thought they are worth to be displayed all together again in this "Collection" section.

Hope you enjoy.

Konrad

 

[kogu]

A couple more shots of this piece that started it all :wink2:
Konrad

 

[zblang]

Stunning! John does such great work. I haven't seen anyone doing glossies better. He is doing a medieval banquet scene for me now that I can't wait to see!

 

[kogu]

While I wanted to start this thread with the very first piece I got from John, following pictures will not be in a chronological order, but just randomly picked.
Here's another piece, that I received in October 2010.
By then I limited my commissions to the "British Empire" subject, which we followed through until today.
Here's are 3 pictures of an AZW Gun Team.
Castings by Mountford Metal Miniatures, a little conversed by him here and there and he made the base as well.
Konrad

 

[kogu]

And three more views of the AZW Gun Team.
Konrad

 

[kogu]

Stunning! John does such great work. I haven't seen anyone doing glossies better. He is doing a medieval banquet scene for me now that I can't wait to see!

Hi Zach,

I believe it, when you say that you can't wait to see :wink2:
Rest assured that you will not be disappointed.

Happy Collecting!

Konrad

 

[nmrocks]

That's a beautiful set!
Ray

 

[jazzeum]

I'm awaiting some German Imperial Officers from John.

Brad

 

[Dragoon]

Beautiful sets. Thanks for reposting.....Looking forward to seeing more of these little gems.

 

[kogu]

In April 2010, this figure came in from John.
A casting, released by the BMSS (British Model Soldier Society). An Officer of the 30th Lancers (Gordon's Own), Tent-Pegging.

A very fine piece.

Konrad

 

[kogu]

And a few more views, because I like it so much ^&grin :wink2:

Konrad

 

[marco55]

Hard to believe it's been almost 6 years since you started collecting these.Time sure does fly by.
Mark

 

[4th Hussar]

Does the BMSS still sell castings ?

 

[farmertony]

Well,I was not familiar with John Firth's work,but it is certainly impressive.I am particularly impressed by his painting of the horses.Ewart's horse is one of the best and most realistic representations of a grey horse I have seen.

 

[Obee]

I'm just back home after a wonderful holiday in UK and Europe.

One of the highlights of this journey was spending an enjoyable morning with John and his wife Maureen in their home in Newark, Nottingham, and seeing his fine workmanship on so many figures in his collection, and upcoming painting projects.

Thanks for your kind hospitality, John, and for showing me your workshop.

Its the personal contact with fellow collectors that makes our hobby

John

 

[beating retreat]

I'm just back home after a wonderful holiday in UK and Europe.

One of the highlights of this journey was spending an enjoyable morning with John and his wife Maureen in their home in Newark, Nottingham, and seeing his fine workmanship on so many figures in his collection, and upcoming painting projects.

Thanks for your kind hospitality, John, and for showing me your workshop.

Its the personal contact with fellow collectors that makes our hobby

John

Hi John

Glad you enjoyed the morning as Maureen and myself thoroughly did. It was lovely to meet you and Pauline and great to talk about toy soldiers with someone as enthusiastic as I am.
Now have you finished those castings yet? :wink2:
Regards John

 

[Obee]

Now have you finished those castings yet? :wink2:

I got home 24 hours ago .....

so they are now on my workbench waiting 'a lick of paint' ...

...............sometime this month

Thanks again,

John

 

[jazzeum]

Well,I was not familiar with John Firth's work,but it is certainly impressive.I am particularly impressed by his painting of the horses.Ewart's horse is one of the best and most realistic representations of a grey horse I have seen.

John's website is www.beatingretreat.com

It shows off a lot of his work.

 

[marco55]

He does gorgeous work.
Mark

 

[kogu]

The Household Cavalry.

It was in November 2011, when this splendid vignette came in.
But this set has more to it than John's wonderful painting, and is a good opportunity to mention another fellow forum member, who heavily contributed to my "British Empire" collection.

I am talking about forum member "trooper", or better known to the Toy Soldier World for many, many years as Alan Caton, toy soldier sculptor for numerous companies. Squadron, ATS, Asset, Yeomanry Miniatures, BMSS, just to name a few. In addition I often describe him as a walking Encyclopedia of military matters and history.

It was earlier in 2011 when I was going through one of the Britain's Collector Club magazines "The Standard". On one page I found the print in the first picture below.
"Officer's Uniforms: The Household Cavalry ca. 1890 by William Jones".
When looking at it, I thought that this would be a great set to have for my collection, but had no idea who could possibly provide the castings for it?
So, as with many other questions about the hobby or in particular about the British Empire I went to my go-to, or better write-to guy, Alan Caton.
I asked him if he would know anybody who could provide castings to make up this vignette?
He indeed did know someone, and it was he himself.
He told me that he had enough parts in his casting reservoir to create the 3 mounted figures.
The two standing figures he did not have, but listen to this, he actually sculpted them as "one of's" just for this vignette.
He then kindly shipped all castings to John, and the result of both artists you can see below.

At this point I want to use this thread for another big, big Thank You to "trooper" :salute::
The majority of figures in my "British Empire" collection are his sculpts.

To display the group properly, John created the base for them.

The three mounted Officers are from the 1st Lifeguards, 2nd Lifeguards and the Royal Horse Guards. The two standing Officers are from the 1st Lifeguards and 2nd Lifeguards.

Happy Collecting!