John Hill Co. and Cherilea zoo

I'll cover these two companies together because when Hill started to go downhill as a company, some of their people left to set up Cherilea, namely, Mr Cherrinton and Mr Leaver. While Hills were still going, and both companies were still making lead figures, Cherilea had new moulds made, so their lead zoo range is distinct and separate from Hill's. However, when both were changing to plastic, followed by Hill Co. going out of business, Cherilea bought a lot of their moulds, so it is often impossible to know who made what and when regarding the plastic figures.

First off, 2 photos of the John Hill Co lead zoo range - all very toy like, and with a total disregard for keeping anything to scale.

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I'm not entirely sure about the walking Giant Panda, because Charbens made a similar one, and the various reference books, old catalogues are a bit contradictory and unclear about which is which.
Particularly note the very over size otter with fish at the bottom left. I discovered by accident how this came to be in this size - it is a copy of an old Austrian Cold Painted Bronze figure, which I saw at an antique fair. It would have been nice to buy it, but it had a typical Austrian Cold Painted Bronze price tag - over £200!  

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The third photo shows some furry flock coated Hill zoo animals, which doesn't seem very appropriate for crocodiles   , and a couple in a black and gold paint scheme which Hill turned out in their dying days for the tourist souvenir market. It was a stupid idea, and they didn't sell well, but that does make them quite rare collectables now.

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Now for the Cherilea lead zoo range:

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Last photo for this post is the Hilco (the version of company name they used in their short lived plastic era)/Cherilea plastic zoo range. Some members will notice that some of these figures are crude copies of the Britains zoo range and the Timpo elephant (but a bit smaller. These were made before 1960, the year when Britains switched its zoo range from lead to plastic, so can be said to be plastic copies by other companies of Britains lead figures, a topic which came up in the Britains elephant thread.

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Now, as it says on exam papers, discuss.

I don't have too much to discuss once most of them I probably haven't seen before. I remember for example seeing online the Cherilea Indian rhino once it is an unforgetable figure. :)
Interesting again of reading, mainly about furry crocodiles and ladybugged tortoises.
Impressive also to see such a long bodied bison when in modern days some brands make them sooo short.

More brands that I never heard of before !

They are fantastic ! Funny how the otter-and-fish keeps catching the eye !

Some lovely monkeys, - and reptiles. And the fuzzy ones, of course. And big cats..and   

   That black/gold ones are surely unusual   

I have the lying panda,crocodile,and tortoise but didn't know the makers so it's great to know now!  
I have the otter with the fish as well but it's by Tipple Topple.

Phantastic figurines, i like the otter, the macaw and the antelope (can you here share please closer pics)        

widukind wrote:

Phantastic figurines, i like the otter, the macaw and the antelope (can you here share please closer pics)        

"macaw"? What macaw?

The antelope looks very similar as the Jeol impala (without horns?), please do You have more detailed pic?

I'll do more photos, but I only have an old fashioned film camera, so if everyone who wants close ups of specific items, ask now, and I'll have a photo session in a few days time. Ditto regarding figures in the other threads, or any other UK made vintage item you think I might have.

DaveScriv wrote:

widukind wrote:

Phantastic figurines, i like the otter, the macaw and the antelope (can you here share please closer pics)        

"macaw"? What macaw?

Not a macaw? On the left side of the penguin?

widukind wrote:

DaveScriv wrote:

widukind wrote:

Phantastic figurines, i like the otter, the macaw and the antelope (can you here share please closer pics)        

"macaw"? What macaw?

Not a macaw? On the left side of the penguin?

The bird to the left of the penguin in the JoHillCo lead zoo photo (2nd) is an eagle. Yes, I will do a close up photo of it.

Thank you   

jarda wrote:

The antelope looks very similar as the Jeol impala (without horns?), please do You have more detailed pic?

Here they are, lead and plastic versions, which Cherilea called a 'deer' rather than an antelope, along with the Jeol Impala.

This is my only Jeol item, and I'd quite like some more, so if you or anyone else here wants to sell some spares or do a swap for some UK made (Britains or other brands) items..........

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widukind wrote:

Phantastic figurines, i like the otter, the macaw and the antelope (can you here share please closer pics)        

Here's the otter, in lead on the right, and 3 colour versions of the plastic, + a Britains zoo keeper to show size.

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And here's the JoHillCo macaw eagle, again with the zoo keeper to show size.

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(I guess by now you're all used to Willybacoman using this zoo keeper as a size comparison figure, so I thought it best to follow along with his precedent.)

Thanks Dave for extra pictures. Yes, this zookeeper is perfect to show sizes among those who are interested in vintage stuff.

Dave, thanks for the comparison pic with the Jeol impala - the size is right    

Is the plastic deer figure complete or are the antlers missing?

I am sorry I have no many Jeols, mostly one per model but there are more variants (Jeol, Jeol "A", Jeol "B", diffs in colours and painting), so I currently have no (undamaged) real spare one.

The Cherilea deer are complete, they never had antlers, so presumably represent females.

Re...'Discuss'

My plastics rule of thumb is simple...flat brush paint; Hill (unless Cherilea mould), spray-painted; Cherilea

Might not be perfect, but it gets them in two boxes and I don't have to worry about Phoenix - all the Spaniards/Conquistadores go there!

smallscaleworld wrote:

Re...'Discuss'

My plastics rule of thumb is simple...flat brush paint; Hill (unless Cherilea mould), spray-painted; Cherilea

Might not be perfect, but it gets them in two boxes and I don't have to worry about Phoenix - all the Spaniards/Conquistadores go there!

Seems like a good starting point (brush v spray), although I'm not sure if it applies to either of the giraffes.
Have you ever seen these giraffes spray (through a spotty screen) painted?

Re the Spaniards: Isn't there a distinction between black or grey plastic? (Hilco black? Phoenix grey? or Cherilea grey?)

The multitude of plastic colours used for the Hilco and early Cherilea wild west figures keeps us nerds of the streets too.   
I have loads of them.

It works for the Giraffe too, orange sprayed on upper surfaces with faint black blobs, looks like a HK cheepie! The Spaniard have more variants as they were re-issued unpainted by Dorset/Marlborough or someone a few years ago, but it's easier to keep them all in one place!

H

Is there any catalog scans or figure list from the plastic Cherilea era available?

jarda wrote:

Is there any catalog scans or figure list from the plastic Cherilea era available?

The good people at 'Plastic Warrior' magazine produce a Cherilea plastic figure guide, 48 A4 pages.
Probably not quite complete (some of the early figures still unknown, especially regarding ex Hilco moulds), and it doesn't cover farm or zoo, but well worth buying, and cheap! UK£5 + P&P

http://www.plasticwarrior.com/checklist.html

When it comes to experts on Hilco & Cherilea plastic farm & zoo, it appears from my contact with PW people and other recognised plastic figure experts such as Barney Brown and our member Hugh (smallscaleworld), it seems that that expert is me!

I know there is a lot a don't know about these figures, but I seem to know more than anyone else.
Ditto regarding other minor UK company made plastic farm & zoo ranges.

For what i do all of the research, if we have experts in thhis field already here?! Great guys!
Which are those figurines on your avatar smallworld, as i have a lot of them, but in plastic, mostly in black, as black panthers, and made in Hong Kong or China, which were most probably copies of English companies as usual in that period.

Oh yeah, about that particular otter, we saw that model or verysimilar to that in composition by several brands from Germany or Austria, like Tipple-Topple, Lineol and Hausser Elastolin, which was earlier is the question for me.

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These two are Lineol for example.

This is Hausser Elastolin, or maybe Tipple-Topple from an older mold, as Hausser did buy that company.

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So it looks like almost everyone in the toy industry did that otter with a fish.
I suspect the Austrian cold painted bronze (Bergmann?) was first. 1870s?