Bill Nevins contacted me about post what your thoughts would be on a book showcasing the history of Barzso Collectibles. The Barzso playsets have been integral part of our collecting hobby. Many collectors have looked forward to Ron and his cohorts sets.
Bill said this: I was writing on another forum (Hobby Bunker) that I wished that someone would do a Barzso book cataloging all of his playsets and figures.
The time to do it is now while he is alive and most of the sets and figures are readily available.
Jim Clouse would be the natural choice here and I wrote to him and he is pondering it.
What do you think? And how about putting it to the members?
I really enjoy Rusty’s Fort Apache book and would love to see a book on Ron Barzso production.
Also share with us an unreleased item that Ron sent me for being any early supporter of his work…
What are your thoughts on this idea?
Love Books on Toy soldiers ,be a nice edition to record these figures, I still need to get Rusty’s Marx books
At one time I had 5 master sculpts for the 1812 Royal Marines I bought from Ron. I was going to have them made, but I ended up selling them to Craig Remington.
I’ve already commented on HB that I think it would be a great idea. It would be great to see the things I missed out on. Sadly, unlike Marx, there appears to be little or no chance of someone finding the molds and doing recasts. The value of those sets will continue to rise. Pix would be the next best thing.
I can see that a photo book of all the Barzso playsets would be appealing, especially with the playsets set up as dioramas courtesy of Jim Clouse.
But these lavishly illustrated playset books can get quite expensive. Rusty Kearns has now put out three separate volumes, all of which are quite nice with lots of interesting information. I acquired each of them in the original hardbound format at about $70.00 per book. Now that his latest volume is about all the Fort Apache versions, I can only assume that Rusty’s next venture will be an equally well-illustrated volume on all the Marx Blue & Gray sets, followed by a volume on all the Marx WWII Combat/Battleground sets, followed by a volume on all the Cowboy/Western sets, farm sets, space sets etc., on and on, forever and ever, followed by a volume on Tim-mee production, followed by one on Lido production, Auburn production, Ideal production, and then to the foreign producers —– world without end.
At about $60.00 – $70.oo per volume (down to roughly $40.00 – $50.00 per volume if you get them in softcover), it all gets pretty expensive.
And since I purchased all the actual Barzso sets directly from Ron at OTSN, and still have most of them, I’m not sure I’d actually shell out more money for what would undoubtedly be an expensive photo volume. But if Ron ever once again actually releases a new production boxed playset, I’m sure I’ll be in line at OTSN to get it.