12 Franklin Mint 1970s Pewter Revolutionary War Soldier Officer Figurines

Lot of 62 late 1960s-1970s toy soldiers, weapons and vehicles by Britains Ltd. Lot includes: 47 total soldiers (mostly plastic with metal bases, three all plastic, and two in Jeep metal), 13 guns / cannons / pieces of artillery (one by Crescent Toy Co.), one boat, and one Land Rover. "The "W. Britain" brand name of toy and collectable soldiers is derived from a company founded by William Britain Jr., a British toy manufacturer, who in 1893 invented the process of hollow casting in lead, and revolutionized the production of toy soldiers. In 1907 the family proprietorship, William Britain & Sons, incorporated as "Britains, Ltd". The Britain family controlled the firm until 1984 when it was sold to a British conglomerate, Dobson Park Industries. They combined the operations with an existing line of toys and renamed the company Britains Petite, Ltd. In the early 1950s Britains was associated with W. Horton Toys and Games which made the die-cast Lilliput ranges of small-scale, rather generic, cars and trucks and other vehicles. In 1959, Britains acquired Herald Miniatures which produced plastic figures designed by Roy Selwyn-Smith. In the 1950s, besides soldiers, a variety of vehicles began to appear, mostly in the military field. In 1966 safety regulations in the United Kingdom combined with rising costs halted the production of lead toy soldiers. Britains shifted most production of Herald plastic to Hong Kong from 1966. In 1971 Britains started Deetail plastic figures with metal bases that were initially manufactured in England but later outsourced to China. In 1973 Britains introduced New Metal models, which are die cast in a durable alloy. Initially these sets were aimed at the British souvenir market. In 1983 Britains responded to a growing collectors' market by introducing additional models and limited edition sets. In 1997, Britains Petite, Ltd was bought by Ertl Company of Iowa, a maker of die-cast toys. Ertl was subsequently bought by RC2 LLC, another American die-cast miniature and plastic kit maker. At this time, production of toy soldiers was moved to China. In 2011, Japanese-headquartered toy company Tomy acquired RC2 which included the Britains die-cast farm miniatures range. In 2005, the W. Britains brand was acquired by First Gear...

Antique 19th century Staffordshire porcelain flatback figurine depicting the Biblical figure Samson prying open the jaws of a lion. Dressed in a floral Scotsmans kilt and striped ari...

Antique 19th century Staffordshire porcelain flatback figurine depicting a Scottish highlander shepherd woman in a feathered hat, cobalt blue jacket and green and orange riding skirt...

Antique circa 1870s Staffordshire porcelain figurine in the shape of a man and woman in Scottish clothing seated above a faux clock.

Extremely high quality porcelain figure named 'The Juggler'. This clown, inspired on the Commedia dell'arte collection is designed and made by Peter Strang who worked in the 1970's f...

Signed and numbered. Limited edition Franklin Mint issued. Porcelain. Hand painted. Signed Erté on base. House of Erté stamp on bottom. Numbered A1A06. 9" h x 5 3/8" x 4 3/8" d. Con...

Vintage Bronze Charles Parks The Franklin Mint Statue Sculpture Girl with Kitten. Item features a heavy Bronze sculpture by Charles Parskin limited produ...

Vintage Bronze Charles Parks The Franklin Mint Statue Sculpture of Boy with Dog. Item features heavy bronze construction by Charles Parks in limited prod...