Chris’ vintage finds in 2016

The Britains lion is absolutely awesome, even if the follower isn't bad, I prefer this one!

Britains copies and knockoffs are a world in themselves. A collector could specialized in them without taking the risk of getting bored.

The batch portrait is very nice and I would be happy to see some closer pics of the two Corgi toys.

Hello Christophe

Be prepared for a few more Britains copies coming up soon. However, here we have the Hong Kong male lion again with a real life Britains okapi and another Corgi Toys plastic animal. They appear in this image due to being bought from the same dealer at the toy fair.

Next set from the toy fair all purchased from the same dealer:

That monkey is interesting, but also a little strange :)

Incredible the great vintage figures you can find through your peregrinations! I love especially the Cherilea rhino, it is such a crazy figure! I enjoy also that you tell us everything, even these copies!

Chris, you keep finding these amazing old models !!!
The elephants are gorgeous, - and in boxes, too, you say !  

For some reason I missed the previously shown batch, - they are such a joy to watch . And even more because you share from your enormous knowledge

That giraffe !!!! And it was in box also ?

Thankyou very much for sharing

Major companies could had used Britains elephants as reference to their own elephant figures but they decided to give us, for a long time, very chubby elephants, cute but not realistic. They are improving now but still far from what Britains did.

Your last animal figures for your collection in 2016 are so great!

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Chris, you keep finding these amazing old models !!!
The elephants are gorgeous, - and in boxes, too, you say !  

For some reason I missed the previously shown batch, - they are such a joy to watch . And even more because you share from your enormous knowledge

That giraffe !!!! And it was in box also ?

Thankyou very much for sharing

Thank you Susanne - Britains only provided individual boxes for their elephant models in their "plastic period" so the giraffe even with that delicate tail had to survive without this protection.

Always a pleasure to share information.  

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Major companies could had used Britains elephants as reference to their own elephant figures but they decided to give us, for a long time, very chubby elephants, cute but not realistic. They are improving now but still far from what Britains did.

Thanks Roger - one thing that these vintage companies did do was to replicate the animal in miniature but I guess the current companies have to produce models that comply with safety standards and perhaps the main audience are much younger than they were in the 1960's.  

I agree Britains elephants are excellent replicas and would be a good reference to today's manufacturers.    

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Your last animal figures for your collection in 2016 are so great!  

Many thanks Yvette. That African elephant has been on my wants list for a long time and this one was a reasonable price.

Beautieful elephants Chris :)

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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote:

Major companies could had used Britains elephants as reference to their own elephant figures but they decided to give us, for a long time, very chubby elephants, cute but not realistic. They are improving now but still far from what Britains did.

Thanks Roger - one thing that these vintage companies did do was to replicate the animal in miniature but I guess the current companies have to produce models that comply with safety standards and perhaps the main audience are much younger than they were in the 1960's.  

I agree Britains elephants are excellent replicas and would be a good reference to today's manufacturers.    

Maybe you're right Chris. However, safety standards is a good reason to make antelopes with thick legs or horns. Though, there's no reason to make elephant legs much thicker than they should be. I believe that is often a design decision to make them look closer to the design of a plush but with the detail of a quality toy what means they're really made for a younger audience. The quality of the sculptors also may be different not talking also about the scientific mistakes often common in Schleich figures like the wrong number of thoes in elephants, crocs, ostriches, dinos, etc.

Hi, I'm a newbie and not totally sure if I'm writing this in the right place.....
I've just bought several old Arco zoo enclosures and posted on this site asking for any info regarding this company and to find out how old they are, etc......anyway Susanne has suggested asking you - Chris Sweetman, as you may be able to help me

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Hi, I'm a newbie and not totally sure if I'm writing this in the right place.....
I've just bought several old Arco zoo enclosures and posted on this site asking for any info regarding this company and to find out how old they are, etc......anyway Susanne has suggested asking you - Chris Sweetman, as you may be able to help me

Hi Kattoys

Dave mentioned this manufacturer in his post below which you have looked at and is probably the best resource available on the net.

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Paul Brookes has written a book about Hugar toys, they produced wooden buildings for Britains, and I know he is interested in toys of this type. I used to see him regularly at toy fairs but haven't seen him for a couple of years now and he would have been someone to ask.

Going back to Arco and age of their products I feel with the materials used, based on examples in Dave's post, that they could have been produced between the 1930's to the end of the 1960's.

Sorry I cannot add anything more on Arco.

Great finds Chris!
I still have the Britains Rockpit boxed, nearly mint, that was the easiest one to find i guess...
It is for sale btw...
This old type of lion was copied so often by mainly Hong-Kong ect companies, and it was rather kind of annoying, as it quickly fell down because of the lifter paw haha.