Many years ago Harry Pearson sent me a tin of figures containing 'JohnBee' figures. It's one of those 'must look at sometime' projects that was filed apart from a couple of photos. As a result of the last couple of 'S' Range posts I thought I'd look at the box again...
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Found these...
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Quick comparison and they're 'S' Range! Strangely, does seem to be minor variations across all of them as far as tail and helmet plumes go, don't know if these represent casting issues, more than one master used or updates during the lifespan of the figures - can never tell with Minifigs!
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So checked the other cavalry figures. The cataphracts (mostly - see above!) have the 'typical' 'S' Range tail. the other figures don't.The last figure has to be JohnBee - smaller than the others, But look at that second figure.
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So compared that Hun-type figure to the Assyrian 'S' Range horse archer... similar tail (not all the one piece figures seem to have the typical tail), similar head, rider a similar size. Differences horse body not as deep... that's it, really. So is this an early one piece 'S' Range figure of the 'Gaul or Hun horse archer? On balance I think it is closer to the 'S' Range figures than the JohnBee figures! But not certain.
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So went to look at another one of the 'boxes-in-waiting' - 'S' Range Gauls. Found 6 'Gaul Lancers' in there, turns out they were one piece castings as well. Again, the known 'S' Range figure is a bit heftier than the '?' figure. So still haven't the faintest idea - has to be one of the two, balance of probabilities probably in favour of 'S' Range, but far from certain.
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Ain't Minifigs wonderful!
That is a lot of cataphracts! Interesting conundrum with the onesie horse archer - it's so similar - but not quite the same - as the horse under the single piece Roman cavalryman too. I was pleased to see the Gaul - I only have a single example and he's lost his spear - so now at least I know what it's supposed to look like. Huge spearhead!
ReplyDeleteI think it's fair to say that identifying Minifigs in those days is a rather chaotic art form.
DeleteThat is indeed a veritable horde of cataphracts Rob…
ReplyDeleteThere are similar identification oddities with the Minifigs Napoleonics…
I’m sure that it is an S Range or an Intermediate Range and then something turns up that has the same number engraved under the base that looks nothing like what I have seen before 🙄😁
All the best. Aly
There seems to have been very little internal regulation of codes in the Minifigs 'S' Range series - I suspect that as many as 4 or 5 different figures could have been listed as the same Greek hoplite code.
DeleteThe horse has an early Citadel look to it as well. Who was or is, John Bee? If it's not a secret of course.
ReplyDeleteJohn Braithewaite. John was the person who designed the vast majority of Garrison figures but also designed a very short lived range for Minifigs. These were basically Airfix conversions and were soon replaced by the 'S' Ramge as Braithewaite moved to Greenwood and Ball and Dick Higgs joined Minifigs - around 1968!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the info.
ReplyDeleteJust a 'small' unit by Grant's terms!
ReplyDeleteBut then again, for his Apocryphal Well game in The Ancient War Game, he used a 7' wide table... mine is only 4' wide. Actually that's not fair - mine can be longer than his 9' table.
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