The Mystery of the "Russian" Archers (1 Viewer)

[zblang]

Ok, I am baffled here. Anyone have any input?
I just got these two archers. Both supposedly St. Petersburg Collection. They are very similar with only minor differences (dagger position and small things like that.)
As you can see, one is NE25 and one is ME25. Do you think they are the same and just mismarked? I also have another one, different design that is number ME 1. However, ME 1 does not appear in the book.

 

[Mirof]

The answer is here
http://www.aeroartinc.com/articles/st_petersburg_collection/

... not toy soldier ... but painted by different artists, meaning each piece painted individualy with the artist choice of media, perhaps the numbering reflect the artist name ( other producers like King & Country for exemple, are painted 100 in a row by the same artisan )

An artist paint one piece at a time
An artisan paint 100 heads and hands, then 100 tunics, then 100 legs, then 100 .... with the same mix of colors, of the same piece . Or even 1 guy to paint the head, one to paint the .. one to ... yes like in Modern Time / Chaplin

The Russian work as Labayen did in the 60ies, different painters for the same piece, Labayen had even 3 grades of painting
So a catalog never reflect what you will actually receive, it's depending of the talent of the artist . See you own picture; the difference is obvious .
If you visit a painting contest, you will see the same piece painted by different guys and will understand why for the same piece, one will ask 75$, and another will ask 250$ and far more for a name of renown .

 

[Alex]

it is the same casting
just an error in the marking on one of them
for russian pieces, I don't really care about the numbers under the base.
name of painter is far more important for me since I prefer the paint 'job' of some of them more than others.
also, as said previously, the paint job will determine the end price of a piece.
however, I don't like the fact that Arsenyev is charging these days 2000$ for a 54mm mounted figure only because it is an Arsenyev piece ! some of these figures are well worth it but some are not in my book. thenonly reason he does that is because he has no competition whatsoever. My dream is to establish a studio here directing many painters and try to produce competing pieces at the same price level.... maybe one day !!!
cheers
alex

Ok, I am baffled here. Anyone have any input?
I just got these two archers. Both supposedly St. Petersburg Collection. They are very similar with only minor differences (dagger position and small things like that.)
As you can see, one is NE25 and one is ME25. Do you think they are the same and just mismarked? I also have another one, different design that is number ME 1. However, ME 1 does not appear in the book.

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

I have two Russian painted US Grant figures, same figure painted by two different artists. The painting styles are very different from each other.

 

[joesgis]

Hi Zach,

The correct number for the figure in your pic is ME25. A lot of Russian figures are mismarked which can be difficult when you're trying to track down a figure by its number. ME01 is a valid number for another archer (one with ripped tights and wound). ME01 does not appear in the St Petersburg Collection book because ME01 was not a figure Thor chose to carry. Most of Arsenyev's figures were available at one time or another through Aeroart, but there were some Thor never stocked probably due to their similarity to another pieces.

Joe