Britains Elephants-History

Some of my favourite models are the zoo elephants produced by Britains Ltd, my collection is pictured below.  I was lucky to find a shop a few years ago which had a surplus of old stock, they had a large quantity of the boxed Africans, the Indians were obtained via eBay.  Through some research I have found some interesting information regarding their production, specifically the 1310 African cow.

Years of production: the information is from Richard Lewis's website
Lead Zoo
901 Indian elephant cow 1929-1941(pre war rubber trunk) / 1950-1960(post war solid lead trunk)
944 Indian elephant calf 1931-1941, 1946-1960
952 Indian elephant young 1931-1941, 1946-1960
Plastic Zoo
1309 African elephant bull 1981-1999
1310 African elephant cow 1965-1999
1311 Indian elephant (2 versions) 1961-1972 (trunk down), 1972-1999 (trunk up)
1313 African elephant calf 1964-1999





Introduced in 1965, the 1310 African elephant cow was modeled from life by George Ford as depicted in the catalogue.


The photo of Mr. Ford shows the old elephant paddock of London Zoo with its distinctive rock moat and chain link visitor barrier (the exhibit was renovated in 1965). Based on this and the time period I can assume the Britains 1310 elephant was modeled after Dixie, an African elephant living there at the time.  London Zoo had three Africans in the 50s-60s (along with some Indians) but Dixie was the only adult African during this period.  I looked up old photos and Dixie is a match for the elephant in the Britains catalogue.  Sadly, she died in 1967 after falling into the paddock moat, supposedly she was pushed by another elephant.  

It is very interesting to see the real animal that Britains based their model on, though not a 100% copy, the model does strongly resemble this particular elephant.  The Britains line stands apart, in my opinion, from modern figures due to this kind of research from live animals.  Apparently the Jeol figures were also referenced from life lending to their wonderful sculpting.  
 

George Ford sketched and sculpted many of the Britains zoo figures, he created the 1310 and 1313 African elephants.  
I believe this young elephant is the individual named Toto, also from London Zoo

A metal master for production of the 1st version 1311 Indian elephant.  The 1311 Indian was derived from the old 901 lead model but with slight modifications to the face, trunk, tail and the addition of tusks.  The 901 model has a wider head and body compared to the plastic remake.

Many many thanks for this informations      

Fantastic collection, wonderful pictures and very, very valuable and interesting information   

Thankyou very much, EM  

Great topic   Fantastic collection   

Thank You for these infos!   

Great legacy to STS! Thanks Andrew for this contribution!

Excellent information here Andrew. Just to add that Britains used distinct types of plastic. So for plastic production spanning either side of 1968 we have ‘Alkathene’, ICI’s brand name for polythene, first and then PVC. Plastic type is an important dating method.

Also Britains made one more elephant. This was 1:42nd scale and part of their short lived Mini-Set series.

Chris Sweetman wrote:

...Also Britians made one more elephant. This was 1:42nd scale and part of their short lived Mini-Set series.

Chris, can You please share more infos about this elephant? When (in lead or plastic era)? African or Asian? Is there any photo available?

jarda wrote:

Chris Sweetman wrote:

...Also Britians made one more elephant. This was 1:42nd scale and part of their short lived Mini-Set series.

Chris, can You please share more infos about this elephant? When (in lead or plastic era)? African or Asian? Is there any photo available?

Certainly Jarda - I will supply further details and images in time for Christmas.

Thanks for the comments everyone, I'm glad you all found this interesting.

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Excellent information here Andrew. Just to add that Britains used distinct types of plastic. So for plastic production spanning either side of 1968 we have ‘Alkathene’, ICI’s brand name for polythene, first and then PVC. Plastic type is an important dating method.

Also Britains made one more elephant. This was 1:42nd scale and part of their short lived Mini-Set series.

Hi Chris, I was hoping you'd see this post since I know you are very knowledgeable on the Britains line.  I took your advice and purchased the book suspended animation, it is very interesting.  I was just reading up on those different types of plastics the other day and their moulding techniques.

I've seen that other elephant but have yet to purchase one.

jarda wrote:

Chris Sweetman wrote:

...Also Britians made one more elephant. This was 1:42nd scale and part of their short lived Mini-Set series.

Chris, can You please share more infos about this elephant? When (in lead or plastic era)? African or Asian? Is there any photo available?

Hi Jarda,the model is a small plastic young African, it shows up in a lot of group auctions though the boxed set is more rare.

As promised here is Britains 1:42nd scale young African Elephant:


This was released as set number 1033: Elephant and boy. As well as the elephant and boy the set also included a low fence and two bushes. The box doubled as a backdrop. Introduced in 1968 this particular set was withdrawn in 1969. Ron Cameron was the person behind sculpting the whole series.

Thanks for posting the information that Ron Cameron sculpted this figure, good to know. I will see if I can obtain one from eBay one day.

Chris, if it is not too much trouble could you please take a picture of the 1033 elephant next to the regular Britains Zoo line 1310 or 1313 models? (If you have those)

I would be curious to see how well this figure fits in with the 1:32 elephant figures.
Thank you.

Wow, great contribution, very informative text and perfect pictures - thanks a lot !

awesome collection and info! thank you.   

Here's a puzzler for elephas_maximus, a recent purchase. As you can see in the photo, it is a plastic copy of Britains lead baby elephant. It is not marked anywhere. I currently think it was made by either Hilco in their last days before going bust, or the early days of Cherilea, which was run by ex Hilco people. Both companies copied items by Britains, Timpo and others in their first experiments with plastic figures. Any other suggestions?

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I have never seen a copy of the lead zoo figures made in plastic before.

I think you're right that it must be a vintage European brand which produced this figure as more recent copies made in Hong Kong and China seem to have copied the later plastic Britains range rather than the lead series. Also, I don't think I've seen any Asian Britains copies made with the elephant eyes having the additional red colour on them.

Very interesting.

elephas_maximus wrote:

I have never seen a copy of the lead zoo figures made in plastic before.

I think you're right that it must be a vintage European brand which produced this figure as more recent copies made in Hong Kong and China seem to have copied the later plastic Britains range rather than the lead series.  Also, I don't think I've seen any Asian Britains copies made with the elephant eyes having the additional red colour on them.

Very interesting.

Then you might find this "Very interesting" as well, a plastic copy of the old lead Britains farm Exmoor Horn ram which is known to have been made by both Hilco and Cherilea in the 1950s, as it has been found still strung in boxed sets from both. Cherliea took over a lot of Hilco moulds.

[img][/img]

This ram seems not to have been made by Cherilea for very long, and I don't think made after 1960, when Cherilea produced a new (mostly horrible) plastic farm range.

elephas_maximus wrote:

Thanks for posting the information that Ron Cameron sculpted this figure, good to know.  I will see if I can obtain one from eBay one day.

Chris, if it is not too much trouble could you please take a picture of the 1033 elephant next to the regular Britains Zoo line 1310 or 1313 models? (If you have those)

I would be curious to see how well this figure fits in with the 1:32 elephant figures.  
Thank you.

Here you go Andrew:





All were illustrated in the Britains 1968 catalogue.

DaveScriv wrote:

Then you might find this "Very interesting" as well, a plastic copy of the old lead Britains farm Exmoor Horn ram which is known to have been made by both Hilco and Cherilea in the 1950s, as it has been found still strung in boxed sets from both. Cherliea took over a lot of Hilco moulds.

This ram seems not to have been made by Cherilea for very long, and I don't think made after 1960, when Cherilea produced a new (mostly horrible) plastic farm range.

Thanks for sharing Dave.

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Here you go Andrew:
All were illustrated in the Britains 1968 catalogue.

Hi Chris,
Thank you for taking the requested photos, I think this figure would fit in nicely with my current collection.  It is interesting to see how the different sculptors at Britains tackled the same subject.

I really love all these elephants and it is a joy to read about all your knowledge with these figures and also to watch so great pictures too!

Thank You very much, Chris, for these valuable infos, this Mini-set elephant I saw never before.

\"elephas_maximus” wrote:

Chris Sweetman wrote:

Here you go Andrew:
All were illustrated in the Britains 1968 catalogue.

Hi Chris,
Thank you for taking the requested photos, I think this figure would fit in nicely with my current collection.  It is interesting to see how the different sculptors at Britains tackled the same subject.

Roger wrote:

I really love all these elephants and it is a joy to read about all your knowledge with these figures and also to watch so great pictures too!

jarda wrote:

Thank You very much, Chris, for these valuable infos, this Mini-set elephant I saw never before.

Hi Andrew, Roger and Jarda

Glad to provide the images and extra information.

Here is an rare plastic copy of the lead 944 Indian elephant calf that I found recently on eBay.  I was first made aware of this figure only a few months ago when DaveScriv posted a picture in this thread.  The maker is unknown as there are no markings on the figure.

The figure is slightly smaller than the lead version but the painting of the eyes is the same.  Britains didn't make a plastic Indian elephant calf but I imagine if they did it would look something like this but probably a bit more detailed as they derived a lot of their plastic models from the old lead designs.

The plastic version (left), original lead version (right)

The plastic version with the adult Indian elephants.

Very interesting Andrew!

Andrew an interesting find and thanks for sharing the information. Images show the size relationships perfectly.

Now a question - is it hollow?