Humphrey Leadbitter Basalisk

[Harry]

Whilst at the Oldhammer weekend Brian was excited to tell me that he had found a mould of a Humphrey Leadbitter Basalisk sculpt. This was a bit special as he did not think they had sold very many .... although he was on general release for a while as a C22 creature.

He had cast up a few and I was lucky enough to get one ....

Here he is:




and this is what he looks like painted:





Who is Humphrey Leadbitter?
Humphrey Leadbitter is an artist and animator. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he sculpted many of the very first Citadel Miniatures - including the Fantasy Specials and Fiend Factory ranges. His figures can be identified by his unique style and HF monogram on the base. Later went into the television animation industry, working on such classic childrens series such as Portland Bill and The Old Bear Stories.

 

[inchmurrin]

Fascinating piece and very characterful.

 

[A Badger]

What's this going to do to the price of Basilisks?

 

[dieselmonkey]

What's this going to do to the price of Basilisks?

Is there much of a market for this sort of preslotta ancient history?

Genuine question btw, I'm really only into slottabased stuff as the early stuff was true 25mm tiny, and to my eyes, generally terrible. All my preslotta stuff is stuffed into a drawer as it's of no interest to me and normally fetches bugger all on eBay, so I'd be interested if there was an active market for it.

 

[Harry]

Honestly I do not think there is much of a market for this stuff.
There is some idiot trying to sell one for £40 but I picked up an original one the other day for £4
So whilst they do not come up very often it is not like folks are falling over themselves to own this stuff.
I like the pre slotta stuff because I that was the stuff I remember as a youngster ... there is not much to recomend some of this stuff other than nostalgia.

 

[Golgfag1]

You jammy B%$^*)!, good on ya.

Paul / Golgfag1 (An appreciator of Pre-slotta)

 

[Zhu Bajie]

What a beaut! Humph is a legend, and top paintwork there.

Yeah, I generally prefer preslotta and early slotta to most of the later stuff. It's just got more charm, and there's a bunch of people in the OSR that dig the wonky 1970s stoner aesthetics. There's a reasonable collectors market for really vintage Citadel miniatures, but it really depends on what it is, the Chaos Broo go for a decent amount, and are stunning, so does the Imperial 'Chicken' Dragon and the Citadel Giant, which are all preslotta vintage. Rare stuff like Mad Mullah Acklands RoR can fetch some coin. Ultra Rares, LEaping Slomm, Zygor snake arms, the collectors token stuff. Quite a lot of collectable stuff actually, but the average rank and file Orc isn't going to be worth much.

Other than Citadel, Ral Parthajust kickstarted a whole bunch of early stuff (Citadel pre-slotta Troglodytes and Tom Meier Elves anyone?), and made money out of it. So there is contemporary demand for a proper old-school aesthetic. Stuff like the Grenadier D&D box sets can fetch a premium, but it's largely because of the D&D licence. Aureola Roccoco are held and used by Matchlock minis, but they haven't done much with it due to lack of demand. Some amazing design work in there, if a little bit derivative. Old Asgard still sold by Viking Forge. Goodness, it's like the 70s never went out of fashion

 

[A Badger]

It's the thin end of the wedge I tells ya. Just wait until Bryan discovers the master for that combat card dwarf wizard and floods the market!

On the other hand, I do hope the late third ed Brettonians surface sometime. I bet they are hidden away somewhere in their cow shed. The fact they disappeared just at the time GW was sold gives me hope they may still be in Foundry's archive.

 

[stone cold lead]

On the other hand, I do hope the late third ed Brettonians surface sometime. I bet they are hidden away somewhere in their cow shed. The fact they disappeared just at the time GW was sold gives me hope they may still be in Foundry's archive.

I really hope they're hidden away somewhere at Foundry, especially some of the less common ones that can be a bit pricey on the old Ebay.

 

[dieselmonkey]

On the other hand, I do hope the late third ed Brettonians surface sometime. I bet they are hidden away somewhere in their cow shed. The fact they disappeared just at the time GW was sold gives me hope they may still be in Foundry's archive.

I really hope they're hidden away somewhere at Foundry, especially some of the less common ones that can be a bit pricey on the old Ebay.

Massively unlikely, it has to be said.