Some of the bigger animals from Pfeiffer's earliest Tipple-Topple moulds have a band of filler round the middle, like a belt.
Applying the filler and tooling it to match the animal's skin or fur must have been time-consuming, and probably added to the selling-price.
With time, the filler usually shrank a little, and shed its paint (and often attracted wood-boring beetles).
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]This Elephant shows the filler-belt clearly, and a hole where a beetle larva ate its way out.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]This Rhino's belt has been very neatly modelled, but finished in a furry effect which does not match the rest of his warty skin.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Even when the paint has stayed in place, you can see the difference in finish between the moulded parts of the animal and the "belt".
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]And the same with this Bactrian Camel, who seems to be wearing a girdle of long-haired sheep's fleece.
Maybe each animal was made in two moulds, then fitted together like the halves of a chocolate Easter-egg?
(Sorry about the picture quality, these are very old photographs!)
Sue & Lesley
castlerigg
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