Thursday 20 November 2008

The Norman Conquest 1066







In deference to Roy and the price I have just paid on e-bay for thse figures, I have amended slightly some text on the home page of this site.

These are very rare figures and I was prompted to pay a collectors' price for them so I could make pictures avaialble on the blog. Most lances have been removed at some point from the mounted figures, presumably with the intention of replacing them with more robust wire ones, and the mounted standard bearer unfortunately seems to have lost the Pope's Sacred Banner - not a good move, you would think. The English standard bearer is a fine figure, as is Duke William. I regret no King Harold was included, and also particularly would have liked to see the Fyrdman described as being in flowing cloak and armour with sword - sounds inspiring.

The excerpt from the Bayeux Tapestry above shows the point when William, having been thrown from his horse, raises his helmet so his men can see he is still alive. Next to him is Count Eustace, carrying what is thought to be the Pope's Sacred Banner - probably Marcus Hinton's inspiration for these two figures.

2 comments:

old john said...

very many thanks for putting up the pics of the 1066 range, these figures i have never seen before in all my years of collecting Hinton Hunt.
i know you paid a collectors price for them but in my humble opinion, well worth it
john

Stryker said...

Clive - What an excellent little range of figures. When I saw my first HH catalogue (in 1968) I was fascinated by these but have never seen any pics before now! I think it was money well spent. I pledged not to buy any more stuff on eBay too but did splash out a ridiculous amount on some vintage Prussians a couple of weeks back - sometimes you just have to...

Ian