SPECIAL THANKS. I would like to thank Paul Watson for his sponsorship of several lead figure collections on this blog. Having decided to clear his spare/surplus figures, he generously forwarded them on with no other requirement than they deserved to be restored. I would also like to mention George S. Mills, who kindly furnished a quantity of plastic figures which greatly enhanced several collections.

Sunday, 6 November 2022

EXETER TOY and RAILWAY FAIR

Just got back from the Westpoint event in Devon. Had already decided I was not going to just spend freely. I had gaps in several collections, and they needed to be sorted. I was impressed by the scale of the event, but was surprised to be informed by several friends and contacts that this was a rather quite turnout. As a guide, I would suggest the traders were 60% die-cast, 20% Railway, 15% toy collectables, 5% toy soldiers. But many traders carried very mixed stock, so you had to view them all.

For my part, I picked up three French-made, Aluminium naval figures for £9. A bit high, but I wanted them. Much more favourable were two transport horses and a railway figure for only £5. I also picked up a single Deetail Union soldier for £2, to complete one of my battalions. With an entry fee of £4, my spending came to £20 in total.

Not sure if my photos captured this, it was nice to see a fair number of young folk, and they were as enthusiastic as the older generations. Would like to thank Chris Smith for getting us there and back.
SWAPS
As a footnote to the above, I have a box of 66 unpainted English Civil War figures, 54mm, made by CALL TO ARMS. These figures were a donation from a friend, he hopes they might be swapped for something I can use, the exchange-rate in figures is not an issue. If possible, I would like to swap these for some 54mm Timpo French Foreign Legion, Airfix WW2 Russians, Starlux French Navy, Lone Star Paras in Berets. Footnote...... HAS BEEN SWAPPED 

7 comments:

  1. An event with a treasure-trove of potential goodies.

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    1. Thank you Tony. If time allowed, would have liked to see if there were any 54mm die-cast that might have enhanced some of the collections, oh well. It was still a fun day out.
      Michael

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  2. Looks like a decent day out. I may have some WW2 Russians and Lone Star paras - I'll try to remember and look!

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    1. Thank you Tim, George is borderline family, and was keen all his unwanted figures would still be of service to my collection.... but only if you can, and as mentioned before, don't worry too much about the numbers, I'm not counting heads, lol.
      Michael

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    2. Tim, thanks for the email with photos. Happy to swap....

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  3. An excellent event Michael! It's always a good day when toys are involved! Those naval figures are very nice, I have not seen them before!

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    1. Same here Brad, have seen other Aluminium French Naval figures and they were near 60mm, these are about the same size as my Starlux plastic, which is great, and useful. I would like a large French battalion for gunboat/amphibious landings, still need a few more, but I'm getting there!
      Michael

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