Voltigeurs de la Garde Impériale - Silbermann No.25

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you another Silbermann sheet. This time No. 25, featuring the Voltigeurs de la Garde.

From what I've observed, this is probably the only Silbermann sheet you can still find in large numbers today. These voltigeurs were first printed sometime between 1854 and 1857 and were produced until 1870. As always with Gustave Adolphe Henri Silbermann's figures, these are printed with oil paints, which makes them look much more vibrant (and therefore more valuable) than competing products (e.g., Wentzel or Pellerin) from this period.

As with many surviving printed Silbermann sheets, this one also has a subsequent advertising imprint on the back.

The figures are 10 cm high.

Best regards,

Andreas

Musikkapelle, Gustav Kühn 10291 (similar)

Hello,

Today I'm showing you some single cut soldiers again.

It's a group of seven musicians in Wehrmacht uniforms. The same soldiers appeared in a Gustav Kühn sheet numbered 10291 as the "Infanterie-Musikkapelle" (Infantry Band). But these figures here certainly don't come from such a sheet. For one thing, the figures are smaller than I would expect from Kühn, and for another, they are printed in very poor quality on a type of newsprint. I suspect they come from a German youth magazine or newspaper from the 1940s.

The figures are about 6.5 cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

Abadie - Soldatenbilderbogen XA

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you another Abadie printed sheet. 

I already mentioned with issue X that there are two (actually three) very similar versions. This is number XA, in which only one of the four dragoons of the Austrian Federal Army has been replaced by an officer.

The figures are in the Abadie standard scale of 6 cm. These promotional items were produced shortly before Austria's annexation to Germany in 1938.

Best regards,

Andreas

Austrian Infantry - Marcel Vagné (son) No.1415

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you a few individual figures that I've finally been able to identify.

I keep finding cut-out, crumpled, or otherwise damaged or trimmed partial sheets or individual figures. I like to try to "rescue" them, refurbish or restore them, and give them a second life. These four soldiers were just such examples. Unfortunately, I couldn't identify them for a long time. I briefly thought they might be Austrians, but the olive-green / yellowish color of the uniforms led me down the wrong path. Finally, I found a picture of such an uncut sheet yesterday! It's number 1415 by Marcel Vagné (the son, not the father) and is actually supposed to depict Austrian infantry from World War I. The figure size corresponds to approximately 7.5 to 8 cm.

Best regards,

Andreas

German Reichswehr Soldiers - Oehmigke & Riemschneider Neuruppin Nr.10331

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you a sheet of German Reichswehr soldiers in the uniforms between 1921 and 1933. It was printed sometime in the mid-1920s an it's from the company Oehmigke & Riemschneider in Neuruppin and bears the number 10331. Unfortunately, it was torn in half.

You can see various groups of German Reichswehr soldiers, supply troops, a medical carriage, a motorcycle – but also an infantry gun and a road-going armored car.

The figures are naturally slightly different in size due to the different perspectives, but they roughly correspond to a figure size of 7.5 to 8 cm. In the upper left corner there is a stamp of the dealer who sold this sheet at the time.

Best regards,

Andreas

Imagerie Pellerin No.151 - French Infantry in Combat

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you a print sheet from Pellerin (Imagerie d'Epinal). It's numbered 151 and shows French soldiers from World War I (field uniform 1916-1918) in combat.

The figures are 8 cm tall, although the captain is a bit larger.

Best regards,

Andreas

Imageries Reunies Jarville-Nancy - 349 French Dragoons 1870

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you another print from Imagerie Jarville-Nancy. This one is numbered 349 and shows French dragoons from 1870. 

These prints date from the post-World War I period. The nine riders can be distinguished into an officer, two trumpeters, and six cavalrymen. The height of the figures, including the horse, is approximately 11.5 cm; the figure itself is approximately 7 cm.

Best regards,

Andreas

Abadie - Soldatenbilderbogen IX

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you another Abadie printed sheet. It's part of the Austrian Armed Forces pre-1938 series and features soldiers from three different branches of the military. First, a field gun of the artillery (red collar insignia), then two Jäger (light infantry, green collar insignia), and finally, a heavy machine gun firing from the infantry (light blue collar insignia). The sheet bears the Roman numeral 9, and the figures are 6 cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

French Army WW1 - René Touret 200/35

 Hello,

Today I'd like to show you a sheet of soldiers printed by René Touret.

In "Paper Soldiers" by Edward Ryan, there's a short paragraph about the Touret publishing house. According to this, the company produced in "Châtellerault" and later in "La Châtre." My sheet, however, shows the inscription "Paris" and "Imprimé en France." According to a Google search, Touret was active there in the mid-1930s. I also know of another sheet of paper soldiers by Touret that also has "Paris" as the place of origin, but with the inscription "Imprimé en Belgique."

The small sheet I'm showing you today has an advertisement printed on the back. 

Otherwise, it features very simply drawn French soldiers in the uniforms of 1916 to 1918 and two small, scaled-down tanks that, with a lot of imagination, are meant to represent a Renault FT. The figures vary in size; the largest ones are approximately 7cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

Italian Army - Marcel Vagné No.529

Hello,

Unfortunately, I have very little free time at the moment, so updates here are very sparse.

But today I'd like to show you this somewhat worn sheet by Marcel Vagne. It's numbered 529 and shows various figures from the branches of the Italian Army. The drawing style is very "special". The figures are very comic-like, with oversized torsos. 

The paper on which these soldiers were printed is somewhat thicker than one would normally expect from French publishers. The print can be dated to the period between 1880 and 1900. The figures are 7 cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

German Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1939 - ABC

Hello,

Today I'm showing you the third of four sheets on the German Wehrmacht from the Czech ABC magazine.

This sheet covers the Luftwaffe's anti-aircraft artillery. It features an 8.8cm anti-aircraft gun, ammunition crates and shell casings, as well as the crew consisting of an officer, a rangefinder, a telephone operator, and four artillerymen.

This sheet was printed sometime in the mid-1990s. The figures, like the entire series, are 6cm tall.

A noticeable printing error is a cyan-colored bar running through the helmets and caps on the backs of some figures.

Best regards,

Andreas

Carabiniers - Silbermann No.9

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you one of my Silbermann plates. It's numbered 9 and depicts French Carabiniers. There are several variants of this plate; in addition to the one shown here with 12 riders, there's also a version with only 9 riders. There exist also different color variations of the trousers.

In the first row, you can see a brigadier (corporal), a sergeant, an officer, and a trumpeter. Below them are two rows of enlisted soldiers.

This print was first published in 1845. I suspect that the version shown here is the "later" version and was available until 1870.

At least, the subsequently printed advertisement on the back suggests this.

The figures scale is about 8 cm. From helmet peak to base, they measure approximately 12.5 cm.

Best regards,

Andreas

French Zouaves, Fischbach No.2

 Hello,

Today I'm showing you Plate No. 2 by Fischbach.

It depicts 27 French Zouaves in their post-1872 uniforms. The graphics were drawn by Alfred Touchemolin, and the plates were produced between 1873 and 1914.

In detail, you can see a total of four different officers, including one with a flag, three sergeants, two corporals, three clairons, and 15 soldiers.

The figures measure 9.5 cm.

Best regards,

Andreas

German Artillery 1940 - ABC

Hello,

Today I'm showing you the second sheet (of four) of the German Wehrmacht from the Czech ABC Magazine.

This time: artillery soldiers with a field howitzer.

The soldiers correspond very well to the typical Wehrmacht uniforms of 1939 or 40, with their tunics with dark green collars, the high boots and the helmets with double-decals. The only thing that could be criticized are the red collar tabs; they didn't exist in this form.

Otherwise, these are very vividly drawn figures in 6cm scale.

Best regards,

Andreas

Imagerie Pellerin No.737 - Turkish Infantry in Combat

Hello,

Today, for a change, I'm showing a Pellerin sheet. No. 737 shows Turkish infantry from the "Great War" in combat and was probably printed shortly after World War I.

The sheet features six rows of figures. Some of the figures have identical front and back views, while others are only shown from one side. The figures size is 6 cm

Best regards,

Andreas

German Infantry 1939 - ABC

Hello,

Today I'm showing you another sheet from a Czech ABC magazine. 

It depicts nine two-page figures of German Wehrmacht soldiers in early field jackets, the typical uniforms of the 1939 and 1940 campaigns. These figures were published in 1994 or 1995. The figures are 6 cm tall.

Best regards,

Andreas

Imageries Reunies Jarville-Nancy - 343 Cent-Gardes 1870

Hello,

Today I'm showing you one of my French printed sheets. It's number 343 from "Imageries Reunies Jarville-Nancy" and shows Cent-Gardes from 1870. 

If I understood Edward Ryan correctly, these sheets were only printed after 1919. The coloring is unfortunately a bit odd and not very successful. The plate shows nine riders, an officer, two trumpeters, and six soldiers. The riders and horses are about 11 cm high, which corresponds to a figure size of about 8 cm.

Best regards,

Andreas

J.F.Schreiber 308 - Deutsche Husaren

Hello,

Today we're continuing with the next J.F. Schreiber plate. 

This time, number 308 features 8 hussars of the 1.Leib-Husaren Regiment Nr.1. This plate includes an officer and 7 enlisted men. The depiction with the rearing horse is "very special." A cut-out and lined-up troop certainly looks more like dancing circus horses than a tight-knit military unit. The coloring makes the hussars almost dark blue, but their uniforms should actually be black. The figure size is approximately 7 cm. These 300-numbered plates were printed and sold approximately between 1900 and 1916.

Best regards,

Andreas

J.F.Schreiber 307 - Deutsche Dragoner

Hello,

Today I'm showing you a new addition to my collection. It's sheet 307 from the J.F. Schreiber company in Esslingen. 

The sheet depicts eight German dragoons from the Imperial German Empire. One of the figures is an officer, and the other seven represent enlisted ranks. The white color of the lapels and shoulder boards identifies the riders as members of the Leib-Dragoner-Regiment (2. Großherzoglich Hessisches) Nr. 24. From the top of the helmet to the hooves, the riders are 13 cm tall, which corresponds to a figure height of approximately 8 cm.

Best regards,

Andreas

Artillerie de la Garde Impériale - Silberman No.26 (FAKE?)

 Hello,

While searching for old Silbermann plates, I found this one here in Italy and bought it. I was a bit skeptical from the start because the size of 26.8 cm x 16.2 cm would be much too small for a Silbermann print. Did the seller make a mistake? Did I just find proof that Silbermann also printed much smaller figures that were previously unknown?

Neither. When I finally held the sheet in my hands after a long wait, it turned out to be a modern "copy." A "copy" in terms of the image, but of course not in terms of the format. The figures are only about 5.5 cm high! They were printed using modern CMYK halftone printing. On the back is the well-known advertising imprint for "Cordonnerie Piron." On the originals, the printing ink had soaked through the thin paper, so the print was also slightly visible on the front. Here, however, this print on the front was shown as a halftone print!

What do I have here? Where does this sheet come from, who had it printed and for what purpose, and are there other motifs? If anyone can help me, I would be very grateful for an answer.

Best regards,

Andreas