What is the most special/unique set in your Durbar/Raj collection? (1 Viewer)

[DMNamiot]

When you have a chance send me a PM with your email and I will send you scans of the Nostalgia and Star catalogs that I have. I also have a very good Durbar Catalog from Marlborough that includes a lot of high number sets D176 Napiers Rifles Color Party is the last set in the catalog.

Dave

 

[TheDurbarMan]

When you have a chance send me a PM with your email and I will send you scans of the Nostalgia and Star catalogs that I have. I also have a very good Durbar Catalog from Marlborough that includes a lot of high number sets D176 Napiers Rifles Color Party is the last set in the catalog.

Dave

Hi Dave

Thank you so much! I’ve sent you a PM.

Best wishes

 

[TheDurbarMan]

I am fortunate to have two Royal Express Durbar elephants in my collection. Here’s a picture of the Maharajah of Mysore’s state elephant (followed by Marlborough’s Baroda elephant). The howdah is made of wood. I’ve not seen many Royal Express elephants over the years. Bill and Kay made maybe a dozen or so different elephants, most were generic/imaginary sets but I’m aware of three which were based on actual elephants from the Durbar, specially: 1) Mysore; 2) Shan Prince from Burma; and 3) Travencore. If anyone has any Royal Express elephants or pictures of them - please share!

 

[Poppo]

I am fortunate to have two Royal Express Durbar elephants in my collection. Here’s a picture of the Maharajah of Mysore’s state elephant (followed by Marlborough’s Baroda elephant). The howdah is made of wood. I’ve not seen many Royal Express elephants over the years. Bill and Kay made maybe a dozen or so different elephants, most were generic/imaginary sets but I’m aware of three which were based on actual elephants from the Durbar, specially: 1) Mysore; 2) Shan Prince from Burma; and 3) Travencore. If anyone has any Royal Express elephants or pictures of them - please share!

Very nice and pleasant to see

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Very nice and pleasant to see

Thank you. I attach a photo of the Royal Express Durbar Shan Prince elephant (in the right hand side of the photo) - it’s very similar to the Marlborough version of the same elephant except the Royal Express elephant has its trunk facing downwards.

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Hi All, I am reposting this from another thread in case anyone has further information: I attach some photos of a figure of a maharajah that I have in my collection which I understand is by Nostalgia. It depicts a maharajah seated on a throne (which is shaped like Maharajah Ranjith Singh’s golden throne at the V&A museum) beneath an umbrella canopy. I have a similar figure of another maharajah wearing red seated on a throne without the umbrella (there is a hole where the umbrella should be fixed). Has anyone else come across any similar figures and if so please can you share photos? I have often wondered whether these were from a particular series and if so what other pieces formed part of this series? In addition do you know if there was footstool for the throne? Best wishes

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Durbarman

I mentioned you and this thread to Pat Wade. He has been getting a new computer situated so I think he will drop in after Easter weekend. I am having issues with my photos so I’m figuring out what I need to do to resize them properly for them to up load. I probably will get it sorted soon. I don’t have as extensive a collection as you but I’ve got a really good chunk on Marlborough’s line and all of W Britains Durbar line (matte too) and I have added some Beau Geste sets and a bunch of other makers India/Raj sets. Please keep posting pictures of your collection so we can discuss this event and the amazing spectacle it was!

All the best

Dave

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Hi Dave

Thank you for your message. I look forward to discussing this great event further and also look forward to hearing from Pat when he is back online.

Some of the photos from the Durbar of 1903 and 1911 show vast numbers of troops amassed together. As a result I often try to display a dozen or more of the same cavalry and infantry figures together. I attach a picture of my Orcha Camel Kettledrummers followed by Kutch camel standard bearers, these sets are perhaps not as rare/unique as the other sets I’ve previously listed on this thread but it’s not usual to see so many together at the same time. It took me several years to find this many camels!

Best wishes

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Durbarman

I hope Pat shows up soon he will truly enjoy your displays. I totally love the variety of animals that you find in the various Durbar lines! I have almost all of the camels from Marlborough and have been looking for a very long time for the Camel Standard Bearers and the Camel Kettle Drummer. The drummer seems to be a very elusive set but I am sure I’ll find one eventually! I love seeing your displays with so much packed into the various shelves and curios. I reminds me of some of the photos I’ve seen with the crowds in Chandni Chauk and how crowded it was. So that’s why I’ve put civilians and route liners in my display facing inward with their backs towards anyone viewing the curio display. I don’t have the numbers you do but I’m working on it!

Dave

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Hi Dave

Thank you for your message. It sounds like we have similar displaying styles. Like you, I too was inspired by photographs of the 1903 Durbar to place route liners and crowds facing into the display cabinet. This approach was also a practical necessity as putting the route liners and crowds on the other side makes it difficult to see them due to the height of the elephants!

 

[wadepat]

Hi Dave and Durbarman,

Dave: Thanks for alerting me to Durbarman's excellent Durbar collection. The collection is truly a wonderful sight to behold.

Durbarman: Your Durbar collection is quite spectacular and very exciting to view. You have clearly given much thought to how best to display all of your wonderful Durbar figures. The displays are most impressive! I very much look forward to more photos and to stimulating discussion of the event. It is always a joy to discover another collector who also experiences the passion of the Durbars. Also, welcome to the forum. Here you will find many good folks who understand the passion of collecting toy soldiers and, in addition, you will find a few of us who know the depth of satisfaction derived from collecting and exploring the Durbars.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Hi Pat

Thank you for your message and for your kind comments regarding my collection.

It is a labour of love trying to display all the sets in my collection particularly as I am still adding more sets so figures end up getting moved around to create more space! I think I am about 25 sets short of completing my Marlborough collection - if you have a comprehensive catalogue of Marlborough figures please do share.

Another issue I face is the weight of the elephants. Most of my cabinets have reinforced glass shelves but even then I am conscious of not overloading any particular shelf. I also have Beaugestes’ amazing elephant carriage and the Marlborough Rewah Carriage both of which weight a lot and take up a lot of room.

If I had more space and was not so concerned about weight distribution I may have arranged my figures differently. The long term plan is to create a moving diorama by having some of the figures going round on a rotating table or belt to try to recreate the spectacle that we can see in some of the videos on YouTube of the 1903 Durbar.

I look forward to continuing our discussion and hope you too will share some photos of the special/unique sets in you Durbar collection on this thread.

Best wishes

 

[wadepat]

Hi Durbarman,

Me? Have something special or unique in the Durbar lines? You must be kidding. After viewing your wonderful collection, I do not think anything in my collection that qualifies as unique. However, I do have a few items that are difficult to acquire. Most notably represented in my collection are the Beau Geste Alwar's Carriage set and the Marlborough Rewa Carriage. My W. Britain Durbar collection is complete including both the glossy figures and the matte ones. I have a fair number of Marlborough Durbar sets, but I am far, far away from completing the series. One of the things I do have in my collection is something that has not been mentioned in this discussion. I have the complete Imperial Durbar series, the 1877 Durbar, Queen Victoria's Durbar, that is produced by William Hocker.

I am fully aware of the weight issues relative to the Durbar Elephants. Like yourself, I attempt to display my figures in a manner that limits weight and distributes the weight as evenly as possible. Even though I try to minimize the weight, I simply remain a touch nervous that one day a shelf will break or collapse. I think the tension I feel is simply a part of the hobby. When you have spent years building a nice collection, it would be a major shame if it were to become damaged.

While my Durbar collection is easily the largest single event/era I have acquired, my collection is characterized by a great deal of diversity. Try as hard as I might, I cannot seem to discipline myself to collect only a single historic period/event/era. I have American West figures, Indian Army figures, Rogers Rangers, samurai figures, Medieval Knights, Ancient Egyptians, Boxer Rebellion forces, American Civil War soldiers, WWI, WWII, and many other lines of figures. I often tell folks that collecting toy soldiers is a disease. Fortunately, the disease is not always contagious.

Feel free to ask me any questions that might interest you regarding my collection. I will be most happy to try to answer them.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Hi Pat

It’s great that you have both elephant carriages. I think I remember reading that Ana from Beaugeste did some further research into the carriage made by Beaugeste which was ascribed to the state of Alwar but based on her research and photos she had seen the carriage produced by Beaugeste is likely to also be from the state of Rewah! I believe that is consistent also with the description of the carriage in the Marlborough catalogue which said the Maharajah of Rewah had two elephant carriages: one for men and the other for ladies. However I am not sure there were just two as I remember seeing pictures from the Calcutta Pageant of I think around 1912 which shows another style of elephant carriage which is also from Rewah. It seems the Maharajah loved his elephant carriages!!!

I am pleased to hear you have the entire WMHocker Durbar range (does that include the amphitheater dias too???). I love the elephants produced by WMHocker as well as the camel carriage. I have the camel carriage, the Tanjore camel carriage, the Maharajah of Orcha on horse set as well as all the WMHocker Durbar elephants and one elephant from another range which has a cannon on its back and which has moving legs! Do you display this as a separate collection from the 1903 Durbar? I’ve mixed all my sets up as I think they fit into the 1903 collection too albeit the smaller scale of the WMHocker pieces does require adding a plinth underneath them to make the displays work. In one of my displays I have the Marlborough Mysore elephant next to the WMHocker Hyderabad elephant. I’ve put a plinth underneath the Hyderabad elephant (which you can’t see due to overcrowding!). The Hyderabad elephant howdah I believe is too small and the Mysore howdah is too big but given my adjustment of the height of the Hyderabad elephant it all seems to work (or at least I think so!)

Please share photos of your Durbar collection - I would love to see your displays.

I agree it is very difficult to limit oneself to a particular range. I held true to just the Durbar for many years until I saw a photo of the Dragon Crest Charge of the Khalifah camels. I then ended up buying a few Sudan pieces - including those camels as well as the Trophy Arabian Dhow. After a trip to the see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London I also bought my son a set of the Queen Elizabeth II coronation (the set by Britains where Her Majesty is about to be crowned) and we turned this into a small diorama using a church building. Due in part to the paucity of the Marlborough sets I need to complete my collection and the frustration caused by this I expanded to collecting more Indian army and mutiny sets by Nostalgia and Star. If I had more space and more budget I would have liked to collect the coronation procession and the Boxer Rebellion too.

Sounds like you have a wonderful collection with a lot of variety. Please share more pictures of your Durbar, Indian Army, Boxer and Samurai collections.

Best wishes

 

[TheDurbarMan]

I forgot to attach this to my post below:

 

[TheDurbarMan]

A couple more unusual sets: the Rewah Baby Elephant - a masterpiece by Beaugeste; followed by the Young Prince of Hyderabad - an unusual young elephant by Marlborough, and finally the State Elephant of Sikkim, also a superb set by Beaugeste.

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Another unusual set which I know other collectors of Trophy Raj figures will have: Jaipur Camels

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Here’s another variation of the main procession which formed part of the State Entry of 1903 using elephants made by WMHocker and Marlborough.

 

[wadepat]

Hi Durbarman,

You asked about the Hocker "Amphitheater Dias." If you mean Hocker Set #128, the Imperial Durbar Pavilion, then, yes, I am fortunate to have the set included in my collection. As you doubtless know, Mr. Hocker only produced a total of 16 Durbar Pavilions and due to extremely good luck, I managed to acquire one of the sets. In a conversation I had with Mr. Hocker several years ago, he told me the set was entirely too difficult to make and he has since discontinued manufacturing it. I suppose you know that Mr. Hocker has announced his plans to retire at the end of 2024, so if there are any additional Hocker sets you wish to add to your collection, you might want to order them relatively soon.

Yes, I display the Hocker Imperial Durbar figures separately from my displays of W. Britain, Marlborough, and Beau Geste Durbar figures. Actually, I do not mix the figures of different Durbar manufacturers. I display the products of each manufacturer separately from one another. I realize the Marlborough and Britain figures are quite compatible, but I simply prefer to present them separately.

It sounds like you and I have a significant challenge regarding display space. While the absence of display space is hugely frustrating, I often "try" to tell myself that having too little display space is a wonderful problem for a collector to have. The presence of the problem signals the fact that the collection is still growing and how can a collector be unhappy that his/her collection continues to expand? You might note I said, "I often try to tell myself that..." Even though I tell myself that the problem is actually a good thing, I never fully believe it. No matter how gratifying a growing collection is, the absence of meaningful and safe display space is still extraordinarily frustrating.

In the next few days, I will contact you via PM to provide you with some further information and detail regarding my collection.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[TheDurbarMan]

Hi Pat

Yes I meant the pavilion, I was not aware there were only 16 made, it’s a great piece of workmanship. I have the Britains Ampitheatre Dias but the depth of the base is too big for any of my display cabinets so regrettably it is still in its box.

I received Mr Hocker’s email informing us of his plans to wind down production next year. I have often thought about adding some of the armored camels and his Kutch standard bearers to my collection and I guess it’s a case of now or never (well not quite never but to avoid chasing down the sets on the secondary market in future) so I’ll be placing an order for those soon!

I agree a growing collection should be seen as a positive thing. I often wait until I have a large number of new sets and use that as an opportunity to rearrange my collection and create new displays.

I look forward to receiving your PM and seeing pictures of your collection.

Best wishes