I don't buy many of these now, but I have a soft spot for ceramic buildings - especially churches. To make certain there is no misunderstanding here, I happily confirm that these are ornaments, such as you might find on your grandmother's bookcase; I like them because they have a nice, rather rough charm, and introduce a welcome organic touch into my battlefields, with their eternal silly hexes. They appear to me, in fact, as being like real buildings, an impression I do not get from plastic or MDF kits.
This new one is not another Tey Potteries creation (I have quite a few of those, but I find their churches are generally disappointing); it is by Sulley Ceramics, and it is the church of St Michael and All Angels, Brantham, Suffolk. Sulley are fairly hard to come by at reasonable prices - the principal potter/artist was Marjorie Barton, who passed away in 2021 - an interesting listing of her churches is here, if you are a collector or simply a resident of Suffolk. There is an interesting history of Sulley's here.
Unlike the Tey Britain in Miniature range, there is some variability in scale with Sulley products; if it is a miniature of a big church, the scale may be a tad smaller, to keep the footprint within the bounds of grannie's bookcase. This particular one is somewhere between 10mm and 15mm scale, which works nicely with my "one size down" policy for buildings for 20mm figures. My ECW troops would certainly have to stoop a bit to get in the door, but the overall size is about 7" long, 4" high, which is fine.
Each of my 20mm toy soldiers represents 33 real men anyway, so the whole set up is just a massive compromise!
But what we really want to know is whether the seller was a lady named Sue......☺
ReplyDeleteNeil
An excellent question - thanks Neil - that made me laugh for the first time for a little while! No - I have to report that the seller was a bloke named Alan - very helpful chap, in fact. I miss the Sues. That was a strange period - the Sues seem to specialise in Lilliput Lane and David Winter cottages; I've only a couple of those left now - they are heavy and difficult to store safely (plaster casting), and also (with hindsight) rather too cute. The (hollow) pottery buildings are handier, and also stylistically more to my taste now. I also remember the Sues as a period of genteel (ladies') eBay which was a culture shock for me and may have gone forever - one of them sent me a lollipop and a greetings card with my purchase!
DeleteThey all look like they'd grace any wargaming table?
ReplyDeleteYes indeed - you have to watch the scale, but these are all attractive. I'm astonished that they made so many different churches - in fact in some ways I'm astonished that there was ever a market for such things - and why Suffolk? - did they have particularly good clay there? All good though.
DeleteI think some of these may have been commissioned by the actual churches - not sure. I'm slightly uneasy that the church is now called St Michael and All Angels - yet the miniature has "St Michael the Archangel" stamped on the bottom. Why two different names? You don't suppose those ECW Puritans disapproved of archangels...?