Rare eBay Find – Britains Cossack in a Red Coat
Britains Paris Office produced many exotic figures, mostly focussed on the French army of the 1905- 1924 period. However, they also paid attention to the various allies of France, including Russia. Over the years, I have picked up some interesting examples, including some intriguing standard scale Cossacks, but in scarlet coats rather than the usual green. Unfortunately, all of these have been badly damaged, with arms missing and horse sans legs.
Up until recently that is, when a good friend alerted me to a “buy it now” offer on eBay. I was delighted to snap up a fine example in very good condition, with all appendages in place!
The accompanying photos show the figure which is dated 7.3.1904 and also marked COPYRIGHT Wm BRITAINS Jr on the belly of the horse. The lance arm is the first version, with a red over yellow pennant. This early lance arm seems to have been the only one used in the Paris Office. All figures I have seen with later arms have been fakes. No doubt, there would have been an officer carrying a sword as well as a trumpeter to accompany this fellow, but for the time being he will stand alone on my display shelf.
Britains, of course, painted their b-sized Cossacks with red coats, but the standard size sets were always clothed in green. Other more exotic paint finishes have turned up in some English auctions which purport to have come from the Paris Office, but I suspect they have never been on the French
side of the English Channel!
Rare eBay Find – Britains Cossack in a Red Coat The Life Guard Cossacks were an elite unit of the Imperial Russian Army. They belonged to the Guard Corps and the escort of the Tsar. They included the 1st and 2nd Kuban Life Guards and the 3rd and 4th Terek Cossack Life Guards. The aide-de-camp uniform, circa 1900, comprised a scarlet cherkesska with gold edging and pipings, beshmet, blue breeches with yellow stripes, and papakha.
The second set of images shows a set of Cossacks cast from the Kinkeldey moulds discovered by Don Pielin and Gisbert Freber and discussed in detail in the Fall 2023 issue of the magazine. These figures are around 54mm scale and beautifully sculpted. Painted to depict the Life Guards they make a splendid display. Gisbert can supply more castings if you would like to replicate the group.
Paris Office finds at Eurofigurines, Paris October 13th 2024 by Harry Kemp
Harry reported his latest visit to the October 2024 Eurofigurines event in the last issue. He has now sent us some more pictures of his interesting finds. For those planning to attend the next show, it is on Sunday 2nd of March:
EUROFIGURINES 02 Mars 2025 | Nanterre
Philippe ALBARET: +33 06 14 61 16 18
[email protected]
Perhaps Harry’s most lucky find was from someone’s bargain box, a Paris Office b size Russian cavalry figure, previously unrecorded!
The main focus was on a prearranged deal that included a rare Paris Office ambulance team. Horse drawn equipment from the Paris Office, including ambulances, service wagons and gun teams have been occasionally reported, but this was the first one Harry had seen “in the flesh”. Unfortunately, because of their rarity these items have often been faked. Harry’s example has an unmistakable patina associated with being well over 100 years old, but the traditional caveat emptor always applies and buyers need to proceed with caution.
Also part of the deal were Paris office Chasseurs à Cheval, as well as a b size Paris office Saint-Cyr Cadet.
The rare b-sized Paris Office St Cyr Cadet officer.
Chasseurs à Cheval in distinctive Paris Office paint finish. Note the French blue jackets as opposed to the normal grey and the lack of lace. The standard set never included a trumpeter.
The officer which came with the set of Chasseurs, this uses the dated Scots Grey horse. Harry identified this as a St Cyr Cadet, but a number of other examples of this figure have been found leading a group of Chasseurs, so it may be a complete set with the officer given this distinctive finish for some reason.
Two views of the Medical wagon -the patina is absolutely right for a toy that has been played with and survived for over 100 years. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous folk have tried to take advantage by producing very good imitations of the genuine article which have fooled some people. With care and
attention to detail it is possible to differentiate the real thing from the forgery
Another rare find, the Paris Office charging poilu in horizon blue is very hard to find. The body casting was later used by Britains with a head wearing a kepi for their Foreign Legion display. Here we have an even rarer example painted in khaki and probably intending to represent a Belgian.
Does anyone recognise this hollowcast 54mm figure which appeared on eBay recently?
It looks like one of the early American makers such as McLoughlin or Feix. Suggestions to the editor please.
HEYDE CENTER PIECES
Elsewhere we highlight some of the fine items featured in the January 2025 OTS Auction. Also in the sale there were two interesting items that link up with two of Bill Anderson’s previous articles. Both are center pieces from Heyde (or similar makers) display sets.
The first is definitely a Heyde piece, which portrays a life and death struggle between an Ethiopian flag bearer and an Italian officer. Such dramatic pieces were often to be found at the center of larger boxed sets produced by the German makers. Perhaps Bill can be persuaded to return to this topic to cover some of the makers other than Britains, which he dealt with in his piece in Vol 48, no.1.
Also in the same sale was this piece by another German maker. This figure is of a large scale than Heyde no 2 size figures used in the previous piece, but no less dramatic. In this case we have a single officer planting a Japanese flag on the summit of a hill. Probably intended to represent a scene from the Russo-Japanese conflict of 1905 which Bill covered in Vol. 45, Nos 3 and 4. Does anyone recognise the maker?