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The above photo comes from the 1970 Chad Valley Catalogue.
The description says the range includes "nearly every well known character."
But then you look at an A-list omission like Constable Knapweed and think that these can't have been all there was.
Sage is also missing of course.
But he would've been particularly challenging to convert into a glove puppet.So maybe his absence is a bit more understandable.
And the definitive story will only emerge when,and if,I can get hold of the catalogues either side of the 1970 one.
ie. from 1968 upto about 1973/4,which is probably the very latest that they would still have been produced.
Anyone ? Email on home page !
The only actual survivor I've ever seen is Sir Basil. ( pic courtesy of Dawn Foster-Denham )
Apart from some hair loss,he looks to have come through remarkably unscathed.
Even retaining his monocle which,if original,has to rate as some kind of minor miracle.
It has a label saying "Hygenic Toys,made in England by the Chad Valley Co. Limited".
Although I'm not sure how "hygenic" it was as the back of the jacket is sewn-up rather than held
on with popper fastenings.So removing it for a wash would've been interesting.
And it doesn't seem like the front ever had any buttons either.Which is certainly in keeping with
the image shown in the catalogue,if a little odd from an aesthetic point of view.
We're also minus a copyright date too,sadly.Which would obviously help to establish their timeline a bit better.
But a really colourful item though,which kids probably had a lot of fun with,whilst also learning about the effects of excessive alchohol consumption !
The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley
On this page ..... a set of glove puppets produced by Chad Valley in 1970,and possibly even earlier.
