Virtually all wargamers Ive known are very generous people. Whether its sharing information, time, tips or figures. One such very generous soul is Iain Macmillan who I finally met face to face at last weeks show, Hammerhead. Iain is a collector of Les Higgins figures and has often given me the 'spare' ones, but this time he exceeded all expectations and gave me this wonderful piece of Peter Gilder emphemera.
Many years ago Gilder and Frank Hinchliffe would attend various shows and sell the Hinchliffe range and dole out advice. They must have been one of the first to display painted figures on their stall. Later the Hinchliffe range was sold to Ellerburn Games of North Yorkshire and it included the display figures.
Somehow Iain managed to find this on E Bay and gave it to me. Whoever had owned it had clumsily sawn the display in pieces, and made a pretty bad job of it and it ended up in my possession.
The images dont do the figures justice, they are beautifully painted, especially the cavalry figure. The nice problem Ive got is whether to re base the figures or leave it as it is.
All in all the display piece is beautiful, and thanks again to Iain.
And a heads up to any collectors with some spare cash, well quite a bit. There are some more Gilder mounted french gendarmes on E Bay for sale. Im not certain if they are Hinto Hunt or Mini Figs, but its matterless as they are brilliant.
These are actually Grenadiers a Cheval but very similar, already the bidding is at £44 with over 4 days to go - can they beat the Gendarmes? IIRC the Gendarmes went for £165.
ReplyDeleteSorry about that, they are Grenadiers. Im expecting about £100. I really wonder where the seller gets them from?
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DeleteI got it wrong, the auction hadn't finished! It went for £128.56 in the end.
DeleteI saw that, sadly I couldn't justify that sort of cash.
DeleteThe Hinchliffe artillery figures are stunning, I always like the gunner figures and have some in a box somewhere, shame about the cutting up of the display though but still lovely to see them. The French cavalry are very nice indeed but will be a bit too rich for me, much as I would like them!
ReplyDeleteThey are lovely and wish I had the rest of the display, but I should be grateful for what I was given.
DeleteI recall this piece on display at the Model Engineer Exhibition at Wembley c.1977.
ReplyDeleteThere was also a lovely Napoleonic Austrian infantry battalion. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to be able to produce figures like this!
Thanks Matt, I was a little concerned that I had mis remembered the display, simply because I was so keen to think it was original.
DeleteI've been caught in an endless base-or-not rebase loop for years regarding a Gilder regiment. There is no solution, I'm afraid!
ReplyDeleteThis is a brilliant acquisition. I think the horse will be in for a bit of a shock when the gun goes off.
Im pretty certain what Im going to do siply because the lump of wood is pretty ugly and detracts from the figures.
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