Britains Zoo - Animals, Enclosures, Cages / Fences / Railing, Keepers.
This zoo was one of my most treasured possessions. The animals are plastic which has been painted, by hand I believe, so each item is unique. But when I look at it I don't see painted plastic but sheer magic. I aught to sell the animals individually, but I'm still so sentimental about it I don't want to split the animals up, so here is a big job lot of over 100 items. The animals are mostly in very good condition for their age, although the flamingo has lost its legs/base.
Britains Animals include:
- Primates: 2 Gorillas, Baboon, Guenon Monkey, Chimpanzee (articulated), 4 Baby Chimps from the Chimps Tea Party set.
- Big Cats: 3 Lions, 2 Tigers, 2 Panthers (likely leopards but I always thought they were cheetahs)
- Reptiles: Giant tortoise, Large Articulated Crocodile, Small crocodile
- Birds: Stork, Pelican, 2 Ostriches (1 articulated), American Eagle, Vulture, Flamingo without its legs/base
- Aquatic Animals: 5 Penguins (with base), 1 Emperor Penguin (free standing), Seal, Walrus
- Bears: 3 Brown Bears, 2 Polar Bears (1 walking, 1 sitting), 1 Panda
- Large Animals: Indian Elephant, Baby Elephant (articulated head), Rhinoceros, Baby Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, 2 Baby Hippopotami
- 3 Wolves
- Bovines: African Buffalo, Water Buffalo, Highland Cow
- Giraffe (articulated neck), Baby Giraffe, Okapi
- Camel, Baby Camel
- Other Ungulates: Zebra, Red Deer Stag, Llama, Spring Buck, Antelope, Wild Boar, Tapir
- Kangaroo
- Ant Eater
Hopefully I've identified them correctly - but basically look at the photos to see what you are getting. There's some other vintage but not Britains animals held separately in the slatted cages - description at the end.
Articulated Britains animals: 1Ostrich and the adult Giraffe can move their
head/neck up and down. The adult chimpanzee has a moveable arm. The baby
elephant can swivel its head. The large crocodile can, and **will**,
bite you with his snapping jaw. He will also escape. Don't forget about the biting: you have
been warned.
NB Chimpanzees Tea Party - all the animals and keeper are present, but not the table / chairs /cups. Also, see the following note on their keeper.
Keepers:
- Man in the green jumper has lost both
his broom and his hat/top of his skull.
- Man in yellow has lost his
stick for feeding meet to the lions, although the piece of meat remains.
- The smartly dressed head zoo keeper, who comes from the Chimps Tea Part
set (so he's the version of this model with a little slot in his arm
for a baby chimpanzee to plug in) came detached from his base so my dad
glued him onto that blue Britains base to allow him to stand. But he's
come off of that now, and despite its age this glue doesn't simply pull off - I didn't actually try too hard for fear of
damaging his paint, but he could do with being scraped clean and re-attached
Enclosures:
- Rock Pit #4381 has a chip to the external corner of the base (see penultimate photo). The tree sits rather loosely in its slot.
- Tropical Pool #4382 missing its plants. One of the holes to slot in the "glass"/clear plastic has become elongated making a hole in one of the external edges. See penultimate photo. Also, between you and me, it's tropical heating system likely never worked because my polar animals always made their home in this enclosure which I took to be made of ice! But maybe some penguins like it hot.
- Britains Cages (Boxed) # 4370 - this set has all its fences, in very good condition (it was a later acquisition my dad bought for me, but he knew I found the fencing tricky to manage, so I don't think the fences really got used, only the feeders). The inner flaps of the box with animal labels are still intact. Most of the feeders etc are there, but what is missing is a bucket plus both bucket handles, and 2 of the 3 label holders. The fences in the box are able to make up one square enclosure plus a second enclosure which is divided into two sections with the first part roofed. The box is not bad for its age but has very obvious signs of wear - please see photos. Also, there is some faint writing of numbers on the front and back (I think the writing on the back is the price as written on by the shopkeeper). [Just to be clear - when I took the big group photo shot, I left these fences inside their box but put the feeders etc on top of the box.]
- Green Fencing - the two green cages erected in the photo are heavily played with and missing some of their top spikes and the occasional lug. The big square cage was glued onto a cardboard base to give it more stability - this glue is over 50 years old and easily peels off without harming the plastic. (But I didn't remove the fencing from the cardboard because I'm so sentimental about this set that even the cardboard feels precious!) For these cages there's also a grey railing, 2 feeding troughs, hay feeder and silver grey pool.
- There's 4 pieces of silver grey fencing, also 2 pieces of orange/red free standing railing - I'm not 100% sure if the orange/red rails are Britains as I couldn't find it in a very quick google search.
Non Britains Animals in Green Cages:
I had a few animals from the early 70s which weren't Britains, but I've included them because they've been together for so long. I put the non Britains animals into the slatted fenced areas.
- 2 beehives are by F. G. Taylor and are plastic versions of the earlier Taylor & Barrett lead beehives.
- Lion, Tiger, 2 Polar Bear Cubs, zebra, Horse, some kind of donkey/pony, small light brown Kangaroo/Joey
- These animals include a couple of dinosaurs
- Terrifyingly purple Big Foot / Sasquatch. Please be aware that no cage known to man can keep that Sasquatch contained. He **will** escape. He will also attempt to incite rebellion in the other animals. He is dangerous. He will rampage. Again: you have been warned.
Non Britains Timpo Animals in Silver / Grey Cage:
" Timpo Eskimo Village " animal figures: Standing Polar Bear, Walrus, and a beautifully tactile Seal - who I always thought was swimming, but who is apparently dead as he's just been caught by hunters and loaded onto their sled to bring home to their igloo. I think that "Frozen North" set is from 1974 and is extremely collectible.
I think that's everything - except for the love and memories.