Who is this.....???

[english brad]

Rather than who he is I was wondering what regiment this 100mm figure i picked up on a jumble desk at a model show for a few quid so I can possibly get the colouring right. I have guessed he is a dragoon of some sort from the boots and helmet of the late 1800s but research has reached a dead end. I also cannot find that type of halberd anywhere.(looks like a butter knife to me!!) If it helps, the motif on the breastplate is almost a malteese cross and the animal on the very top of the helmet is a lion.

Thanks

 

[Wlas]

It's a Bavarian Hartsher ( can't spell for anything..... ) 19th century....probably one of crazy Ludwig's boys.....

 

[Augie]

If memory serves, the figure was produced by Tradition.

Insofar as references are concerned:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Hartschier.jpg

http://people.freenet.de/AndreasMeininger/Nr171.jpg

The Hartschierengarde were the Household guard troops of the Prince-Electors and Kings of Bavaria from 1668-1918.

HTH!

 

[Augie]

I also cannot find that type of halberd anywhere.(looks like a butter knife to me!!)

My apologies for bypassing this part of the question. The duty weapon of the Hartschier was not a halberd, but a glaive. This was the preferred weapon of the guard units formed within the confines of the HRE. Note that it was primarily a thrusting weapon (though obviously it was also a formidable cutter): the tight ranks and close operating space required of defending the royal person/s precluded the open measure needed by a weapon such as a halberd. Thus, even halberds by the 17th-18th c. had been reduced to little more than a long spike flanked by a perfunctory and largely decorative "axe" and "hook".

HTH!

 

[polyphemus]

Hi Richard

That fig is definitely a Tradition and is still in production ref RC90.26. Their website has a painted example if that's any help www.traditionoflondon.com
follow the link to 90mm figures and your figure is in the miscellaneous figures section.


Regards


Geoff Taylor

 

[english brad]

Thanks to all the above for help and comments, thats my man found, I guess.

Armed with the info above I went back to my local library and re-checked a book I had seen before but as it is 600 pages or so must have missed him. And there he was in almost the exact pose the figure is in on page 186! The picture is a line drawing so only in b&w but there is a paragraph listing the colours, which oddly enough conflicts a touch with the pictures above. It says the tunic was light blue and the boots grey but personally I prefer the darker and more prussian blue which must be right as we can see it on the museum piece. The cross on his chest is a star of the Order of St Hubert, and a nearby church I know is St Huberts!

I think this just goes to emphasise the topics I have seen elsewhere on this site about accuracy of figures by showing that there were probably many localised variations in uniforms, either ordered by the Lord in charge or because of cloth availability or many other factors.

Interesting info on the weapon too, thanks Augie, I did suspect that the figures uniform looked late 1800s and a Halberd would have been out of date by then, so perhaps this is more of a ceremonial dress. As it turns out, the book lists the figure as 1852, well after halberds would not have been used for much except ceremony.

Don't hold your collective breath but when the figure is done I shall see if I can get a picture on this site.

Thanks again

Richard

 

[Augie]

Hi Richard,

My pleasure. Glad to have been of some help.

A few afterthoughts, if I may. . .

1) Poll-arms of varying styles were part and parcel of the ceremonial and "palace-duty" dress of many of the world's royal guards up to the last century. There are still a few (e.g., Papal Swiss Guards) who deploy--and drill!--with the halberd to this day. Admittedly, this is no longer the fearsome weapon of the medRen Swiss mountaineer, but is still a halberd in form and modified function.

2) The colour of the tunic was, well, Bavarian Blue! Prussian blue is too, too dark; "light blue" is too subjective and does not convey the depth and beauty of the actual colour.

The colour values in the image of the museum exhibit are unfortunately WAY off! I have modified the image to hopefully give you an approximate, ballpark idea of the colours:

Unfortunately, the supraveste and its embroidered and appliquéd enhancements do not fare well in either version of the image.

As with most small, elite royal units, there was very little room for variation. Royal guards epitomized uniformity: they were a reflection of the monarch and the state.

3) Re: the boots. This is a toughy. The colour is usually described as "mouse/y grey". Now whether that means a warm grey, or a greyish brown, I will leave that one to you. The adjusted image gives you an idea of the almost "sharkskin" nature of the colour: from some angles it looks brown; from others, grey.

HTH!

 

[english brad]

Hi Augie,

Yes, I agree that a royal guard would have looked smarter than the average foot soldier for exactly the reason you state.

I had a little search to try and find the difference between prussion blue and bavarain blue and found the website below, which shows three differing shades for bavarian blue. Interestingly enough, one of them is almost the blue of this websites banner line at the top of our screens! (hope the hyperlink works)

prussian blue

As for the boots, well I am only an enthusiastic amatuer so I will probably use a light grey with a brown wash over it and see if i like it.

Richard