W. Britains Ltd - Rare or Redone? (1 Viewer)

[Arnhemjim]

Hello to Members of the Forum,
Having collected British Regimental cap badges as well as toy soldiers for several decades, am painfully aware of the proliferation of outright fakes into the cap badge market place, and the evolved callous, if not crass attitude of once factitious auction houses in dealing with same.

With regard to vintage W. Britains, Ltd. toy soldiers, have personally observed an increase in the appearance of certain, heretofore rather scarce sets, appearing more and more regularly at auction. One logical explanation is that owners of collections are advancing in years, and that either they or their inheritors, realizing a proliferation in the market and resultant overall decline, are trying to take the remaining opportunity to cash in on the remaining rarer sets in their possession. Obviously the other being an expert re-paint with the intent to defraud.

Specifically three examples happen to come to mind; Set No.1913 The Cameronians, Set No. 1850, Netherlands Infantry, and Set No. (un-cataloged) Argentine Infantry, con casco. In the latter two cases the same figure being used as the much more common Set No.1856, Polish Infantry.

Would greatly entertain forum members assessment of, or comment on, these current offerings with a well established auction house, presented below. Apologies for not being able to show either larger or multiple close-up images.

Best regards and Stay safe,
Arnhem Jim
Arizona Territory

 

[Mike Niederman]

Preliminary observations on these sets:
Painting looks too "neat" and uniform for the usual Britains standard. Perfect condition of paint doesn't match worn condition of boxes and inserts. The figures are all supposed to be 80 years old, after all. All sets are retied and the insert cards have been removed and re-stapled at some point in sets 1913 and 1850 to allow this (the slot-type insert in 1837 would be easy to refit figures in). No rubber-stamped set ID in the lower left space on the labels.
Nothing absolutely conclusive, but it's enough to create some doubt. I've seen some very obvious errors in auction descriptions in the last couple of years, even in listings of common sets. There aren't any experts left in the field to do proper evaluations, it appears. Has Opie retired completely?

 

[norman joplin]

These are all made by the same unscrupulous person , he and his cohorts have been passing these off to experienced auction houses and they still let them slip through. Also they are sent to auction houses , with no experienced toy soldier expert.
One common clue is that they always seem to tie or retie the soldiers so that the moveable arm is pressed against the tie card, thus not being able to see if the arm is fixed or moveable.
The stamped label on most reproduced or fake backing cards has a mis- spelling of the word registered.
I am happy to have this discussed on the forum
Norman Joplin