Coleman's Vitacup animals

Kikimalou wrote:

Wow, they are fabulous

I was just about to write the same, - because that is exactly what they are

Magnificent pieces! In my previous comment I said that an excelent contribution to my collection could be a Vita Cup fox and now I can comment saying that I already have it thanks to Christophe!

Some of the models are really good and I have never seen the common crane in plastic, What about scale? They seem to be in diffrent scales?

The young deer and the the stag barking is common in souvenirs, I have seen them used in very diffrent items.

You know this kind of little landscape with an inscription of a place, Have even seen the stag used as reindeer.

Lennart
Stockholm

Lennart wrote:

Some of the models are really good and I have never seen the common crane in plastic, What about scale? They seem to be in different scales?

I did a scale comparison on the blog post;

Blogspot

basically though they are 'box scale' with slight differences in boxes, and some rattling about more than others, these last two are about average - around the size of the bison or bear.

I should also note, these were first identified in Plastic Warrior magazine No.66, which I have somewhere, the fact I'd forgotten the fact in the interim, doesn't mean I shouldn't credit the correct source!

Very nice! Although i never heard of these models and brand either...
I have a lot of one-coloured plastic models from the 1950'sa and 1960's, and i might even have one of the models showed above(young deer).
They remind me very much at Linde's chocolate figurines and Siku's also.
Good information though!
Something learned again!

What is material, ivory or plastic?

widukind wrote:

What is material, ivory or plastic?

Plastic, Widukind; but very much in the style of carved ivory, and in an 'Ivorene' plastic. I picked up a rabbit today at the Plastic Warrior show here in the UK, which seems to be a scale-down of the hare/rabbit in this set, and in the same plastic, but I have to compare before I know for certain!

I originally thought the may be the Siku ones, and some of the poses are similar, but these are deliberately matt (lots of chalk, or sizeing in the mix) the stuff Siku was supplying to the margarine and tobacco companies (&etc.) was a glossy-shiny plastic.

smallscaleworld wrote:

widukind wrote:

What is material, ivory or plastic?

Plastic, Widukind; but very much in the style of carved ivory, and in an 'Ivorene' plastic. I picked up a rabbit today at the Plastic Warrior show here in the UK, which seems to be a scale-down of the hare/rabbit in this set, and in the same plastic, but I have to compare before I know for certain!

I originally thought the may be the Siku ones, and some of the poses are similar, but these are deliberately matt (lots of chalk, or sizeing in the mix) the stuff Siku was supplying to the margarine and tobacco companies (&etc.) was a glossy-shiny plastic.

Thank you very much :)

Now that i saw them again, i recognise some models from Jean Höffler, the pheasant at lest, that is why Andreas has the brown one, which i have also in a kind of orange-brown.
The hare does look familiar also.
But as we know, a lot of the manufacturers copied eachother in those times, and even now...

Jean Höffler pheasant



Jean Höffler hare



They are not completely the same, but near...
Look at the squirrel above...



And when you turn those wild boars around...



Aaaarrrgggg, i know they are not the same, but somewhere rings a bell, but i can find it right now...

I think the term you're looking for is 'influenced by' Willy! Or...'after the work of'

Yes correct Hugh!

Following a contribution to the Blog, I tried to list them all and it doesn't make much sense...

Blog Listing

If you split the birds and ignore the slightly different coloured sheep in my collage here (above somewhere) and count the two deer variants as one, you can 'make' three 'groups' of: 10 domestic/farm, 10 woodland and 15 wild (with the three wise monkeys), but it's all a bit of guesswork.

Does anyone have a better listing?

I find these vintage animal figurines series really nice, but I find it so hard to get mine apart. I have these four figurines, are they Vitacup? I think I have more like these, other species. Will take a look when I'm home again.

I am not sure if that are Vitacup. I would say no, because the figurines that i bought as Vitacup have a other paint, a little more yellow.

widukind wrote:

I am not sure if that are Vitacup. I would say no, because the figurines that i bought as Vitacup have a other paint, a little more yellow.

Thanks for your insight, Andreas! I'm curious what the other vintage experts have to say

Tarunyada wrote:

I find these vintage animal figurines series really nice, but I find it so hard to get mine apart. I have these four figurines, are they Vitacup? I think I have more like these, other species. Will take a look when I'm home again.

<sub>Calf


Red Deer Stag


Roebuck


Roe Deer Doe</sub>

I think they are SIKU

From what research I've been able to find using the actual boxes from Vitacup that lists the various figures in each series there are 12 figures per set and not really categorized by Farm, Forest and Wild animals. Here is how they break down.
First series (with blue colored boxes): Lamb, Crane, Duck, Poodle, Bulldog, Hare, 3 wise Monkeys, Cat, Scottish Terrier, baby Deer (head down), Horse, and Elephant (baby calf)
Second series (black & yeallow boxes): Lion, Lioness, Rhinoceros, Giraffe, Camel, Impala, Bison, Elephant, Kangaroo, Pelican, Eagle, Reindeer (actually red deer stag)
Third series (? color box): Pheasant, Penguin, Fawn (standing), Squirrel, Fox, Foal, Wild Boar, Bear, goat (Note this is only 9 figures. A 10th figure may be a Roebuck but without a box listing the series no way of knowing for certain and these include the figures that remain that do not appear listed on boxes of the first 2 series.
I have photographs of the blue box series and black/yellow box series but haven't figured out how to post photographs on this site yet.

Welcome back my friend

Welcome back Jim, it's good to hear from you 

I pictured all the Vitacup I have for TAW HERE

Could you make pics of the missing models ?

I reorganized the page with the information you have just given us.

I have the Roe deer pic but not the other unknown ones, maybe they don't exist ?

If you want to post pics on STS, the best solution is to use Postimage as a host (it is free) or use the host an image button on the toolbar. The main problem with the second solution is that your pics could disappear when our Image host is full alas.

Now that I think I've learned how to post photos here are some of complete sets of 12 of 2 of the series as stated on the original boxes that were attached to the Vitacup products and a partial set of a 3rd series. An article in Plastic Warrior from the UK stated these were distributed between 1963 to 1966 which is nice to have a closer window of time when they were available. The partial set with only 9 figures is missing a roe deer buck and I believe there was a reclining sheep but not sure what the 12th figure was and without any reference of the original box container I can't say for certain.

Thank you for sharing these wonderful sets junglejim!

those pictures are surely useful and a good reference for other collectors.