The W. Britains Lead Soldiers Range Celebrating Pageantry-Heritage and Tradition.
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. The company quickly became the industry leader, and was imitated by many other companies, such as Hanks Bros. and John Hill and Co.[1] The style and scale of Britain's figures became the industry standard for toy and model soldiers for many years.
This is a smart 2 Tier and very Rare Britains Special Collector Set 8869, the American Civil War Union Artillery Gun with Team of 6 Horses, Limber with opening lid to view the Ammunition Related contents, the Cannon, plus 5 Union figures seated.
View 2nd pic to see how it may look in display.
The Set comes in a Britains tough card display box with inner card, packing and Britains paperwork, and It further comes with the original manufacturers hard outer sleeve to protect the item. ( see pics)
It includes the Cannon of course, in great detail with working features including turning wheels and elevating barrel, the Limber with working features, plus 5 Soldier / Gunner figures in total , all in 1:32 scale. ( 54mm MM.)
It comes in a special Collectors Hard Case box with padding and associated Britains paperwork.
The figures are in AS NEW condition, never having been out of the box or even displayed.
No other seller with this item at time of listing.
The outer box has only minor shop wear to it, and is in VeryGood condition despite. The inner card tray is almost un-blemished.
I have several of these Soldier sets on sale, and other ones to be listed soon, also single unit Scottish pipers and other Scottish Bandsmen figures and bandsmen either already up or
going up soon, including Bugler, Big Drum, Pipe major etc.
Clich here 
to visit shop and see whole range of Britains figures plus others like King and Country, Conte and more. Please feel
free to Email and ask any questions.
Please note , some
items
value is such that i prefer to send it to some Countrys only on a Tracked
Mail basis.
This specifically
includes
Italy
at the moment, where a much higher than acceptable amount of
packages
appear to go amiss ?? !!!. but i reserve the right to include others
depending on cost of item and which Country.
I have more items like this, or similar, plus lots of other great products either already up, or coming soon.
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W. Britain
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. The company quickly became the industry leader, and was imitated by many other companies, such as Hanks Bros. and John Hill and Co.[1] The style and scale of Britain's figures became the industry standard for toy soldiers for many years.
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. [2] During the first half of the 20th century, Britains expanded its range and market. By 1931 the firm employed 450 at its London factory. The catalogue had expanded to 435 sets and twenty million models a year were being produced. [3]
In the 1950s Britains acquired Herald Miniatures, plastic figures designed by Roy Selwyn-Smith.
By 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 1976 Britains started Deetail plastic figures with metal bases that were initially manufactured in England but later were manufactured in China.
When production stopped, the range of catalogued lead sets exceeded 2200. 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. This range was greatly expanded over the next 20 years and included die-cast versions of their old toy soldiers, some made from original moulds. These, as well as their lines of Deetail plastic figures and accessories, and their older sets have become highly collectable.
They are also known for their American Revolutionary War soldiers.
In 1997 Britains Petite, Ltd was bought by Ertl Company of Iowa, a maker of die-cast toys. Ertl was subsequently bought by Racing Champions, another American die cast model maker. At this time production of toy soldiers was moved to China. In 2005, the W. Britains brand was acquired by First Gear, an American maker of die cast collectables. This firm produces and sells mostly contemporary matte-style figures to the collectors market under the W. Britain brand. Kenneth A. Osen is the Master Sculptor for W. Britain. All figures are sculpted by hand, to scale before duplicating. [5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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