Welcome to the Britains toy figure collection
No children were injured or deprived of any pleasure due to my interest in keeping these swoppets
They were either unwanted shop stock or obtained through auctions:
The loose figures, I am pleased to say, were played with by children.
I am always looking for mint Britains sets from the fifties and sixties.
This is a small introduction to the world of William Britains plastic toy soldiers. Britains were the leading manufacturers of hollow cast lead figures and they wanted to enter the plastic figure market and did just that in the late nineteen fifties. Although Britains entered the plastic market late, their ranges are still the most sought after of all plastic figures. From Swoppets, Eyes Right, Deetail, Farm and Zoo series, no collection would be complete without a sample from each. Being geared to hollow casting their early attempts at plastic injection were not very successful and this was a market which Britains needed to break into quickly. Fortunately for Britains a superb producer of plastic figures was already in full production in Kings Cross Road not too far from Britains and their name was Herald. Herald was run by Mier Zang, originally from Poland he started toy production in the late forties under the name of Zang. Zang made toys for other companies such as Timpo and had working for him a model maker Roy Selwyn Smith. Roy Selwyn Smith is generally regarded as the inspiration behind Herald and Britains plastic figure design and his figures truly are miniature works of art. In 1954 Britains bought a controlling interest in Herald and by the end of the decade were in complete control. Although now owned by Britains, Herald continued producing figures under the Herald name for several years. From being a small company, Herald now enjoyed the financial backing of Britains and from 1956 to 1959 the finest figures ever produced rolled off their production line. This period is often referred to as the "Four Golden Years" and Roy Selwyn Smith is credited with the design and sculpting of two exceptional sets. In 1956, the Robin Hood set comprising of Robin, Maid Marion, Friar Tuck, Little John and a mounted Sheriff was released to coincide with the television series, "The Adventures of Robin Hood". The figures bear a passing resemblance to Richard Greene, Bernadette O' Farrell, Alexander Gauge, Archie Duncan and Alan Wheatley. 1957 saw the release of the Antarctic Explorers commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the conquest of the South Pole in 1907. This set consisted of a skier, a driver with whip mounted on a sledge packed with accessories being pulled by a team of five dogs. The Robin Hood set was available complete in a window display box or carded without the Sheriff. The Polar Explorer set was also available in a window display box and in a curious triangular box without the skier. Although these two sets and the English Civil War set of four foot figures and two mounted sculpted by George Ford were Herald / Britains finest, they were eclipsed in popularity by the advent of the innovative swoppets.
Swoppets were figures pioneered by Britains consisting of as many as twenty one separate parts, which went together making a complete figure. The principle was that there would be six standard foot poses in a set which individually could be taken apart and reassembled with other parts in the range to make a new pose. The story goes that some of Britains toolmakers cut some figures in half and swopped the torsos and legs around. They suggested sending them to Timpo to glue back together thereby saving them time stealing Britains designs and thus the idea of the swoppet figure arose. The first cowboy swoppets arrived off the production line in 1958 and were an immediate success with children. They were followed the following year by the Red Indian swoppets and most popular of all the swoppets range, the War of the Roses knights. Only three true swoppet ranges were ever produced, Wild West, War of the Roses and Infantrymen. These three ranges were distinguishable by the bulbous peg fitting, allowing the legs to "pop" firmly into the torso. Incidentally, Poppets were a bead like toy very popular in the fifties and popped together to form necklaces or long chains or snakes depending on the sex of the owner. This probably was the inspiration for the name "swoppet". Two more swoppet ranges, the American Civil War and the American War of Independence were added to the list in the sixties but these were not true swoppets as in the bulbous peg aspect. These figures were more akin to the Eyes Right series of regimental figures. Eyes Right figures had very formal poses and fitted at the legs and torso by a cylindrical spigot and hole arrangement. Swoppets were so popular that they were still in production until the beginning of the seventies and only cost of production heralded their demise. The Deetail range, a pretty much detailless figure which at the end of the day met cost and did serve its purpose as a playable figure, replaced the swoppets. The swoppets were so popular that it wasn't long before other manufacturers such as Timpo and Elastolin were "copying" Britains swoppet style but while Britains figures were colourful, detailed and dynamic, their rivals were poor imitations.