Archer Females, Or Not?

[space.trucks]

Out of my league here. Antiques vendor score, sold to me as "Original 1950s Archer Spacewomen" and at a bargain price. Not seeing a Pat.Pend. scrawl as on the Archer males I have. Plastic is hard, "clinky" and denser + less waxy than the one Glencoe figure in my stash. Gal without the baby has a nice patina from handling and appears worn or played with. Gal with the kid is shinier, has very smooth bottom to her feet and some overpour/flashing around them (which my Glencoe has as well). The silver appears to match both the "Space People" more than the Glencoe examples shown in the database. This link here isn't working anymore (now corrected, see below) so figured I'd see if anyone could render a quick verdict.

 

 

Any observations welcome!

 

 

The single gal's feet.

 

 

 

Does that look right?? 

[space.trucks]

Anyone?

[Alain Lapointe]

I'm waiting for receiving a glencoe box, I could be more precise then

[Brian..]

That's Bill's classic link and, fortunately, it is still on Alphadrome

 

Any link that references danefiled.com will definitely be dead, but the equivalent link can be found on alphadrome.net. You just need to use the search facility:

 

 

 

[ervino]

3 hours ago, Brian.. said:

That's Bill's classic link and, fortunately, it is still on Alphadrome

 

Any link that references danefiled.com will definitely be dead, but the equivalent link can be found on alphadrome.net. You just need to use the search facility:

 

 

Brian, what happend to that thread with the Article on the most rare spacemen series you posted a couple of years ago? Swallowed by a passing Black Hole, or am I more clumsy than usual?

[space.trucks]

17 hours ago, Brian.. said:

That's Bill's classic link and, fortunately, it is still on Alphadrome

 

Any link that references danefiled.com will definitely be dead, but the equivalent link can be found on alphadrome.net. You just need to use the search facility:

 

Thanks Brian! Had read it many moons ago pre-forum era & figured it had to be archived in some manner. Making coffee to aid the thorough absorption of data, and will link to the page from a blog post about my HPs that is underway.

 

Alain: Am looking forward to your report! Been tempted to get a box just to see/compare etc. Whatever it pans out as they've instantly added more class to the crew. You know things are looking up when there's women around.

[space.trucks]

"Unfortunately, none of the female figures carry this marking, making them harder to discern vintage from re-issue." Yep, not even a copyright mark on the two above. Will give the males a good lookover as well. As far as I've known only one of my pieces is Glencoe.
 

Trying the plastic bag method with the gals, one at a time.

[ervino]

15 minutes ago, space.trucks said:

(...)
 

Trying the plastic bag method with the gals, one at a time.

Ehm, are you sure that this is legal???

[Alain Lapointe]

ok, I have mines now. If I'm really supposed to find differences, I've spotted a couple of things. First the color, mine is light non-metallic blue, but this can be common in the newer variations, surface is smoother than yours, there are no evident runs around feet, the one without baby hasn't lines under her feet. it's weird she has the same line inside the circle of the sprue on the back, but the sprue looks slightly embossed, while yours looks engraved. 'hope it may help

[Alain Lapointe]

Ok, wait, found a silverish female also, and surface is like yours, so I'd say differences are vey poor.

[space.trucks]

Language barrier: By "poor" do you perhaps mean that the differences are minimal? and I thank you for trying to help solve the puzzle! To use one of my favorite Captain Kirk lines "Mysteries give me a bellyache and right now I have a beauty." Not really, but if I was actually paid for the time I work managing a corporate art gallery (HAH!) we wouldn't be trying to figure out the riddle of thrift store closet half broken old space toys missing their gun barrels. I'd have an original boxed Archer set, Futuremen with helmets, a complete Operation Moon Base out on the table, every other funky rocket ship on Paul Vreede's site, and a (paid) studio intern whose sole function is to lounge around a nice cozy loft in her short-shorts while I fix us a couple of sandwiches.

 

"You want mustard on that?"

 

The plastic bag test was inconclusive: Still smells like a plastic bag including after having figures IDd as Archer originals sealed up inside for a couple hours, though that could be due to it now being 20 degrees while snowing here & the studio room not having building heat (usually about 60 degrees if you get more than six feet away from the space heater). My gut instinct verdict is that the gal with the baby is *likely* a Glencoe reissue, the other *possibly* an Archer original, and that there may never be any way to know for sure. All observations, insights or off-kilter japes welcome! and Long Live the 'Drome.

[space.trucks]

14 hours ago, Alain Lapointe said:

ok, I have mines now. If I'm really supposed to find differences, I've spotted a couple of things. First the color, mine is light non-metallic blue, but this can be common in the newer variations, surface is smoother than yours, there are no evident runs around feet, the one without baby hasn't lines under her feet. it's weird she has the same line inside the circle of the sprue on the back, but the sprue looks slightly embossed, while yours looks engraved. 'hope it may help

Thanks Bro -- I hope you can find a minute to make some pix! I did shoot video which demonstrates the single gal's patina somewhat better & mention the sprue thing you'd hinted at:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXaL95nFYbI

 

And was an update to this, showing the rest of my Space Harem minus the Britains, which (up until today) had been kept in a different box & were forgotten, until it was too late to re-edit ... D'oh.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDwJGXfYlfQ

[Alain Lapointe]

So, compliments with the harem   I've tried to take some pics, unfortunately I don't seem to have that microscope you have, my camera is old, but 'hope to have taken those needed details. You can see the differences for the surface smoothness, and the reference for the sprue hole. I've  just noticed that the gal without the baby has a hole just where it would be meant to be, but not sure if it is a flaw of the cast for this particular figure or common with all the Glencoe girls.

[space.trucks]

Good Golly ... Many thanks for the pix! Owe you a big pint or three of whatever you pint up on. Blue girl is of course differently posed than my silver gal. But that hole under her skirt and the gap between the top of the legs on the green lady give me hope! So do the lines on the green lady's face + pendant, but maybe that's just the plastic used & how it cooled? Her pour looks "rougher" though the graininess to the plastic is about the same. Blue gal is waxier looking, like my known Glencoe male, and the green lady does not have the marbling my known Archer male has. My silver gals are decidedly non-waxy, very metallic looking and indeed someone I showed them to asked if they were pewter. The indentation wells on the blue gal's foot bottoms aren't seen on my silvers or any of the Archer posed figures I have, nor the Pemier's (one yellow Ajax has them). Both of your gals also have minor trimming issues which aren't on either of my silver's save the scruffy bits around the woman with the baby's feet, and of the males only known and suspected Glencoe's have trimming issues.

 

The lot of em. The only one I knew for sure to be Archer is the green fella. At center is the known Glencoe copy. First chance I've had to compare them and it got exciting quick.

 

Note shape of the pink guy's hand, which matches the described vintage appearance that had to be altered when Glencoe fixed the mold, creating a gap between the thumb and first finger. (See Tinman's thread for a pix.)

 

Known Glencoe copy and bronze guy look waxy from this angle, the others (except the green dude) look metallic.

 

Bronze and pink's Pat.Pend. scrolls with the pink's "Pat" noticeably askew + different period mark placement after the D. Messy trim job on the bronze dude, whom I am convinced is a re-issue, the pink likely vintage.

 

Copyright stamps with small C on known Glencoe in gray and bronze freebie. No copyright mark on the pink figure. Gray and bronze plastics look waxy, the pink sharply metallic.

 

Pat.Pend. scrolls on known Archer at top, and with that wonky E on the silver guy's rifle, large letters.

 

Large letter C copyright stamps on both.

 

Green guy's right eye looks more diagonal than the silver's but it could be the angle or light.

 

Known Glencoe copy at center and am more confident the single gal may be an original and there's a decent chance the one with the baby as well, just gotta let it go at that. Cheers again to Tinman for putting the research down for us to utilize + Brian for having the site up and running.

[Andyman]

Nice research.