Reader’s Contributions Part One News Odds Ends we have a number items to share.
First we have one more of Floyd Wilson’s Halloween photo using a Marx and King and Country figures.
Erwin Sell has some items he spotted at Walgreen’s. In news we have information on Francis Turner and American Pickers. Back to Reader’s Contributions Markus Lecksheid shares photos of Brohn castles. Odds and Ends I have some knights I found at the East Coast Toy Soldier Show. Also at the show I got Laurie a mammoth.
Reader’s Contributions Part One News Odds Ends Walgreen’s
Erwin spotted several items at Walgreen’s. The first was for Halloween so they may be gone and or on discount. They are called skelton toy figures and are reworking of other skeltons. You can see more at Fantasy Toy Soldiers.
Also in Walgreens are these dinosaurs which you can be used in many scenarios.
Reader’s Contributions Part One News Odds Ends Francis Turner
Francis Turner had a photo of himself with Mike Wolf and Frank Fritz of American Pickers. The reason he had the photo is he will be on the show November 13th. They will go through the Marx Museum looking for treasure. Don’t miss it.
Reader’s Contributions Part One News Odds Ends Castle
Markus Lecksheid found two interesting castles on his trip to Belgium. He found two different castles by Brohm (he was not sure if this was the right company.)
The two castles have slight color variations of thetheir contents.
Box art of the one is by Rolly Toys (never heard of it before) is really nice.
Markus is not sure if the catles ever came as pictured. He has some extra loose pieces somewhere and will check.
Reader’s Contributions Part One News Odds Ends Odds and End
I got these knights from Dick Jackson. Do you recognize them?
Here is the the British Museum mammoth I got for Laurie. She has several different mammoths in her collection.
The knights were first thought and label to be by other brands.After deep reseacrh with french ,belgian and german other collectors they appear to be designed manufactured by HEIRLINE . Not Brohm,DOM or Manurba designed.
Yet they were sold and pack by others together with same above castles found by Markus dus given confused facts as they are from Brohm as well.
The set has 5 foot plus one mounted with tournament spear least.First painted over mate grey metallic not bright colors ,then not painted sold.
PRP from Italy sold them as well in bags in 70s in not painted configuration as they lease some of mold from DOM,MANURBA and HENERLE
Koch & Hofmockel (also called Koho) a generally copier and seller of surprise premium figures sold them too and add a base to mounted pose making believe they are theirs as well.The premium later copied of KOHO bright painted poses could be see in Kent site.
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/toysoldierhq/OtherGer.html
Best…
The castles history is intersting .
French claim are original designed sold by Clairbois 1963/65 !?Base in castles original depicted in TV program Thierry la Fronde
You can see typical french model with same towers but straight walls here .There two models.A semi round and a straight walls using same two style towers
http://www.befr.ebay.be/itm/Thierry-la-Fronde-Jouets-Clairbois-Chateau-de-Thierry-la-Fronde-/122279861507?hash=item1c78729d03:g:3o8AAOSwo4pYWxP0.
Same two castles are depicted in last castle plastic toys books as by Claibois from France as well.One as 7-073 in book -“Toy Forts & Castles: European-Made Toys of the 19th & 20th Centuries,2016”.
I also have pictures of Au Bon Marché advertise page that can show it listed with actual photo in exact colors as one showed in post here.
Same Catalogue Projouets de 1965-1966, in page 11
While some claim are by Brohm.Yet as we known Brohm sold the original Kleewarer UK designed castle as well in 60s making me believe they only resold castles from others and not quite a castle maker.
In italy it was sold with exact same knights from Heinerle as Germans by PRB and other italians brands.
The castle was sold-copied in HK too and is almost identical minus some detail,i have full box playset to show pictures of it as well.
best regards.
About skeleton i like add following.
Walgreen is selling following skeleton warrior figures in 1/32 scale ,they are revised poses of last AMSCAN set sold last years at Party City I post here.
http://www.stadsstuff.com/?p=5114
The figures are in fact made of same semi-flexible materials and colors ,yet poses and weapons are different in more Pirate style weapons assort versus previews set in medieval/ancient weapons made,the one shield pose has an skull engraved in it.
Scale is more close to 60 mm .
Bellow market as “Walgreens”-NINGBO-China with two number series ;one indicating September 2017 .
This times looks very curios the fact that a pharmacy store mark specifically a toy figures of cheap line and seasonal in it with its brand name ,in other words they pay for the production.
I do not remember seen this too often .
Bag screen/net pack bring 16 figures in 4 poses in exact match distribution poses.Price $1.99 reg or $1.50 with Walgreen discount member card
Another interesting add on to fantasy fans .
I got one x me to keep increasing my armies
Here’s a picture of Turner with the Pickers:
http://www.topix.com/forum/tv/american-pickers/T2HBSKI3O68QJR7KF/marx-toys-in-moundsville-to-be-featured-on-america
Should be interesting to see how Mike & frank handle high retail prices.
You’re not whistling Dixie, Andy. At the recently concluded Columbus, Ohio Toy Soldier Show, Francis Turner had a table with 3 Marx Cpt. Gallant red/brown Arabs in the standing firing pose. He quoted me $60.00 per figure, claiming that figure had been recently selling on ebay for $100.00. I walked 10 feet across the aisle to John Stengle Jr.’s table, and purchased the same figure for $30.00.
I like Francis Turner, and appreciate his contributios to the hobby. But I’ve seldom been able to buy much from him because his prices always seem substantially higher than everyone else at any given toy soldier show. And for more than 20 years I’ve encountered Mr. Turner at numerous shows in Chicago and Indiana.
So we’ll see what happens when Mike and Frank hit Francis with their low wholesale prices. Question: Will Francis sell Mike and Frank one of his boxed Marx playsets for one half the going retail price, so Mike and Frank can enjoy their customary re-sell profit margin? This I’ve got to see.
I hear you Don. Last thing I got from him on eBay cost $8 for shipping with actual cost on 1st Class package at $1.49!! Guess he needs extra money?? Picker: “How much do you need for this one?” Turner: “Oh that’s very rare… $7000 for that…” Picker: “Oh, I have to be in it for $50 to leave a little meat on the bone…” Turner: “No, I can get $7000 at the next toy show.” I think Mike and Frank are going to be leaving a lot of stuff behind, unless he has a bucket of damaged dump figures at “farm fresh” prices. Looking forward to the show!!
A month or so ago a new collector, a doctor in California decided to collect Captain Gallant. I just happened to put some figures on ebay and the first week I got $35 each for common Arabs. Second week $55 each, 3rd week $90 each. He would put in multiple bids and have the top 5 or 6 bids so other guys would bid him up. The big Michigan collector started bidding against him and I saw him pay $125 for a kneeling Arab. He was paying $40-60 for blue FFL and I was getting $20-25 for silver ones. I got $15 each for red & white Arab tent accessories. He bought 3 boxed sets for about $1,500 each. Every dealer who had stuff was putting it on Ebay as fast as they could. I had wholesaled a bunch of figures to another dealer but was amazed and happy at the sales prices I got for the stuff I had left. One day he figured he had enough and quit and prices crashed back to normal.
Must have been a PSYCHIATRIST!! I used to be a hospital clinic Social Worker and they were all crazier than any of the patients!!
But they still got plenty more money to spend than many of us,so for them $1500 are what for many of us is 50.00…
Is more about monetary power than mental obsession i think.
What happen is 90% of plastic toy soldiers collectors don’t have deep pocket neither can afford so much in entire life.
While metals in general are .
Two complete hobby price areas.
least here.
In Europe in the other hand i had noticed a big grow in deep pocket collectors in the plastic area.
Is a reality.
My thoughts..
I guess I should mention that after Francis Turner watched me walk across the aisle to purchase the same figure from John Stengel Jr. at exactly one half the price Turner was asking, he (Turner) followed me over to Stengel’s tables, and proceeded to purchase all of Stengel’s Cpt. Gallant Arabs (about 20 or so) —- all at Stengel’s asking price.
Later in the show, Stengel mentioned to me that Francis Turner felt there was money to be made, even after giving Stengel his asking price for each figure, which ranged between $20 – $30 per figure depending on the pose.
I had believed that Stengel’s prices were within the norm, consistent with the prices of Rick Eber. Others at the show were asking similar prices (similar to the prices of Eber & Stengel), but I’m inclined to believe other dealers and hobbyists were setting their prices based on the prices they observed from Eber and Stengel.
Now that Mr. Sprecher has enlightened us about the rich California physician who went on a Captain Gallant ebay buying spree, I can see where Francis Turner got his inflated expectations of the current “worth” of Marx Cpt. Gallant figures.
But the sad truth is that just as you can always find one person who will pay high prices for something he is looking for in particular, you can always find some seller who wants to simply get rid of his figures, and will therefore sell them well below market prices.
For instance, at the second to last Michigan Toy Soldier Show, I found two separate dealers who cheerfully sold me a total of around 15 Cpt. Gallant Arabs, including 3 silver Arab standing shooters, for $15.00 per figure. I was hoping that was the new normal price for them, but when I got to OTSN and Indiana over the next several months, I discovered that wasn’t the “new normal” at all. Arab figures were still being sold at $20 – $30 per figure, and if I wanted a few more (which I did) that was the price I was going to have to pay.
The same principle works in reverse, and now that the price on ebay of Cpt. Gallant figures have crashed back down to normal, I suspect Francis Turner will find he’s not going to make the great profits he expected.
But I have to repeat my original assertion: Over the last 20 years, at the toy soldier shows, Francis Turner’s prices seem ALWAYS to be higher than those of everyone else. If dealers are asking $2 – $3 for a common Marx galloping cavalry horse, Francis will be asking $4 – $5. And I observe that to be the case across the whole range of Marx figures — both rare and common.
Granted, Turner, like Eber and Stengel, often has a lot of hard to find Marx stuff, and will always have carefully evaluated the quality/condition of each piece, to point out any flaws or imperfections.
In this world of collecting you have to be careful not to get caught up in the frenzy. If you hunt you can find buys.
The doctor is back buying Captain Gallant figures on Ebay x***x is him in the bidding. It looks like he has learned to quit bidding against himself and instead just plops down a high bid on items he wants. So prices are not crazy but still higher than retail.
That’s interesting , I’d like to know how it really went down as I always suspected that the show was somewhat bogus like Pawn Stars.
American Pickers is less so than Pawn Stars. I had a friend who was on the show and he enjoyed it. One thing on American Pickers he had to send in 500 photos of his tuff.
Pawn Stars is more disapointing. It is a small place and I question some of the items. I will hold judgement until I see the show.
I’ll ask Francis at some point and see what he has to say about the legitamacy of the show. Most of the other shows appear bogus to me, created for TV. They are still fun to watch for the most part though. Which is really what they are after, viewers.
Thanks for the info Erwin, I have some of those Koch & Hofmockel Knights and always wondered what they were called and who made them, So now I know. Although I dont have every pose in the set, I have about 4 of the poses.
Regarding the New Ningbo Skeleton figures, They are very similar to the Amscan skeletons which I have. My only complaint about the Amscan skeletons is that the plastic material they are made of is very hard to convert which is something I like doing. Most glues dont work on them and only the strongest super-glue seems to work on them to a degree, But still at just $2 for a pack of 16 figures is Great value for money and I would love get hold of some and add them to my Skeleton Fantasy army. However I dont think we have Walgreens here in England so at present I might have trouble getting hold of any.
Walgreens own BOOTS the CHEMIST in the UK
Like all Halloween stuff at Walgreens, these skeletons are now half price. They do make a nice supplement to the Amscan skeletons, which I much prefer. I’m also not a fan of the bendy plastic – admittedly it does not seem to break in transit from China, but the hot water treatment on virtually all these figures gets tedious. They do make a nice size match for those Supreme Greeks that used to be available at Hobby Lobby if you want to redo the final scene from Jason and the Argonauts.
I missed the Amscan skeletons, but I got several bags of the Walgreen ones. I am not too crazy about them. The standing skeletons are extremely tall and they seem sort of oddly proportioned. The plastic also smells quite bad.
I really prefer the skeletons in the carded set of 10 for a buck from Dollar General, also obtainable in softer plastic from Oriental Trading Company. They are a little bit smaller than 54mm, but they look (and smell) much better than the Amscan/Walgreen figures. I got a hundred of them to fight against my Accurate and Airfix men at arms and my Marx Vikings. They work quite well with the other “Tomb Warrior” set of skeletons that was included withe the Toys R Us Pirate bucket.
I personally don’t feel that smell ,neither the bending is issue x me ,i dropt all figures in one boil water pan and once got straight dump back quick in a cold water pot .Problem solved right away ,few minutes.
Now x conversion that is another history.
The bending is a general issue in virtually all the figures since early marx ,specially the so call 54mm range .I remember my dad doing same x all centennial and ACW marx figures with rifles bended.
Even today new production TSSD,PARAGON,austin,Lsd ,conte had same issues
I got many other skeleton fantasy from other HK and chinese brands from past as well some by japanese brans.So my army is getting huge on those.I’m happy x that price so far .
Would they be made of rubber or flexible elastic material that would be a big issue x me.
my thoughts..
The Amscan skeletons are much better poses than these new Ningbo skeletons but i’m sure you can still get some on ebay Mark.
I totally agree with you that I dont like the plastic material that they are made of, And yes the legs are a bit tall and bendy. So what I did was cut the Amscan skeletons off at the bottom of there spine, Then I cut the Excellent Tomb Warrior skeletons legs off at the top of there spine. Then I carefully drilled down the TombWarriors spine as far as I could go, Then I slide the Amscan spine into the Tomb Warriors spine and glued with strong super glue which is the only stuff that seems to work with any effect on these figures. So then you are left with a 54mm Skeleton on much better and sturdier and slightly shorter legs. I did that with about 12 of my Amscan skeletons and I will do it with these Ningbo skeletons if I get some. I think they came out very well. I always convert if I think I can improve a figure.
Darren, what brand and type of super glue? e.g. Loctite Gel, etc.??
Walgreen skeleton are reworked poses w new weapon of amscan set.That is all.Material is exact same.Just stamp walgreen bellow.
Something new and cheap to add.
Best
Hi Andy yeah on all my conversions I use either Quick Grip Glue which is a Gel type glue which I use mainly, It works brilliantly on Hard and Hardish type plastics, But is no good on very soft plastic or rubber, So on these types I use Loctite superglue wether in gel or watery types. Now these Amscan skeletons and I suspect the new Ningbo skeletons are one of the hardest materials ive ever worked on. The Loctite does work to a degree but if they are played with or bent and pulled about even slightly they will come apart. They are nice looking and cheap figures, But the material they are made from is not good.
Thanks, Darren. I use Loctite now; will have to pick up some Quick Grip to try it. I find if paint the parts BEFORE I glue them they hold better, but I don’t really play with mine, just display them. Marx recasts need pins, no matter what the glue.
Andy If you just display them then Loctite will probably do you. Yeah I do try to use pinning of figures as well if its easy to do but if the limbs are to skinny you have to use glue. Another tip for you is that if I cut off a figures hand to put it in a better position and its to skinny to pin, I put a ring of Quick Grip around the wrist where the hand meets the arm, Then I paint it gold or leather as a wristband. You can do the wristband as thick as you desire.