Punch figures on eBay

[James]

Details of some unusual items on eBay at the moment:

http://bit.ly/1iGepfD Set of early Punch figures

http://bit.ly/1ezNJYQ Supreme Dragon

http://bit.ly/1iGeSyr Hangman

[Richard Coombs]

Ooooh well spotted James !

Dragon doesn't tickle me' fancy ( although I am taken by how the design in the fabric has been carried through into the head to tie the two parts together to good effect)

But other two lots would make great starter kits for just about anyone .

Or a great source of additional characters for anyone who already had a show.

The Hangmans' pics don't show if he has legs or not ( and from the fact none were shown I would guess probably not ) ...but with some repainting he would make a great Doctor with very few costume tweaks . You could even give him legs and have a splendid hangman.

Totally redressed and painted I also see him as a very cheeky Joey the Clown too.

And the other box of puppets are all real "Fixer-Uppers" ( Frozen ? )

All have great potential to anyone who could sew up a costume or two , but didn't want to carve.
Use them as they are or repaint them. If you got them at a good price , you could spend a bit of extra money and see if someone like Miraiker would consider a commission to make you a few pairs of hands so that you can then only have the sewing work to do . Just a thought.

Actually if memory serves , I have quite often seen just hands for sale at the Mayfayre : might be on your table James , or more likely on Brians ( thinking about it they are probably ones he has made himself new , as you don't often see just old hands for sale ..whereas heads on their own is quite common)

Anyhow-

Really stunning faces , especially for the ( current) bidding prices.

Again , well spotted James .
Thank you for sharing.

And a Happy New Year to you too

Richard

[lesclarke]

Yes, ...err, very well spotted James!

Really like the Hangman, looks a very usable figure, carving similar to the smaller Quisto figures.

Yes Richard, a nice remodelling project for someone.
Are they Quisto??? The hand shown does look like a Quisto, but from the pics available the heads overall look possibly a bit cruder in style, always difficult to tell when overpainted, perhaps made before his style 'settled down' ? But a nice look to them.

Hope they have gone to a good home!

[Chris]

Beg to differ Les - that hand surely isn't Quisto which are quite distinctive. That thumb is clearly separate from the hand.
Actually I quite liked the dragon - in a very mild sort of way.
But yes, well spotted James, you must have done a lot of searching to find them.

[lesclarke]

I couldn't tell from the pics Chris, wonder if they were all made by someone who was influenced by seeing Quisto's work. An opinion would be easier to come to only if comparing with Quisto figures, 'in the flesh' or rather 'in the wood!
As often happens we will probably never know.

[CvdC]

Here is a puppet that was on ebay last year.

[Chris]

I'm sure quite a few puppets appeared on Ebay last year. Does this one connect with the ones being discussed?
What am I missing?

[CvdC]

Sorry,I thought perhaps it was self evident.
The image was posted because of the discussion regarding hands that look like those of Arthur Quisto's puppets, which generally have the thumb and forefinger touching with a gap in the middle , as does the one in the image I posted.
I do hope you are in the best of health Chris.
PS The image below is from Les's own web site.

[Chris]

Sorry, didn't look like a Quisto hand to me. Actually my idea of a Quisto hand is more based on the the thumb not sticking out and being parallel to the first finger, perhaps with a small gap or no gap. David Wilde has a lovely Quisto clown with the gap type of hand. One Quisto set I sold had all the figures with no gap between thumb and forfinger except for the Chinaman. But none of the thumbs stuck out to the side.
But actually thumb touching forefinger with a big round gap is rather common to quite a few puppetmakers who carve rather than model. When I used to carve hands for marionettes I often used that style which allowed you to use a brace and bit and save a lot of clearing. It was also handy for puppets holding swords, gavels, sceptres etc.
Come to think of it as far as hands go probably the two main influences can be traced in many instances to which puppet book you were influenced by - Waldo Lanchester's "String Puppets" or John Wright's "Your Puppetry" which both gave detailed instruction in carving as far as puppets were concerned and not otherwise available. Waldo's style of hand featured a relaxed hand (nearer to Quisto) whereas John favoured a splayed hand. Of course I'm only talking of influences since the 1930s. Punch hands have always been less important than with other forms of puppetry. And I suppose the major influence on Kent, Parsonage, Green, Corden, Swanson and Clarke and their ilk has been ease and speed of production.
Oh, and yes, I'm very healthy Chris. I hope you are too.

[Dan]

Here's several Quisto puppets at the Davenport Magic Kingdom in North Norfolk. Great examples.

[Chris]

Yes, lovely pictures, and showing the hands as CvdC describes. Aren't they superb puppets? The clown in one picture is almost identical to the one in David Wilde's collection.
I haven't been to Davenport's Magic Kingdom but Philip Dann was enthusing about it last time we met up.