Old English knights (1 Viewer)

[powi777]

Hello everybody,

I am new around here. I'm a collector of all sorts of toys. I bought a couple of boxes of old stuff that I am not going to bother with. In it, was a box of toy soldiers I hadn't spotted at first.

It concerns about 300 mostly metal, some plastic toys. I've been able to identify quite a few, and they date back to the 30's up to the 60's (as far I know so far).

There's maybe 50 or so soldiers I have not been able to identify. So I thought I would post them here, a more experienced place on the matter.

I will be posting a couple of sets. This the first one. I have about 20 metal knights that I can't identify the maker of. I think they are tournament knights. At the bottom it says 'made in England'. THere's also a tiny stamp that I cannot identify.

Would anybody know? And if I'm totally in the wrong place to ask, please don't hesitate either!

 

[Mike Niederman]

Hi powi, welcome to the Forum! Those knights are made by Crescent, one of the many toy soldier makers who flourished in London, England. There's a picture of them (and their fellows) on pg 186 of Norman Joplin's Great Book of Hollow-cast Figures.
Please post any and all figures you are curious about. There's a few of us here who enjoy IDing vintage toy soldier mystery men.

 

[powi777]

Hi powi, welcome to the Forum! Those knights are made by Crescent, one of the many toy soldier makers who flourished in London, England. There's a picture of them (and their fellows) on pg 186 of Norman Joplin's Great Book of Hollow-cast Figures.
Please post any and all figures you are curious about. There's a few of us here who enjoy IDing vintage toy soldier mystery men.

Hi Mike,

Thank you very much. I wouldn't have guessed! Could I ask what series they are, or how do you id them? And what is their age? Maybe I should get the catalogue?

 

[Mike Niederman]

Powi, my primary focus of interest has been on Britains hollow-cast figures, and most of my reference material reflects that. The Joplin book was a good price on eBay, so I picked it up. It covers all the British makers of metal figures from 1893 to 1966, but with such a wide coverage it is unavoidably short on detailed info. The page on Crescent knights mentions a date of 1953 on one picture, and shows a boxed set described as 'postwar' on another. Both pictures have examples of your figures. Joplin's history of the Crescent Toy Company which introduces the section suggests that the main part of their metal production was in the 1950s, transitioning to plastic by 1960.
The least expensive reference book I know of is Andrew Rose's Collector's All-colour guide to toy soldiers. It is a good intro to the hobby, although heavily weighted to Britains' production.
For British plastic figures, the best references can be found through Plastic Warrior: http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.com.
And of course this Forum is a great source of news, information, and contacts.

 

[powi777]

Powi, my primary focus of interest has been on Britains hollow-cast figures, and most of my reference material reflects that. The Joplin book was a good price on eBay, so I picked it up. It covers all the British makers of metal figures from 1893 to 1966, but with such a wide coverage it is unavoidably short on detailed info. The page on Crescent knights mentions a date of 1953 on one picture, and shows a boxed set described as 'postwar' on another. Both pictures have examples of your figures. Joplin's history of the Crescent Toy Company which introduces the section suggests that the main part of their metal production was in the 1950s, transitioning to plastic by 1960.
The least expensive reference book I know of is Andrew Rose's Collector's All-colour guide to toy soldiers. It is a good intro to the hobby, although heavily weighted to Britains' production.
For British plastic figures, the best references can be found through Plastic Warrior: http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.com.
And of course this Forum is a great source of news, information, and contacts.

Ok! Thank you, Mike. I'll leave the catalogue for now. Apparently, and that's not so weird, there's more than one regarding toy soldiers!
1950's sounds about right, given the other soldiers I have id'd so far in this box. The oldest are from elastolin (germany) and durso (belgium) onwards to the early 60's. It might actually be all from one collector...

Philip