French Poilus

Hello,

today, for a change, I'm showing you something I painted myself. These figures are part of an experiment I undertook last August or September. I wanted to try painting only the base colors on some figures and representing all the shadows and details, etc., with blck ink hatching. A bit like in comic books.

I used scans of Pellerin French figures as references, as well as a photo of a soldier firing a gun. I scaled the figures to 8 cm.

After painting a few, I used the design of a medal commemorating the return of Alsace-Lorraine as my reference too.

Since I think this technique works quite well with the WWI figures, I wanted to try it out on Napoleonic uniforms, so I started to make a few Bavarians.

I think it could work with figures in "action" poses. However, I don't like it as much on these classic figures standing at attention.

These experiments are currently complete for me, but I can easily imagine creating some opponents for these Poilus at some point.

Best regards,

Andreas

J.F.Schreiber 394 (Mini) - Englische Truppen

Hello,

Today I'm showing you another Schreiber mini-sheet. This one is number 394 and depicts British troops (in German usage until 1945, everything was considered "English"). It also features a Roman numeral, this time "LXXVI" (76).

The British soldiers are wearing the khaki colonial uniform of around 1900. Two figures from the WW1 British Infantry set are also included. The figures are 55 to 60 mm tall.

Best regards, 

Andreas

Abadie - Einzelfiguren, Italienische Armee

Hello,

I've shown many Abadie paper soldiers in the past – and "spoiler alert," I have more here waiting to be shown.

But these sheets weren't the only paper soldiers this Austrian cigarette paper manufacturer produced. Besides the three series of "Soldaten Bilderbögen" that I know of, a large number of individual figures were also distributed. These were certainly printed as sheets or strips, but then cut up and distributed along with individual cigarette paper packs. The cutting seems to have taken place at the retailer's, as I have several sections with two or three figures.

Unlike the printed sheets, these individual figures are printed on both sides, not just one. They are somewhat reminiscent of the French soldiers from H. Bouquet's "Pro Patria" series. In terms of size, they are also fairly comparable, but the drawing style is much simpler. Unlike the quite similar figures from the competitor "Olleschau," the Abadie individual figures are unfortunately not numbered, and I'm not aware of any list or anything similar. So it remains a mystery how many different variants of these figures existed – but there must have been quite a lot!

Today, as a first step, I'll show you my Italian figures from this series. It's striking that the same figures appear to have existed in approximately 55mm and 65mm sizes.

Best regards,

Andreas

Luxuspapierfabrik Berlin - Schweizer Schützen

Hello,

Following the general introduction of these figures a few days ago, today I'm showing you the Swiss Army riflemen (Schützen).

These represent the typical structure of a unit of these foldable figures. There are usually five groups of figures: one group depicts musicians, the other four represent infantry or cavalry, with one (sometimes two) figures representing an officer. Artillery, engineers, and other troops, however, do not include musicians and sometimes not even officers. Therefore, these groups usually only have fewer figure strips (mostly two to four).

The riflemen shown here come from box number 1 of the Swiss Army. The Swiss Army comprised a total of three boxes. I am familiar with the following Swiss figures from this series:

- Infanterie (Infantry)

- Schützen (Riflemen)

- Landsturm (Home Guard)

- Feld-Artillerie (Field Artillery)

- Berg-Artillerie (Mountain Artillery)

- Genie-Sappeur (Engineer Sapper)

- Dragoner (Dragoon)

Best regards,

Andreas

H.Bouquet Pro Patria Pl.2 - French Artillerie

Hello,

it's about time to finally included one of the most famous series of French paper figures in this blog! I'm referring to the beautiful figures by H. Bouquet. More precisely, the "Pro Patria" series. This series started in 1915 and continued to be expanded with new sheets even after 1918.

What's special about these figures is that the medium-weight cardstock was printed on both sides. This means that after cutting, the figure had a front and a back! While this wasn't a new invention—J.F. Schreiber had similar figures in his catalogs in the 1880s or 90s—only the H. Bouquet sheets seem to have been produced in truly large quantities.

Today I'm presenting Pro Patria sheet No. 2 with French artillery (circa 1915).

This sheet, however, is not an original but belongs to a series of reprints that were published in several folders in the 1980s.

These artillerymen are 6 cm tall. 

Best regards, Andreas

Grenadier Guards - Luis Reyes, Madrid - Victorian Soldiers No.I

Hello,

today I'm showing you a very modern printed sheet from Spain.

In 1987, a series of sixteen prints of British soldiers from the Victorian era was published in two folders by Luis Reyes in Madrid. The 65mm tall soldiers were drawn by Dionisio A. Cueto.

Unfortunately, the series seems to have had a very small print run. At least, I haven't been able to acquire a complete set yet. But a few individual plates have found their way to me.

The sheet shown here is numbered I and is dedicated to the Grenadier Guards.

Best regards,

Andreas

J.F.Schreiber 921 - Motorisierte Infanterie

Hello,

after showing you three RAPI motorcycles already, today it's JFS' turn!

The two heavy motorcycle combinations come from sheet number 921, "Deutsches Heer - Motorisierte Infanterie" (German Army - Motorized Infantry), which depicts a reconnaissance (Aufklärungs-) or motorcycle infantry (Kradschützen) unit. The complete sheet contained eight motorcycles (four with machine guns and four without) and one Kfz 13 light reconnaissance vehicle. As is so often the case, unfortunately only these two figures have survived. They are glued onto very thick cardboard and cut out with a scroll saw. Originally, a kind of base was inserted into the cardboard from below using small tacks. If you look closely, you can see the resulting damage to the printed image. Since the holes were worn out and the figures could no longer be stood upright, I attached a typical wooden base instead.

The figures were drawn by Eugen Blumentritt. They measure 12x9cm.

Best regards,

Andreas

The Trojan War - ABC

Hello,

today I'm showing you some figures that I was specifically asked about a while ago. They are the Trojan War warriors drawn by Premysl Kubela. This is the mythical conflict between Greek gods and heroes that Homer describes in his Iliad and which, depending on the interpretation, is placed in the late Bronze Age or the early Iron Age.

But you won't find a Trojan Horse or the beautiful Helen here, nor is Achilles. Instead, there are 50 early colourful warriors from the Greek Mediterranean.

These figures were printed in the Czechoslovakian ABC youth magazine in 1991 or 1992. Like other figures that appeared there, these are "pieced together," meaning that the figures are not one piece, but rather some arms and weapons have to be glued on separately. The typical round shields acquire a slight 3D effect. The figures are 55mm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

Abadie - Soldatenbilderbogen, Österreichische Dragoner (2,5D) - again!

Hello,

today I'm showing you more Austrian Dragoons from Abadie!

The reason is that a very dear friend gave me a missing printing sheet for Christmas. Thanks again so much, Jonathan!

So today I can finally show you the second 2.5D Dragoon sheet I know of. It depicts a general, an officer, and a trumpeter.

And for the sake of completeness, here's the second variant again, with the three enlisted riders.

Best regards,

Andreas

Spiel Soldaten zum Aufstellen - Luxuspapierfabrik Berlin - an introduction

Hello,

Today I'll try to give a brief introduction to "Spiel-Soldaten zum Aufstellen".

These are figures that were quite widespread in Europe. They were available in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France, and presumably in other countries as well.

The figures themselves were printed as glossy images (known as "Oblaten," "Glanzbilder," "scraps," or "chromos"), embossed, and die-cut. Typically, five of these figures were glued onto rectangular paper frames. This allowed them to be folded flat and, when unfolded, placed directly onto the paper frames, creating upright figures. A simple yet ingenious solution!

The Schuler figurines have the company name printed on the paper strips.
(picture shows some damaged figures)

The figures became so widespread because they were used as promotional items by well-known companies of the time (late 19th and early 20th centuries). For example, by the German sewing supplies company "Schürer" and the Swiss detergent manufacturer "Schuler." Some department stores and pharmacies also used these figures, but unlike the two companies mentioned earlier, they did not have their company names printed on the back.

Schürer figurines have the company name printed directly on the back of the figurines.

These figures were given away individually (meaning a paper frame with five figures each) and also in various denominations in small cardboard boxes.

This box is only described "neutrally" as "Schürer soldier figures." However, there are also Schürer boxes with other labels that describe their respective contents.

Presumably, the existing larger cardboard boxes containing approximately 15 groups of figures were also available for purchase.

The larger boxes contain two rows of soldiers (usually 15 sets) and have the contents etc. printed on them.

To date, I am aware of ten different series of these figures. Nine of them depict the troops of various nations at the turn of the century. A tenth series is dedicated to the soldiers of Frederick the Great (Frederick II of Prussia).

I am familiar with the following:

-Army of Frederick II

-Germany (series comprises 4 boxes)

-England (series comprises 3 boxes)

-France (series comprises 3 boxes)

-Italy

-Japan (series comprises 3 boxes)

-Russia (series comprises 3 boxes)

-Switzerland (series comprises 3 boxes)

-Spain

-Turkey

The name of the nation and the respective branch of service or regiment is printed on the bottom of the base – and as far as I know, always in German language. So far, I have only come across a few Swiss figures with completely unprinted bases.

Who produced these figures? No manufacturer's name appears on the figures themselves or on the cardboard boxes they come in. If anything, there are stickers or names of the companies that used them as advertising items. I got the manufacturer's name, "Luxuspapierfabrik Berlin" (Luxury Paper Factory Berlin), from another collector. In Berlin, there was a paper figure manufacturer called "Hohenstein & Lange," which changed its name to "Berliner Luxuspapierfabrik A.G." in 1898. However, at that time, there were several "luxury paper factories" in Berlin that weren't necessarily connected. Whether there's any connection between these folding figures and Hohenstein & Lange is unknown, so I'm treating them as a separate manufacturer.

Papeterie M.Hostettler in Geneva was one of probably many shops that sold these soldiers.

The figures are always 8.5 cm tall. The cavalry and artillery teams are therefore slightly smaller in scale than the foot figures.

My intention here is simply to provide a brief introduction to these figures. I will present the corresponding figures from my collection gradually in separate posts.

Best regards, 

Andreas

Spanish Cavalry - Editorial Roma, Barcelona - Construcciones Fernandito No.21

Hello,

today I'm showing you another "Spaniard". Even a "double" one, if you will—a printed sheet produced in Spain depicting Spanish soldiers.

It's number 21 from the Barcelona-based manufacturer La Editorial Roma and belongs to the "Constucciones Fernandito" series. This series was printed between 1942 and 1945 and comprised a total of 25 sheets.

The sheet shows nine cavalrymen. As is typical for this series, the figures are very small; the horse and rider measure between 4.5 and 5 cm. This corresponds to a man's height of 30 to 32 mm.

Best regards,

Andreas

J.F.Schreiber 354 (Mini) - Italienisches Heer, Artillerie

Hello,

Today I'm showing you a mini-sheet from JFS. Many of these sheets bear a Roman numeral in addition to their actual numbering. Unfortunately, the meaning behind it is unknown.

My guess is that it represents some connection to the "large" printed sheets with the same motif. At least it's noticeable that the mini-motifs that aren't known as the larger version don't have a Roman numeral.

Otherwise, four of these miniature sheets were printed on one bigger paper sheet. However, the combination of the four motifs seems to have been arbitrary. At least some surviving examples in museums show different combinations.

The sheet shown here has the number 354 and the Roman numeral LXIV (64) and depicts four figures of Italian artillery.

The figure size is approximately 4.5 cm.

Best regards, 

Andreas

French Infantry - Fischbach No.1

Hello,

today I'm showing you a find from the French eBay. These are soldiers from printing sheet No. 1, featuring French infantry by Gustave Fischbach. 

These figures, drawn by Alfred Touchemolin, were printed with oil paints between 1873 and 1914. Unfortunately, only 7 of the 27 figures on the sheet have survived.

The figures are mounted on thick cardboard. Two of the figures needed wooden supports to stand upright again, and one bayonet had to be reattached, but otherwise they are in quite good condition. They are 9 cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

Abadie - Soldatenbilderbogen, Englische Soldaten

Hello,

today I'm showing you an Abadie "Soldatenbilderbogen" from the first series. It's the only one I know of that depicts English soldiers.

Besides several khaki-clad "colonial army soldiers," there are also four figures in red parade uniforms.

The figures are 6 cm tall, typical of Abadie.

Best regards,

Andreas

1.Garde Regiment zu Fuß, Musikkorps, RAPI S7

Hello and Happy New Year to you all!

Today I'm showing you a figure sheet from Rauert & Pittius in Sorau. It's number 7 and was the first in a series of 11 sheets depicting the Guard troops of the German Empire.

It shows the band of the Prussian 1.Guard Regiment (zu Fuß). Unfortunately, my copy is a bit worn, and the printing is slightly out of register, so the figures appear a little blurry and not as sharp and high-contrast as is usually the case with Rapi.

Nevertheless, they are wonderful figures that very accurately represent the characteristics of this regiment's uniforms.

This series was probably produced in the early 1930s.

The figures are 8 cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas