Landships II

Mark Hansen · Legend

Table centrepiece

Ironsides · Legend

Hi Mark, the only way for this to be identified would be by the hallmarks if this item is sterling silver it should have at least 1 hallmark (925 or a lion)�but will probably have at least 3(if its what the seller claims), from these it is possible to identify the assay office (sheffield has a crown i believe)�the year (usually a letter) and the manufacturers stamp....
if it does not have these marks then officially at least it does not exist or its Not sterling silver.... I would definatly not buy such an item unless�I saw the hallmarks first........there should no probable about it!

this�link should enable you to find the year of manufacture at least:

http://uk.ask.com/web?q=silver/hallmarks&qsrc=999&l=dis&siteid=41439050

for otheres do a search for "sterling silver hallmarks" or "Assay marks"

Cheers

-- Edited by Ironsides at 23:35, 2007-09-30

Mark Hansen · Legend

I wasn't planning on buying it (at that price, I would be a dead man if I stayed on this planet, let alone in this country! wink

) nor was I questioning its authenticity regarding silver quality. I was just curious about the year of manufacture (within the last 10? earlier?) mostly because of the details on the tank. It is strikingly like a metal version of the Emhar kit. It has the same spurious hatches inside the stores tray, the same non-existent metal strip between the stores tray and the roof hatch, the towing point is a single piece as is Emhar's, and the same unusual contour of the cab front upper edge. These are the similarities when compared with the 1/72 scale version; I don't have the 1/35 model to check against.
My chicken and egg problem is whether the designers of the silverware used the Emhar model or did�Emhar copy the silverware?

Ironsides · Legend

Hi mark it sounded to me like you were looking to buy.... phew... if it is sterling� its probarbly worth every penny but to me it looks plated or very new...so it could be a copy of the emhar model.......

Cheers

philthydirtyanimal · Commander in Chief

maybe, mark, you should make up the emhar kit and spray it with chrome car spray paint.

-- Edited by philthydirtyanimal at 16:38, 2007-10-01

Lafettenheini · Colonel

Hello All !

Sorry ,i may be wrong, but by studying the pictures of the "item" i come to
the only conclusion that it's not a precious sterling silver tank model -
but a "crime " - lightly electrolytical silver covered plastic model china -shit
(beg for pardon but i am angry ) .
Phildirtyanimal You was nearby sugesting to spray an emhar kit with chrome !

Maybe my eyes are playing tricks -at one of the pics the yellow plastic seems
to shine through .

Ironsides · Legend

Hi all, by saying the item is hallmarked the seller is implying that the item is sterling silver, I'm suprised that such an obviously experianced ebayer has not include a pic of the hallmarks which should be in a clearly visible location... However I'm sure that if its genuine the seller would be happy to send� a pic of the hallmarks, without these no matter what the quality the item will indeed be no more valuable then a crome plated plastic�model from china say 25 euro.... as its in good condition and quite large.. given the curvature of the track plates and the other things mark mentions I think its highly possible the master is the 1/35 scale MKIV female by emhar.... although not having the emhar kit�I cant check the overall size, perhaps a confirmation from someone who has the kit would help as I only model 1/72-76.....

Cheers

-- Edited by Ironsides at 09:58, 2007-10-02

Lafettenheini · Colonel

Ironsides

I see that is something especially fore You cause....

Nothing is Impossible ......only very unlikely ! wink

Cheers

Gerd

Rectalgia · Legend

The eBay listing is long gone but apparently this item is up for sale again (with the price of silver I suppose it could end up being scrapped).� I'm not sure if this is from the current auctioneer (Last updated - July 16th, 2011 so it probably is) but there are (at the moment) many pictures:

http://www.whartonmilitaria.co.uk/details.php?section=tanks&item=A00002.

This tank was specifically made for the Royal Tank Regiment mess table.

Good heavens, things are tight when they're selling the regimental silver.

Mark Hansen · Legend

Thanks for that link. There are a few items I missed when the other tank was for sale. The Mk IV produced by Emhar looks so much like this tank that I would say that they have copied one of these rather than do the measurements from Bovington's example. The only differences are the towing shackles that are on this example (near the drive sprocket on the inside and outside of the rear horns) are absent from Emhar's offering and the rivets along the top of the sponsons which are also missing from the Emhar kit. The absent rivets would probably be caused by the position of the sponson roof in the molding process.

It would appear that Emhar also used the Whippet table centrepiece for their reference. There is a fault with the Emhar kit, which was picked up in the original review of the kit on Landships, which is also on the sliverware example. It is the missing vision slit on the port side.

Rectalgia · Legend

You're welcome. I didn't appreciate that the RTR must have had something like a full set of these. Someone on the British Medals Forum has posted a picture of a female (Mk IV, I think, I wouldn't know) in a case, apparently presently up for auction. Just profile showing the port side. Hmmm ... BMF don't permit the posting of copyright material, ergo it is supposedly public domain, so here is that one:

Ironsides · Legend

Looking at it again you can see five hallmarks very obviously placed on the base left center these should tell you all you need to know about the maker�its origins the year and quality of the silver...

Cheers wink

Mark Hansen · Legend

I've just asked Wharton Militaria if they could let me know the year of manufacture of the Mk IV tank. When (or if) they get back to me I'll have a better idea of whether Emhar used the silver tanks as the basis for their models.

Another detail that is common to both is the dividing strip and rivet detail on the sponson of the female tank.

Update: And after being contacted, I have no idea where Emhar did their research. The silver tanks are a modern production.

-- Edited by Mark Hansen on Monday 18th of July 2011 11:16:30 PM