Britains Zoo Animals - Complete List

Hi everyone,

I'm on a mission to collect as many Britains zoo animals as possible, I used to have them as a kid and regret selling them. To make my task a little easier, does anyone know if there exists a list of all models I can use as a guide? I'm had a trawl through this forum and the internet with no luck so far. My ultimate goal is to build a model zoo for my daughter, and the Britains range were of the best scale for accomplishing this.

Actually, the best and most complete sources we used to find online are already gone.
It reenforces the importance of a site as Toy Animal Wiki is, although the Britains section is sadly quite far from being complete.
You can find it here.
There are also some catalogue scans on forum that may be very useful to you and you can find it in this section.

Roger wrote:

Actually, the best and most complete sources we used to find online are already gone.
It reenforces the importance of a site as Toy Animal Wiki is, although the Britains section is sadly quite far from being complete.
You can find it here.
There are also some catalogue scans on forum that may be very useful to you and you can find it in this section.

Hi Roger, thank you very much for your kind information, these links are a very useful starting point!

I actually just found a vintage junk shop in Brighton with a few of the lead zoo figures but I'll probably focus on the later plastic ones.

Welcome here :)

hao_bao wrote:

Roger wrote:

Actually, the best and most complete sources we used to find online are already gone.
It reenforces the importance of a site as Toy Animal Wiki is, although the Britains section is sadly quite far from being complete.
You can find it here.
There are also some catalogue scans on forum that may be very useful to you and you can find it in this section.

Hi Roger, thank you very much for your kind information, these links are a very useful starting point!

I actually just found a vintage junk shop in Brighton with a few of the lead zoo figures but I'll probably focus on the later plastic ones.

You're welcome! If you can get these lead figures for an affordable price, I believe you won't be able of resist. I have a single lead Britains, it is a camel and I love it.

Roger wrote:

hao_bao wrote:

Roger wrote:

Actually, the best and most complete sources we used to find online are already gone.
It reenforces the importance of a site as Toy Animal Wiki is, although the Britains section is sadly quite far from being complete.
You can find it here.
There are also some catalogue scans on forum that may be very useful to you and you can find it in this section.

Hi Roger, thank you very much for your kind information, these links are a very useful starting point!

I actually just found a vintage junk shop in Brighton with a few of the lead zoo figures but I'll probably focus on the later plastic ones.

You're welcome! If you can get these lead figures for an affordable price, I believe you won't be able of resist. I have a single lead Britains, it is a camel and I love it.

You're right, I couldn't resist, I bought the following lead ones today:

Lion
Tiger
Sea lion
Penguin
Panda

There are also some flimsier plastic ones that seem like knock-off Britains that I bought - a panda, crocodile, x2 pelicans and x3 ostriches. I plan to buy some craft paints and restore them all.

hao_bao wrote:

Roger wrote:

hao_bao wrote:

Roger wrote:

Actually, the best and most complete sources we used to find online are already gone.
It reenforces the importance of a site as Toy Animal Wiki is, although the Britains section is sadly quite far from being complete.
You can find it here.
There are also some catalogue scans on forum that may be very useful to you and you can find it in this section.

Hi Roger, thank you very much for your kind information, these links are a very useful starting point!

I actually just found a vintage junk shop in Brighton with a few of the lead zoo figures but I'll probably focus on the later plastic ones.

You're welcome! If you can get these lead figures for an affordable price, I believe you won't be able of resist. I have a single lead Britains, it is a camel and I love it.

You're right, I couldn't resist, I bought the following lead ones today:

Lion
Tiger
Sea lion
Penguin
Panda

There are also some flimsier plastic ones that seem like knock-off Britains that I bought - a panda, crocodile, x2 pelicans and x3 ostriches. I plan to buy some craft paints and restore them all.

I did kknow you couldn't resit.
Yes, there are some famous knockoffs of Britains figures. They are usually made in Hong Kong and they were sold in boxed sets much cheaper than the original Britains figures. They are part of the Britains collecting hobby and there are a few from these sets that were not based in Britains figures.

Hi,
All Britains animals, lead and plastic are listed in books like James Opie "The the great book of Britains".
(Very heavy and i guess really expensive now)
The plastic Zoo animals are listed in Britains Herald plastic models 1960-1971 with I think still is possible to buy on e-bay from seller Herald-toys-and-models.
After 1971 they released few (but very good) models.
In UK it would be really easy to find to whole range, otherwise they are all on e-bay.
/Lennart
Stockholm

Hi

There is a complete list of Britains Zoo/Wildlife animals in Peter Cole's book this includes post 1971 production:

'Suspended Animation - An Unauthorised History of Herald and Britains Figures'

Details: http://www.plasticwarrior.com/suspanim.html

Not sure it is still available but worth looking out for.

The Zoo book mentioned by Lennart which details production 1960 to 1971 written by Barney Brown is not presently available from his shop:

http://www.heraldtoysandmodels.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=53&osCsid=0d75b89cacf0b7f1f7860571372aeb80

BTW I have a complete list based on the above / Britains catalogues I have in my collection / Richard Lewis' website when it was available / my personal collection which is in an Apple Numbers format. Not sure if this can be linked here due to formatting issues.

A complete list is one thing but detailing all the variations during Britains Zoo/ wildlife production from 1960 to 1998 is another.

Thanks very much for the information everyone! My collection is almost at an end. I've been favouring the newer versions over the vintage ones, except in cases where the sculpts are significantly different and/or they have a separate ref number. There are just a few gaps but they're unlikely to be filled for various reasons:

1323 - platypus. I'm not paying £36 for this tiny figure which has a high likelihood of being lost.
1347 - black panther. I do however have a leopard with an inferior paint job so I'll coat it in black.
1369 - wolf. hard to find, expensive, out of scale & bad sculpt/quality. I can see why they were discontinued.
1394 - assorted keepers. Not really sure what model this refers to, I have the broom, meat, and walker.

I think I'm ready to start building the zoo now! Still on the look out for more king penguins (mine are bad quality), guenon monkeys (I only have 2), more keepers, a better black rhino (one of mine has balance issues, the other has a broken ear), more tortoises, and I'd love a second gaur.

I'd like to give the okapi a mention. Did they always have such awful leg positioning? I have 3 of them now and none can stand properly.

Well the Platypus is so very rare that you have to pay the price what they ask i guess...(i still have it btw)
I bought my black panther for about € 60,00 years ago(it is same rare as the Platypus), and it even went for more when i sold it...
The wolf is not so hard to find, maybe i even have 1 or 2 available for a decent price, i just have to dig into my Britains box...
From the okapi are even different painting-variations, the older one was more pale, and is very hard to find undamaged, mine was played with to...

I am new to collecting zoo animals (mainly Britains but also some Starlux) after firstly rediscovering the floral gardens, and recovering my children's mini collections from the loft. It's slightly worrying how compulsive it has all become! This forum has been a revelation. I do have a question which, despite googling, I haven't been able to find an answer. When the zoo animals started to be produced in plastic, were they hand painted (as I understand from an old article that the lead ones were outsourced to homeworkers)? I have noticed a wide range of differences in the ones I have collected so far eg the panthers, that I'm intrigued to know the answer.
Hope someone can help

That's right, until fairly recently, Britains were hand painted. Starlux too.

ros wrote:

I am new to collecting zoo animals (mainly Britains but also some Starlux) after firstly rediscovering the floral gardens, and recovering my children's mini collections from the loft. It's slightly worrying how compulsive it has all become! This forum has been a revelation. I do have a question which, despite googling, I haven't been able to find an answer. When the zoo animals started to be produced in plastic, were they hand painted (as I understand from an old article that the lead ones were outsourced to homeworkers)? I have noticed a wide range of differences in the ones I have collected so far eg the panthers, that I'm intrigued to know the answer.
Hope someone can help

Hi Ros

Britains Zoo animals in plastic were introduced in 1960. Whether these were outsourced to home workers to paint I don't know. Herald certainly were until 1959 when they officially became part of the Britains empire. In the mid 1960's Britains introduced PVC plastic to a number of ranges and by 1968 the first farm and zoo figures were released in this material. PVC paint works by reaction and I am sure this would have been carried out in a factory. You mention the panther and this has a number of different paint finishes. The first issues would have the spots spray painted using a metal, usually copper, stencil. Throughout the 1960s health and safety legislation with paints and painting would suggest that these processes would also be carried out in factory conditions. Finally, by the mid 1980s tampo printing of paint details was a viable option and the panther's spots would have been done with this method. This is a machine process completed on highly sophisticated and expensive devices so would have been done in a factory.

Hope this addresses some of your questions.

It answers some of my questions . I always wondered how the panthers and tigers were painted.

Hi all
Thank you very much! Really interesting how much variation exists.
Cheers

ros wrote:

Hi all
Thank you very much! Really interesting how much variation exists.
Cheers

Welcome here

Welcome,

I use this link :

https://www.conradantiquario.de/content/britains-katalogservice.html

It is all you ever need for plastic Britains zoo animals.

I have spares if you want them too.
Goatherder

Thanks a lot, that's an amazing site!

goatherder wrote:

https://www.conradantiquario.de/content/britains-katalogservice.html

Oh, what a great site!


What have I found there ? Also catalogues by Hausser, Reisler, Merten, Steha.
We should perhaps add these links from Britains, Hausser, Reisler and Merten to our STS catalogue section. Perhaps the owner of this site allows us to add the catalogues to our catalogue section.

Dear STS Admins, can you move it to the catalog sektion please ?


Hausser

https://www.conradantiquario.de/content/hausser_katalogservice.html

Walter Merten

https://www.conradantiquario.de/content/merten-katalogservice.html

Steha

https://www.conradantiquario.de/content/steha-katalogservice.html

Great information , goatherder and Yvette:study:

The box 1004 0f Walter Merten H0 1959 with deers is marvellous.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f30/15/05/52/60/20200412.jpg
https://i.servimg.com/u/f30/15/05/52/60/20200411.jpg
https://i.servimg.com/u/f30/15/05/52/60/20200410.jpg
This is what i have left for sale for who is interested...

Oh and this...
https://i.servimg.com/u/f30/15/05/52/60/20200413.jpg

Hi
The site for the catalogues is excellent, thank you for sharing! @Willybacoman, I would be interested in a price list of the zoo animals you have available in your previous post please, if you could pm me??
https://i.servimg.com/u/f30/15/05/52/60/20200412.jpg
Many thanks, Ros

Just ask me for the particular models, i don't have a pricelist...