Opinions: Are these K&C figures? (1 Viewer)
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theBaron
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Not King & Country, but King-White, known more commonly as Reeves, from their main sales agent.
It's possible that they were sold at K&C's Hong Kong store, though.
King-White is what I like to call the progenitor of the "Chinese style" of figure, which influenced early K&C and Frontline, in my opinion. There is a lot of similarity in the style of sculpting and painting, between these figures and the early K&C and Frontline figures.
This set is the Napoleonic Line Infantry Band, and it turns up on eBay and elsewhere on the secondary market from time to time. I'll have to check at home for the actual catalog designation.
King-White produced figures from the early 70s at least to the mid-90s, when the owner passed away. The molds may have been picked up by another Hong Kong company, whose name escapes me at the moment, and who was also the Hong Kong caster of Guard Corps' figures. I communicated with the owner of that company via email years ago; that's where I got this information on the fate of King-White.
There is a gentleman down in Florida who has some of the molds, and some of the castings, who still produces the figures today. He sells on eBay as well.
I like these figures, because they represent a transition between the classic toy soldier, simply decorated, and the "newer makers' " figures of today.
Hope that helps, prosit!
Brad
It's possible that they were sold at K&C's Hong Kong store, though.
King-White is what I like to call the progenitor of the "Chinese style" of figure, which influenced early K&C and Frontline, in my opinion. There is a lot of similarity in the style of sculpting and painting, between these figures and the early K&C and Frontline figures.
This set is the Napoleonic Line Infantry Band, and it turns up on eBay and elsewhere on the secondary market from time to time. I'll have to check at home for the actual catalog designation.
King-White produced figures from the early 70s at least to the mid-90s, when the owner passed away. The molds may have been picked up by another Hong Kong company, whose name escapes me at the moment, and who was also the Hong Kong caster of Guard Corps' figures. I communicated with the owner of that company via email years ago; that's where I got this information on the fate of King-White.
There is a gentleman down in Florida who has some of the molds, and some of the castings, who still produces the figures today. He sells on eBay as well.
I like these figures, because they represent a transition between the classic toy soldier, simply decorated, and the "newer makers' " figures of today.
Hope that helps, prosit!
Brad
Last edited:
theBaron
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Some more info on King-White...
There are some boxings of their figures in packaging labeled for specific merchants. Reeves was just one of them; another was the Treasure Chest, in Florida. King-White's Revolutionary War and Civil War figures were sold at gift shops at some of our national monuments and historic sites, such as Valley Forge and Mount Vernon.
The catalog ranged from Ancient Greeks and Romans, to the Hundred Years' War, Samurai, Prussia in the early 18th Century, the Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the British Army in the Victorian Age, the Civil War, and World War II. There were also figures from the Zulu Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. The catalog includes foot and mounted figures. Mounted figures came with a wooden base; horse and rider were separate castings. There was also a "Spirit of '76" set of 3 figures, which used the same base. There were artillery sets, too, all using the same cannon, regardless of the time period. The cannon was relatively toy-like.
Figures were sold in both a matte finish and a gloss finish. For example, I have the band, in a matte finish. I also have matte and gloss versions of their George Washington foot figure. Some gloss figures exhibit yellowing in the gloss varnish used.
Packaging included cardboard boxes, vacuformed packages with a clear shell fitted over a white bottom, and clear plastic clamshell boxes. Most of the time, a label identifying the figure and often, the retailer, was fixed to the bottom of the package.
The samurai are very similar to a line of samurai produced by the sculptor Ed Colaric, to a point where they appear to come from the same hand. As far as I know, he produced the masters for his figures, but I do think he had them cast and painted by King-White.
In the early 90s, there was a mail-order outfit in St Louis, called Armchair General. They ran mail-order sales and auctions. They sold King-White figures (as well as Colaric's samurai), along with early King & Country, Frontline, and other newer makers. It was from Armchair General that I learned that King-White had gone out of business. That was around 1993 or '94. It was announced in one of their catalogs, along with a fire sale to liquidate AG's remaining stock of K-W figures.
I have also found K-W figures in Russian blister-pack packaging, complete with Cyrillic print, sold in the former Soviet Union.
Finally, there is a series of molds available today from Castings, Inc/Rebco, that are copies of K-W figures. They may have started as commercial copies made by competitors, but today, they're available to homecasters.
And that's about everything I can remember, off the top of my head. If you search the forum for "Reeves", you'll find other threads where we've discussed them.
This makes me think that it's time to create a separate subforum for King-White, or at least, start a thread where those of us who collect them, can show them off.
Prost!
Brad
There are some boxings of their figures in packaging labeled for specific merchants. Reeves was just one of them; another was the Treasure Chest, in Florida. King-White's Revolutionary War and Civil War figures were sold at gift shops at some of our national monuments and historic sites, such as Valley Forge and Mount Vernon.
The catalog ranged from Ancient Greeks and Romans, to the Hundred Years' War, Samurai, Prussia in the early 18th Century, the Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the British Army in the Victorian Age, the Civil War, and World War II. There were also figures from the Zulu Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. The catalog includes foot and mounted figures. Mounted figures came with a wooden base; horse and rider were separate castings. There was also a "Spirit of '76" set of 3 figures, which used the same base. There were artillery sets, too, all using the same cannon, regardless of the time period. The cannon was relatively toy-like.
Figures were sold in both a matte finish and a gloss finish. For example, I have the band, in a matte finish. I also have matte and gloss versions of their George Washington foot figure. Some gloss figures exhibit yellowing in the gloss varnish used.
Packaging included cardboard boxes, vacuformed packages with a clear shell fitted over a white bottom, and clear plastic clamshell boxes. Most of the time, a label identifying the figure and often, the retailer, was fixed to the bottom of the package.
The samurai are very similar to a line of samurai produced by the sculptor Ed Colaric, to a point where they appear to come from the same hand. As far as I know, he produced the masters for his figures, but I do think he had them cast and painted by King-White.
In the early 90s, there was a mail-order outfit in St Louis, called Armchair General. They ran mail-order sales and auctions. They sold King-White figures (as well as Colaric's samurai), along with early King & Country, Frontline, and other newer makers. It was from Armchair General that I learned that King-White had gone out of business. That was around 1993 or '94. It was announced in one of their catalogs, along with a fire sale to liquidate AG's remaining stock of K-W figures.
I have also found K-W figures in Russian blister-pack packaging, complete with Cyrillic print, sold in the former Soviet Union.
Finally, there is a series of molds available today from Castings, Inc/Rebco, that are copies of K-W figures. They may have started as commercial copies made by competitors, but today, they're available to homecasters.
And that's about everything I can remember, off the top of my head. If you search the forum for "Reeves", you'll find other threads where we've discussed them.
This makes me think that it's time to create a separate subforum for King-White, or at least, start a thread where those of us who collect them, can show them off.
Prost!
Brad
theBaron
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You're very welcome, glad to share what I've learned. I have small collection of King-White, and I'm very fond of the style. They were the first commercially-made figures I ever collected, starting with George Washington from Mount Vernon.
Prost!
Brad
Prost!
Brad
tdubel
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Hi Peter,
The Brad's have hit the nails on the head, these are Reeves King White Napoleonic 15 piece band. They are some of the original Chinese Matte style figures.
I have a near run of their entire catalog including the chess sets (missing 1 chess set and probably under 10 figures total). My Dad used to buy them for me as rewards from FAO Schwartz.
Anyhow, there is a K&C connection - Andy can provide the details, but Mr. Chung (owner of King White) was an original factory that Andy visited in wanting to do figures. Additionally, I have an original proto type Streets of Hong Kong figures with building that were done back in the day, you can search the archives on here for pictures.
They will always remain some of my favorite figures.
Tom
The Brad's have hit the nails on the head, these are Reeves King White Napoleonic 15 piece band. They are some of the original Chinese Matte style figures.
I have a near run of their entire catalog including the chess sets (missing 1 chess set and probably under 10 figures total). My Dad used to buy them for me as rewards from FAO Schwartz.
Anyhow, there is a K&C connection - Andy can provide the details, but Mr. Chung (owner of King White) was an original factory that Andy visited in wanting to do figures. Additionally, I have an original proto type Streets of Hong Kong figures with building that were done back in the day, you can search the archives on here for pictures.
They will always remain some of my favorite figures.
Tom
tdubel
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A good question. Do you have it in the individual plastic boxes or the version that came in a cheap white box lined with foam? Reeves value varies from $5 to $20 a figure depending on which range. These were made in plentiful quantities, the band was the featured set at FAO Schwartz one year, so it was highly popular and sold by the piece for about $7.50 a figure. I have seen these sell mint in foam box or mint in individual boxes from anywhere in the $75 to $125 range.
Tom
theBaron
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I have a nice cardboard box for the set, too, which holds individual cardboard boxes for each figure, each with the appropriate label for the figure.
I agree with you, Tom, on the upper range, primarily from watching auctions for the set on eBay. I have seen some start at $200 for the opening bid, but they typically sit and end up closing without a bidder. The individual figures tend to fall in the range for other Reeves figures, from $5 to $15, generally speaking. I think the circle of Reeve's collectors is a small one, within the broader hobby.
Prost!
Brad