King & Country

DISPATCHES

SEPTEMBER 2004

 

 

September is here and the Chicago Show is just a few short weeks away! For me Chicago is one of the toy soldier highlights of the year — four days (and nights) of eating, sleeping and drinking toy soldiers. Whether you are a collector, a dealer or both this show is a must. Quite literally you will see the entire length and breadth of the hobby from old Britains and CBG Mignot to Dimestore figures, pricey Russian miniatures and the best (and worst) of the new toy soldiers.

            At Chicago there is something for everyone and every pocket. You can spend a few bucks or drop a few thousand…it’s all up to you and your financial situation. I think (it’s so far back) my first visit to the Old Toy Soldier Show was in 1986. At that time all we had to sell were a few sets of Seaforth Highlanders and Royal Marines. The Show was considerably smaller and everyone could comfortably fit in the Hyatt’s ballroom…But it seemed huge to King & Country.

            I remember we virtually sold out and made about US$6,000…in cash (no cheques, no credit cards please!) Both my partner Laura and myself could not believe our luck — our very first show and we were coming away with real money!

            Even after the close of the Sunday Show people were calling our room and asking did we have anything remaining to sell. We were still doing business on the Monday morning as the last of the show crowd was departing the hotel.

            That very first show, so long ago, was incredibly important for King & Country and me personally. I met so many great people whom I’m still proud to say helped K&C when we were the “new kids on the block”…Jo and Steve Sommers…Bill and Alice Hurlbutt…Tony and Marilyn Ciccarello…Bob and Barbara Fisher to name just a few.

            Over the years the Show has got bigger (and even better), more diversified and for K&C a bit different. Now, we no longer come along and sell ourselves we leave that to you, our dealers.

            That way you make more money, pick up more customers and, we hope, push King & Country more.

            By not having to sell product myself I get around to meet dealers, get their views (hear their gripes as well) and meet the K&C collectors, and give some of them a ‘sneak peek’ at what’s in store for them. That for me is one of the great pleasures of this hobby and business. I love to meet the ordinary guy who buys King & Country. I like to think they enjoy meeting and talking with me. I also (importantly) get to see what the opposition are up to!

            This year not only will I be in Chicago but I’m bringing along our British colleagues from King & Country U.K. — Mike, Bob and Anthony Neville. In addition two very good friends and collectors from Hong Kong — Chris Howse and Mark Roberts are also coming. So, Chicago in the 20th Anniversary Year of King & Country will have a whole bunch of “redcoats” floating around.

 

Now back to business…

1.      THE FIRST D.DAY BRITISH HAVE LANDED!

As mentioned in the August DISPATCHES we have produced 5 sets of British Forces and Personalities.

Let me refresh your memories…

DD52 “Command Set”

DD53 “Gun Group”

                        DD 54 “Beachmaster"

    DD 51 CHURCHILL Infantry Support Tank

plus DD 55 Winston S. Churchill

AVAILABILITY:

DD51 CHURCHILL Infantry Support Tank and DD55 Winston S. Churchill are available immediately. The other 3 infantry and naval sets DD52, 53 and 54 will be available in Mid September in time for Chicago. As September is always a very buy time for K&C might I suggest that you at least get both Churchills (tank and Prime Minister) in advance to avoid delays later.

 

2.      COUNTER ATTACK GERMANS ALSO HERE!

In addition to the Brits we now have in stock the all-new Waffen SS action sets WS58 “Fighting Patrol”…WS60 “Panzerchrek Team” and…WS62 “New Tank Riders”. These 3 great new sets will look even better alongside our already released WS59 “Jagdpanther”.

WS58 “Fighting Patrol”

WS60 “Panzerchrek Team”

WS62 “New Tank Riders”

AVAILABILITY: NOW!

 

3.      LIMITED US NAVY/MARINE PILOTS AVAILABLE

After we produced our two aircraft models a while back we had many requests from dealers and collectors alike for the pilot figures themselves.

Well now we have one of them available — the US Navy/Marine Pilot.

Several months ago one of our major European customers wanted a very special figure as a premium gift for collectors all over Europe. They chose our US Navy/ Marine Pilot figure as that special gift. We were fortunate to be able to “add on” order a limited number for K&C. Now we can offer them to dealers while stocks last.

AVAILABILITY: NOW!

 

4.      ALSO COMING IN SEPTEMBER

“Streets of Old Hong Kong” NEW ITEMS

Because we have had to give top priority to our World War Two, Egyptian and some other popular international series our SOOHK range has been a little like the poor relation recently.

However by mid September no less than 5 new items will be available.

They are:

a)      HK119 Man with Birdcage

b)      HK120 Bird Shop Set

c)      HK121 New Running Richshaw

d)      HK122 Sitting Businessman

e)      HK123 Sitting “Tai Tai”

AVAILABILITY: LIMITED QUANTITIES are available in MID SEPTEMBER please place your orders NOW. Delivery will be on a “first-come, first-served” basis.

 

5.      “STREETS OF OLD HONG KONG” SUPPLY SITUATION

As mentioned in paragraph 4 due to the shortage of skilled painters in our factories and the increase in orders for other more internationally popular series, we have given top priority to those ranges mentioned.

SOOHK is one of, if not, the most labour intensive ranges K&C produce. At this moment and for the next few months, regretfully, we have to severely limit what we can produce of it — both all-new items and re-orders.

Consequently, we have to back-order all dealers reorders on SOOHK older items. We hope this situation and shortage will be remedied by early 2005.

 

6.      “COLLECTOR” Issue #7

As of now the newest “COLLECTOR” is now being distributed. The latest issue features an article on the British Commandos as well as another on the German counterattack on D.Day. Look out for your copies soon.

8.      CHICAGO HERE WE COME!

As I wrote at the beginning of this “DISPATCHES” I’ll be heading for the “Windy City” arriving on Thursday 23rd September…it can’t come too soon!

 

Best wishes and great sales to you all. See you in Chicago!

 

 

Andy C. Neilson

Co-founder and Creative Director