Thursday, 3 March 2011

Circa 1930s Britains Lead Garden Pond & Nymph

Just listed today on KT Miniatures website, is this lovely circa 1930s Britains Lead Garden Pond & Nymph. This is quite rare and just does not come along very often. To have the nymph too is a bonus however she has been in the wars a little!
These lead garden pieces are not everyones cup of tea I know, but I simply love them! They were made pre-war and for a time post war until the late 1950s when the plastic Britains Floral Garden took over. This pond is most definitely of pre-war origin as it came with a batch of 1930s dolls house furniture.

Many a young lady used various components of the lead garden set (the later plastic version too) with their dolls houses. What is also so nice about this particular pond is that it is in excellent condition. I have seen other ponds that have suffered metal fatigue and have been riddled with holes. This one though is perfect (apart from the poor nymph). I also love the muted colouring of the painted finish....is so exquisite.


Here you can see a close up of the nymph. ....she has lost the lower half of her arms and the connecting bit at the bottom of one of her feet that would have slotted into the central  hole of the pond. The pond measures 5 1/4" long x 3 1/2" wide so even though the whole Britains Lead Garden set is actually 1/32 scale..........this pond along with all the other garden pieces from the Britains series would look fantastic with a vintage dolls house where scale does not matter.


Finally, I thought I would just show you this wonderful circa 1930s Britains lead sundial that came with the pond. Again, it is tiny, standing at just under 1 3/4" high but is lovely and would complement any vintage dolls house.  
To view these and many other Britains Lead Garden pieces including several flower beds and rockery etc. go to:

2 comments:

Christine said...

These are lovely. What a curse metal fatigue and hard plastic disease is to such wonderful old toys.

KT Miniatures said...

Hi Christine. Yes, I think metal fatigue is probably worse because you can't really fill the holes in once they have appeared. Whereas I suppose with the hard plastic breakages, one can attempt to glue back together...although these little treasures are never the same after that are they? Celia