Lot of 61 Britains Toy Soldiers Deetail Scots Guards Highlanders Band Mounties

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...

Set of three hand painted German porcelain soldier figurines standing against pillars, likely by A.J. Uffrecht & Company, marked with a gold anchor o...

Antique 19th century Staffordshire porcelain flatback figurine depicting a Scottish huntsman in a cobalt blue jacket with plaid trim, holding his bow and greeting a black and white ...

Antique 19th century Staffordshire porcelain equestrian flatback figurine titled on the base "Duchess," likely depicting Sarah Fairbrother / Mrs. FitzGeorge in a cobalt blue dress wi...

This very rare group of French Napoleonic period soldiers are completely handmade. They have each been finely carved in wood and then hand painted with great detail. Each soldier is portrayed in a different position wearing a full uniform with a backpack, sword and rifle. I have never seen anything remotely similar. This type of model is usually made from cast metal as a production figure and not as an individual one off carved sculpture. These rare figures must have taken many hours of work to produce each one. Together they form a very decorative group which would be a good addition to any military...

Wonderful Royal Guard soldier, designed and manufactured by Kay Bojesen, Denmark. Originally designed in the 1950s, these date from the 1960s and are good vintage editions. Articul...

A very rare and monumental giant-sized model of the Royal Danish King's Guardsman hand crafted in wood having movable arms and legs and retaining its ...

Antique mechanical toy ambitiously crafted with a metal mechanism moved by a crank in the back, sending civil war union soldiers, carved in pine...