Rogerpgvg's Britains collection: black and spotted pigs

Britains is my original collecting interest. The rest rest is just an extension of it, albeit it is becoming a very large extension.

rogerpgvg wrote:

How something small can make me happy! I found the last rabbit to complete my Britains (plastic) rabbit collection, the brown scratching rabbit:




All models were also made in white (usually with a black spot). Here are both the brown and white scratching rabbits:


Very interesting pose! All the Britains plastic rabbits were made between 1958 and 1968.

Congratulations Roger on getting this beautiful tiny figure!

May I please borrow your photo for my search list thread ?
These are my favourite rabbit figures from Britains, they are so detailed and cute.

I really love how your collection is in such pristine condition. Every animal is shiny, bright and new! It is always exciting to come here to learn about variations and changes that were made by the company.

Wouldn't it be very interesting if someone in charge of those exact changes from the company saw this thread and commented here!
Just imagine all the questions that would be answered? -Where were all the painters from, how much were they paid, who decided on the pattern and colour changes, who decided on the plastic changes, who explored the plastic production companies?


As soon as I get my collection out from it's storage I can contribute with photos of any variations that I may have in my herds
I have quite a few nice herds of farm animals and I'm intrigued about all the subtle differences.

I noticed the changes in plastics used as well. The later versions actually broke very easily. It was flexible, bendy and cheap and snapped easily under a bit of pressure, and I remember feeling disappointed that the standards had dropped in their production.
Not that I ever broke any figures myself - just that I would discover a mishap after opening up one of my collecting boxes to find a leg or hoof by itself

Of course, you can use any of my photos. I hope you will find your scratching rabbits.

Not all my figures are so pristine - I usually show the best ones. And I've been collecting Britains for a while. Over time, better models have replaced models that weren't in such a good condition. As you know, I do clean them, and this improves their appearance quite a lot.

Peter Cole's book "Suspended Animation: An Unauthorised History of Herald and Britains Plastic Figures" gives some answers to the questions you ask. It mainly focuses on the earlier, pre-1990 plastic models. It's very informative. An interesting thing is that workers usually painted the figures at home. This is the reason why it isn't uncommon to find unpainted models in Britain; workers sometimes forgot to paint the figures and kept them at home.

From which period is the fragile plastic that you mention?

Thank you Roger! I hope to find them too

yes, I know you clean them, and it's great to see how wonderful and 'untouched' they all seem to look.
It takes your collection to another level I think.

Thank you for mentioning the book! I may come across it one day.
With all the changes in the company, and the production going Eastwards - I'm wondering if the painting must have been done overseas at some point?

The ones that I found easiest to break were the latest version models - like the thin lean foals and calves
of the Rosette range
the tails would often come off the horses infact!

When the production moved to China (in 1993 for the farm animals), the painting was presumably also done there.

One kind of plastic that was used for the Rosette Range is hard and discolours easily. I am guessing this plastic may also be fragile. Now you mention it, I once dropped a Shetland pony from this period and I was surprised that it broke so easily. But following the Rosette Range, they used different plastic again. It seems more similar to the original Britains PVC, though it is glossier.

thank you Roger, when I get my farm animals out next time, I will check the broken ones to see what the plastic type is!

New addition: The early brown and white bull:



Slightly messy painting of the spots on the left side, or perhaps it just looks natural.


This bull was made for a short time in 1957 and 1958. Britains made this bull in four different colours:


They were all made in the same years, except the Jersey bull, which was made from 1959 until 1970.

Sounds like something rare, it seems to have a tiger effect on it.
Congratulations.

Thank you both. Yes, it isn't such a common model.

When I was a child, I was quite jealous of my brother, who had the beautiful Britains brown bear and I didn't have one. I've got over that now ...


I am trying to slim down my collection, but they all have different colours. I can't part with any of them!

Great selection of brown bears .I think I have maybe 1 or 2 colour variations.The bulls are superb,4 different breeds!I didn't realise that there was so many as I only knew about the Jersey which is the only one I have.

The revenge of the little brother.
It is always hard for me to slim down my collection but often I need to do it, though, I'm not sure your examples are the best.

Oh, but sorry. I think your bear army have not a chance against dutch bears army

I love it! That brown bear is such an endearing sculpt.

So many shades!

Wow, that's quite a collection of variations!
I am truly impressed. It's not at all my way of collecting, I realize that I'm much more sensitive to shapes than colors. Nevertheless, I am amazed by such variety and such pugnacity in your research.

I would like to ask you a favour, Caracal and I know a French collector very fond of variations like you. Unfortunately he doesn't come to STS because Shakespeare's language isn't his thing. Could I show him on a French forum (quoting the source of course)?

Thanks everyone!

Taos wrote:

Great selection of brown bears .I think I have maybe 1 or 2 colour variations.The bulls are superb,4 different breeds!I didn't realise that there was so many as I only knew about the Jersey which is the only one I have.

Thanks. I wonder what breeds they are. The orange bull is obviously a Jersey bull and the white and brown one probably an Ayrshire or perhaps a red Holstein. Could the black one be an Aberdeen-Angus? And I have no idea what the brown bull could be.

Roger wrote:

The revenge of the little brother.

Older brother

widukind wrote:

Oh, but sorry. I think your bear army have not a chance against dutch bears army

I know, but this is only one of the regiments in my army

Kikimalou wrote:

I would like to ask you a favour, Caracal and I know a French collector very fond of variations like you. Unfortunately he doesn't come to STS because Shakespeare's language isn't his thing. Could I show him on a French forum (quoting the source of course)?

Of course. What is the forum? Racine’s language isn’t so much my thing, but I may be able to read it.

Kikimalou wrote:

Wow, that's quite a collection of variations!  
I am truly impressed. It's not at all my way of collecting, I realize that I'm much more sensitive to shapes than colors. Nevertheless, I am amazed by such variety and such pugnacity in your research.

There are often subtle variations in the moulds too. They are usually very hard to see, but when I take photos with the figures and camera in exactly the same position, I notice that they aren’t completely identical.

I don’t think I deliberately collected any of the Britains brown bears. I usually buy Britains in large lots and because the brown bear is one of the most common figures, I ended up with many. I have more, but they aren’t sufficiently different to keep in my core collection.

Here is my brown bear cub regiment:


They are less common, especially the standing cub, so I don’t have quite as many variations.

You may say that the colour difference between some of them is rather subtle. Ah, yes, but some have painted eyes and others don’t . I don’t know whether the paint has worn off or whether only some of them got painted.

I think the red/white bull is more likely an Ayrshire as the first Friesians that in the UK were black/white and the red and whites didn't arrive until later.The black as you say is an Aberdeen Angus,the brown/red is a Shorthorn.

rogerpgvg wrote:

Thanks everyone!

Kikimalou wrote:

I would like to ask you a favour, Caracal and I know a French collector very fond of variations like you. Unfortunately he doesn't come to STS because Shakespeare's language isn't his thing. Could I show him on a French forum (quoting the source of course)?

Of course. What is the forum? Racine’s language isn’t so much my thing, but I may be able to read it.

Kikimalou wrote:

Wow, that's quite a collection of variations!  
I am truly impressed. It's not at all my way of collecting, I realize that I'm much more sensitive to shapes than colors. Nevertheless, I am amazed by such variety and such pugnacity in your research.

There are often subtle variations in the moulds too. They are usually very hard to see, but when I take photos with the figures and camera in exactly the same position, I notice that they aren’t completely identical.

I don’t think I deliberately collected any of the Britains brown bears. I usually buy Britains in large lots and because the brown bear is one of the most common figures, I ended up with many. I have more, but they aren’t sufficiently different to keep in my core collection.

Here is my brown bear cub regiment:


They are less common, especially the standing cub, so I don’t have quite as many variations.

You may say that the colour difference between some of them is rather subtle. Ah, yes, but some have painted eyes and others don’t . I don’t know whether the paint has worn off or whether only some of them got painted.

The Forum is HERE. It is the Soldat Plastique 1/32 (SP1/32) - Intenational site for 1/32 plastic soldiers enthusiasts.

Taos wrote:

I think the red/white bull is more likely an Ayrshire as the first Friesians that in the UK were black/white and the red and whites didn't arrive until later.The black as you say is an Aberdeen Angus,the brown/red is a Shorthorn.

Thank you, very useful!

Kikimalou wrote:

The Forum is HERE. It is the Soldat Plastique 1/32 (SP1/32) - Intenational site for 1/32 plastic soldiers enthusiasts.

Thank you. Do they discuss animal figures? Everything seems to be sorted by historical periods.

Another regiment …


The polar bear from my avatar. Objectively speaking, I don’t think it’s the best polar bear ever made, not even at this scale, and it isn’t the best ever model Britains made, but it has been my favourite since I was a child. I think I understand why. The white colour makes it stand out amongst other animals. It also has the perfect size for a child’s hand. And it is very robust: no thin legs, tail, horns or ears that could break when handled roughly. It has little paint that it could lose and make it look grubby. It is very stable on its feet, it never falls over. And perhaps most important, its wedge shape makes it very streamlined. This made it the ultimate champion in the running races I organised. What a winner!

When I started collecting as an adult, I was happy to find out that there was an earlier version of the walking polar bear:


This version was made between 1960 and 1976. I have two variations, which differ on their underside. One has “Britains Ltd” on its tummy and “England” on one of its legs in a small font, whereas the other one has a larger font. Not sure which one is the oldest.



The early walking polar bear was made in both polythene (until 1968) and PVC. All mine are made of polythene. I am hoping to find a PVC version one day, but they are hard to find because you can’t see the difference between the two kinds of plastic in photos.

The later updated version of the walking polar bear was introduced in 1976 and taken out of production at the end of 1998 together with all other Britains zoo models. The variations in colour between the polar bears are small. This one is more creamy in colour than the others, but the main difference is in the plastic. It is made of a slightly glossier plastic, probably introduced in 1992 when the production of the Britains zoo models moved to Nottingham.


The other differences are even more subtle. One has some paint on its chin. This isn’t just a random variation. The earlier version polar bear always had a painted chin. It appears that Britains initially painted the later version in the same way.


The other two differ in the colour of their mouth and nose. One is black and the other is dark brown. You cannot see the difference in the photos, but it’s important to have both versions

Thank you, Roger, for sharing these polar bear photos! For me is very important, that Britains polar bears with correct nose line were produced (the first photo on upper left). Can you please add some details about this figure (production years, text on the figure)? The rest figures have this line very simplified. Now I need check my polar bear which variant I have...

The two bears at the top in the first photo were made 1960-1975 (both have the same nose). The four below it are from 1976-1998, the creamy one probably from 1992-1998. You are right that the earlier walking polar bear had a more realistic face. They aren't hard to find, but let me know if you need an early polar bear.

I also prefer the vintage Britains LtdPolar bears then the newer ones, I would say even more the sitting bear  

rogerpgvg wrote:

Kikimalou wrote:

The Forum is HERE. It is the Soldat Plastique 1/32 (SP1/32) - Intenational site for 1/32 plastic soldiers enthusiasts.

Thank you. Do they discuss animal figures? Everything seems to be sorted by historical periods.

It is above all a forum for collectors of toy soldiers, but some of them are interested in the discussions I may have with Alain (Caracal), Christian, Thierry or Lionel.
On the other hand, for a British collector, it is an exotic universe where the lighthouses that light up the world are called Starlux, Clairet and many other French brands but where one is sometimes also interested in "minor brands" such as Britains Ltd.  

Traveling between all these worlds and all these different certainties is very beneficial for my balance.  

I would love to understand enough German to hang out in forums where Lineol, Pfeiffer and Haussser reign supreme.

The earlier actually looks more like a polar bear, very streamlined, with a small flattened head and huge palmated paws. Can't you tell the different materials using the weight? Sure it is not efficient when buying online but at least you can check it with other collectors through trades.