Rogerpgvg's Britains collection: horses with cart and roller

Love the cows and the hounds and the lady rider!!

Thank you, everyone!

SUSANNE wrote:

A fabulous set !
Look at the lady's legs, - she must have been sitting a lot on horseback

Yes, she is a strongly built lady.

SUSANNE wrote:

A fabulous set !
Full of life and charm

And it shows a piece of history.
Look at the lady's legs, - she must have been sitting a lot on horseback

Hi Susanne

The female figure is wearing traditional jodhpurs. These were snug-fitting from just below the knee to the ankle, and were flared at the hip to allow ease for sitting in the saddle. Hence the extra fabric in the thigh area.

Collecting Britains animals is quite different from collecting almost any other animal figures, at least in the UK, where they are very common. They are rarely sold individually and if they are, they are much more expensive than when you buy them in lots. The problem with lots is that you get many duplicates of the most common animals. Fortunately, there are many variations to keep it interesting.

One of the most common Britains animals is the later version of the Friesian bull, which was first released in 1970 and is still in production. I wonder whether it is the oldest animal figure in continuous production still for sale. (The 1970 Britains lying cow is also still in production. Some late 1960s VEB Plaho models can still be bought new under the name Marolin, but I understand that Marolin only occasionally produces a batch.)

I have lots of these bulls and the more I study them, the more I discover. Here is a selection that is in my “core” collection, which I find sufficiently different to keep:


They succeeded an earlier bull, produced between 1959 and 1969:


The newer bull’s pose is not quite as dynamic, but it has a very realistic appearance that captures the bulky nature of a bull very well. I owned one as a child and it was one of my favourite farm animals. Initially, the bull’s head was painted on the left side, while the white plastic was unpainted on the right side:




The bull was made both in black-and-white and in brown-and-white. They were both simply called “bull”. They were sold under the same catalogue number (2131) and the Britains catalogues only showed one colour version (usually the black-and-white one). All were marked “Britains Ltd 1970 England”.



Bulls with a half-painted/half white head were shown in catalogues until 1975. From 1976, catalogues showed bulls with a black head on both sides and a white patch on its forehead. The photos in the catalogues weren’t always updated, so it is possible that the painting style changed earlier.



My black-and-white bull has a triangular shape white patch on its forehead whereas my brown-and-white bull has a smaller “star”. It is possible that the bulls had a “star” in the second half of the 1970s and a “triangle” in the 1980s or it may just have depended on the whim of the painter.



Britains used several moulds for their most popular animals. I am usually not so interested in mould differences because they are often very subtle. Sometimes, I keep them, like this bull, which is fatter than the others (not so clear from the photo):


From 1981, Britains called them “Friesian bulls”. The last catalogue with brown-and-white cattle is from 1982, so I assume they were no longer made after that. (The last time a brown-and-white bull appeared was in 1980.) It even is possible that they were already discontinued in 1981 and that this may be why Britains started referring to them as Friesian cattle. Only one brown-and-white Friesian (the heifer calf) is shown in the identical 1981 and 1982 catalogues, so it is possible that an earlier calf was accidentally used for the photos. Here is the photo from the 1982 catalogue with the brown-and-white heifer calf:


Britains removed the nose ring sometime in the second half of the 1980s. The 1986 catalogue is the first that shows the Friesian bull without a nose ring, but the Jersey bull (the same sculpt in a different colour) and the Hereford bull still had a ring, so the Friesian may have accidentally lost his ring in the photo. None of the bulls had rings from 1989 onwards.

In 1992, there was a major change in how and where the Britains farm animals were produced. From then onwards, they would be made in China instead of Walthamstow, London (manufacturing of the wildlife animals transferred to Nottingham). The “England” mark was literally scratched off the mould; you can still see where it used to be. The farm animals were now no longer hand painted. As we can see from the slight overspray, Britains now used moulds that they put on the sculpts and then spray-painted them. Whether the spray was applied manually or by a machine, I don’t know.

Britains named their updated farm animals, sold from 1993 onwards, the “Rosette Range”. In my opinion, the animals from this range are the best painted that Britains ever produced. The previous hand-painting was often done in quite a messy way, perhaps because there was not much quality control or because the workers (who usually did the painting at home) were underpaid. In the Rosette Range, they used a more matte paint, which gave the animals a more realistic appearance. They also used a different, matte, plastic but this was less of a success, because the plastic yellowed easily. The bull now looked like this:



The bulls now had a “blaze”:


From this time onward, the bulls (and cows) were marked with a number, either “1” or “2” on the underside. This may just have been to identify the different moulds.

The Rosette Range did not last long. In 1997, Britains ended the Rosette Range and went back to hand painting. This may be related to an accident in their Chinese factory. Referring to the sheep in the Rosette Range, the “Model Farmer” magazine from 2011, issue 8, mentions that “Sadly, these new Sheep had a short life, ending in 1996 with the unfortunate destruction of the moulds in the Far East.” Although the Friesian cattle moulds do not seem to have been affected, the fact that the production of the whole farm animal range was changed suggests that there was a serious problem with the factory. Here we have an example of a bull after this:



As I mentioned, its belly was either marked “1” or “2” (apologies for the indecent images ):



All my bulls marked “2” have the usual straight nose, whereas all my “1” bulls have an up-turned nose. As far as I know, the latter nose-type did not exist pre-Rosette Range. Here we have a bull with a regular straight nose (2) on the left and one with an up-turned nose (1) on the right:


From 2004, the bulls and other farm animals were no longer sold individually but packaged together in boxes such as these:


“CHINA” was added to the underside (Britains Ltd 1970 CHINA) and they were machine painted again, something that probably started when they started selling their animals in boxes. The Friesian cattle have quite a glossy paint:



In 2018, the packaging changed again. I don’t have any bulls from this packaging, but I suspect that they are the same as the other post-2004 bulls.

If anyone else has other versions of the Britains bulls or has found out more about their history, it would be very interesting to know.

I love these variations, how interesting they all are to look through, and how telling of the history of the brand and the production changes.

The loss of the sheep mould might not have been an industrial accident as you suspect - I know of at least one British company who had their moulds destroyed in a deliberate act by the factory in China when they fell out over the manufacturing contract, and rather than allowing the master moulds to be put into storage or taken to a different factory, they were destroyed.
It sounds pretty likely that was the case with the Rosette animals too, if manufacturing was set up elsewhere and not all the moulds made the move, I'd be inclined to suspect a falling out resulting in destructive action, rather than a nasty factory accident necessitating a move. Which doesn't bring back the lost mould, but nobody would've been hurt, so at least there's that.

You may be right, George. Something bad happened, but it's hard to tell what. There are at least two further mysteries:

1. The 1993 piglets that were introduced for the Rosette Range only lasted until 1994, before the Rosette Range was discontinued. These piglets weren't as good as the previous piglets and the moulds were pretty bad too, so that may have been the reason why they were discontinued within 2 years.


2. Other moulds that were introduced as part of the Rosette Range did survive past 1996. For example, the lambs and the horses survived. The lambs are still made.

Awesome collection!
I like these bulls a lot too! And I am lucky I own a couple of them too. Need to check which way my bulls are painted.

Thankyou for this great description of the history of the bulls !
I enjoyed very much to read about them, and to see those brilliant photos

When I read topics like these, with so much research and dedication, I get really happy and I understand why our forum is categorized in this board directory under Art, Culture and Leisures.
We sometimes love to see which breed or species is more popular under a certain category, everybody knows T-rexes are the most popular dinosaurs, lions the most popular wild animals and horses the most popular domestic animal. Though, cattle also has a obvious favorite, the Holstein cattle. So, it is not surprising they were so common in Britains range. However, I was not expecting such a rich history around them.
I also love the Landrace pig, do they have a story too?

Thank you Shanti and Susanne.

I think Britains cattle are more common than their horses. This is probably because Britains sold a lot of farming equipment and for their farm, children (and adults) needed cattle.

The landrace piglets (one with head down and one with head up) have a very short history . They were released in 1993 as part of the Rosette Range and  retired in 1994. Why they lasted such a short time, we can only speculate about. As you can see in the photo, the mould (especially around the head) was very poor, so that may a reason why they were replaced by the same piglets that they had replaced. Or perhaps strange things were going on in the Chinese factory, as the Rosette Range only lasted 4 years.

The adult landrace pigs lasted a bit longer, until 1996 (when the Rosette Range was discontinued). I believe that they used two different kinds of plastic, one harder and one softer kind, but I haven't done a proper investigation yet. The landrace pig with head down is one of the very few post-1970 Britains animals that is missing from my collection.

Roger you are amazing and your love for models is truly special….thank you for sharing and I learn a lot about Britains from your posts.. really appreciated

A wonderful history of this common Britains model.I have the running bull in red and white and I also have one of the others in red and white with a very narrow white belt.

Thank you, Morek and Taylor. I suspect the width of the white belt varied somewhat randomly because they were hand painted. But even if they come from the same period, it can still be fun collecting paint variations to bring more variety to your herd.

Three new ones in my collection:


These black lambs were made for a short time in 1957 and 1958. Apart from their colour, they are the same as the more common early white lambs that were made for much longer. I had been searching for the black lambs for a long time. Whenever I found one, it was sold in a larger lot that was too expensive for just a single lamb. This time, three together, making it worth bidding a bit more. Only the kneeling black lamb is missing.

Unfortunately, these lambs are orphans. Britains didn't make adult black sheep and I don't know any other 1/32 scale black sheep.

Wow, stunning models! What a great addition to your collection!

Surely a fantastic find since they were available for such a short time.
black sheep descend from normal colored sheep to but it is very strange they did not include an adult to go with them. They took the farm business too seriously. I think it would worth to repaint one of your spare ones, especially if it is not in very good condition.I know you don't like to paint but black is usually easy, I guess.

what a wonderful set of triplets Roger I don't think I have ever seen them all like this. I hope you get the kneeling down one to complete the flock.

and I really liked your cattle above, it's amazing to see all the variations in them over time. You have pristine looking models, that's very nice - all the same quality!

Very cute

indeed!

Thanks, everyone! These lambs, like many of the early plastic farm animals, were designed by "Herald", the company that Britains bought to start their production in plastic. (They had used lead until then.) The Herald models were really ahead of their time in terms of how lively and realistic they were as well as in their material (polythene).

Yes, painting sheep completely black should be possible even for an unskilled painter like me. They would feel a bit fake, but I have so many Britains adult sheep that it would be better to give the lambs parents.

Britains made a “Chimps Tea Party” between 1967 and 1970. I recently replaced the broken window in this box and removed the sellotape as well as I could:




It’s a great set even though a tea party is a bit strange for my 1/32 scale wildlife reserve.



After retiring the Tea Party set, Britains sold the chimps separately until 1985. The chimps from the Tea Party set are different because they have pegs to keep them on their chairs.

Wonderful tea party!

This is all a piece of history. From the zoo tradition of making tea parties with chimps from the box refering to an obsolete term as it is Pongidae. As far as I know this is not an easy to find set and you have just unboxed one.

Wonderful party

Thanks, Alain, Rogério and Andreas!