SAE 30mm RARE Germans on parade: flag and saluting officer by Holger Eriksson

Description

Regardless of condition, these are extremely hard to find S.A.E. figures.  I have one set in my collection and  5 or six broken off their bases.  I have never see a green-boxed set of marching figures and I am not sure they were ever marketed in the U.S.  The issue with the figures is that Holger Eriksson made the marching figures TOO faithful to what real, anthropological figures marching in this manner would look like.  He made a tiny, tiny base -- to my knowledge the smallest S.A.E. base for a human figure -- and then designed a human body with its weight balanced so as not to tip over despite that tiny base.  The balancing act was a difficult exercise.  But then the marketing by S.A.E. and the preservation by collectors played their parts in why this set is extremely hard to find in unbroken condition.    These figures survived all that but couldn't survive the collector who, sought to preserve them behind glass in an OAK cabinet.  The properties of that oak wood are claimed  to combine chemically with the lead that the figures are made from.  That causes the paint to flake off.  That's the case here for the four other ranks and officer marching with sword positioned along his leg.  A sixth figure, another officer, gives the salute and the seventh figure is the flag bearer.  Neither of these last two have a problem with the flaking issue.  (The flag has a piece of Post-it paper stuck onto the flag.) There are treatments for the protection of the casting and I'll pass on what I've read about it to the purchaser on request.  But, I would just leave the figures alone and display them without repainting them.  They've existed without breakage ever since they were first cast, painted and sold almost 70 years ago.  A collector has told me that the "saluting" figure is actually a casting used in an orange-boxed set of German artillery, but it also looks to me like it may have been intended by Eriksson as a saluting figure.  These figures are pictured in my book on Pages 226 and 227. Please note the slight increase in the shipping is to cover the insurance for this lot.  Please see the photos as best evidence of condition.  These are made of lead and are not to be handled by children.