I picked up these six metal figures and the bench at the Tucson train show last weekend. They are cast metal and very steam era with everyone wearing hats, the men in double-breasted suits, etc. The quality looks quite good, both detail and paint. I paid $22.00 for the lot which struck me as good value for the quality, if not exactly a steal. Anybody know who made them or when?
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Maybe American Flyer, Back in the early 1950's Flyer had a couple of figure sets. The figures you pictured could of came from figure set #33 and #34.
I picked up these six metal figures and the bench at the Tucson train show last weekend. They are cast metal and very steam era with everyone wearing hats, the men in double-breasted suits, etc. The quality looks quite good, both detail and paint. I paid $22.00 for the lot which struck me as good value for the quality, if not exactly a steal. Anybody know who made them or when?
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Most of those figures were produced by Comet Industries under the name "Authenticast" post WWII.
They were produced in Ireland. The figures may have some lettering on the bottom such as "E I R E" or "H E " or both.
Many people misread the letters to be "ERIE" but they are not.
Look again and you'll see they read E I R E which in Gaelic stands for Ireland.
The H E stands for Holger Eriksson one of the designers of the figures.
You can research a lot about Comet, Authenticast, Holger Eriksson and other interesting facts about these and other cast figures here.
Hope this helps.
Mark
I continue to be amazed at the knowledge on this forum!!
Brent
Thanks to all. Looks like banjoflyer nailed it. The railroad man with the lantern has EIRE, as in Ireland, stamped in the bottom. I really like these figures as they evoke the late steam era with the hats and style of clothing. The guy I got these from had a few more; there's another Tucson show in January so I might get more from him. I'll be keeping my eyes open for Authenticast.
Southwest Hiawatha, your figures are beautiful and well made, of which you got a good buy.
Jim, hojac and Mark, thank all of you for your valuable information.
A great research forum!!!
Ralph
You have GOT to be kidding. Mark, that's amazing, thank you. That would explain why "Erie" figures are so hard to research, huh? I have been trying to track these down for years. What really gets me is that I lived in Ireland for 5 years, and after becoming accustomed to seeing "Eire" on all the currency, signage, newspapers, and everywhere else every day, you'd think I'd know better. It never ceases to amaze me how much we see what we expect to see and not what's actually there. Well done.
You have GOT to be kidding. Mark, that's amazing, thank you. That would explain why "Erie" figures are so hard to research, huh? I have been trying to track these down for years. What really gets me is that I lived in Ireland for 5 years, and after becoming accustomed to seeing "Eire" on all the currency, signage, newspapers, and everywhere else every day, you'd think I'd know better. It never ceases to amaze me how much we see what we expect to see and not what's actually there. Well done.
Thank you for your kind comments.
I became fascinated by these figures several years ago and was amazed by their provenance. Comet Industries (or maybe their predecessor) was a Military contractor for US forces during the war and produced many cast figures of planes and warships by the 10's of thousands for military leaders to show where the allied and enemy forces were in respect to each other and their relative strengths.
We've all seen a WWII movie where a flat map of the world, surrounded by anxious military men, is covered by armadas of ships and squadrons of planes.
Well, in all probability those little models are the very same offered for sale after the war by Comet under the Authenticast label.
The Allied reconstruction efforts in Europe after the war started many small factories making myriad things including toys. The main effect was to get people working again doing something. Lucky for us model RR guys that Railroad figures were one of those items produced. They look great on an S or O gauge layout.
Mark
One of my Authenticast figures - a lady waving like in the OP's original photo - has "Union of South Africa" on the base: according to one web site the company moved production there for a time?
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