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Monday, December 2, 2019

Unboxing the Tennant Collection and a New Fancy Home for Them!

The Tennant collection of approximately 2750 1/72 Hinton Hunt miniatures, all exquisitely painted, have been calling to me in dismay that they have not been released from their shipping containers for more than a few moments.  The wait has been too long, but at long last I have found a suitable display, and with spousal permission to customize our study into a display space for my collections, the time was ripe to set them free!



To properly display such a wonderful collection, I first needed to spruce up the study.  Changes include blinds for the massive windows to help with reflections on pictures and the display cabinet opposite the windows.  Additionally, to open up the room, I relocated a dark secretary type cabinet and replaced it with a more open shelf and a framed print from the battle of Nashville.


 My wife Cindy encouraged me to keep at least some element of whimsy in the room, so below the bookshelf is an old Marx 12 inch action figure of Geronimo, that I have hung onto from the days of my youth.  I did have to find a deal on the box with the accessories as most of mine had been lost through the ages.



 Howard Pyle is a favorite author/illustrator of mine and I was pleased to find he had painted a mural for his home state of Minnesota of the Battle of Nashville, where Minnesotans fought for the Union.

http://education.mnhs.org/portal/battle-nashville-painting



 On the opposite wall I placed a print of Jules Giradet's
 Marie Louise of Austria and Napoleon Bonaparte with their son, Napoleon II, that actually came from my wife's grandmother.  Cindy always hated this print so was only too glad to get it out of the dining room where it has been for probably 15-20 years.



https://mycravatundone.tumblr.com/post/112884101807/tiny-librarian-scenes-of-marie-louise-of-austria 

In addition there are a few framed notecards of a French Hussar and a young Napoleon, as well as a  Knotel print of troops from Hesse-Darmstadt



 Tucked away in a nook of the study is my modest library of reference sources and the like, next to a neat framed first day of issue postage stamp release from the Isle of Man in honor of Colonel Mark Wilks who was Governor to St. Helena whilst Napoleon was interned on the island.

 

 Below the artwork is a small display of some WWII modelling I did, that was actually the source of my re-engagement with this hobby in my middle age.



 I custom built a small insert for the display case so the panzers would have some suitable terrain to roll over.
 

These were in the bedroom for years, and as I am sure you can imagine, might dear spouse was happy to see them depart that room!



Against the back wall is however the central focus piece of the room, not only for its sheer size, but also for what it contains; the Hinton Hunt Collection of Richard Tennant - with a few of my own snuck in as well...  Below are a series of photos that I hope will show the sheer scope of this collection.  I will not attempt to detail the contents but will just let the collection speak for itself.



































 Despite the huge collection of miniatures, there was still enough space to display a couple of uniforms that were a gift of a dear friend.  Above is a jacket of the 48th Canadian Highlanders, who are affiliated with the famous Gordon Highlanders.



 Also included is a vintage WWII Air Corps uniform in fantastic condition.



And finally a smattering of patches from American units in WWII.

16 comments:

  1. Wow!!! You surely have displaced this wonderful collection to maximum effectiveness. Thanks for sharing it with us.

    Jim

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    1. Thanks Jim. I'm pretty sure you meant to say displayed, but I couldn't help the irony as getting that display cabinet into the study definitely involved a lot of displacement!

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  2. If you are going to do it, do it in style!

    Lovely!

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    1. Thanks Matt, I'm trying! Now I just need to cull the rest of my mountain of stuff to pay for these decorative touches. The blinds I can justify as something we had been in need of for a long time, and the frames came from the Goodwill charity shops or from friends so were essentially free, but the display cabinet did set me back a good bit, though not nearly as much as it was worth!

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  3. Bravo, David. You should have been a curator!
    Best regards
    WM

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    1. Eventually I'll need to invest in some white cotton gloves! As much as I have loved the curation aspect of this project, getting them on the wargames table again is long overdue. Like you I have a ping-pong table that could serve well. Mine however is in the garage, which could make a nice gaming area during the warmer months, but it needs a major cleaning and some demolition of an old darkroom before it can really be usable space.

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  4. You should be very very proud of your set up, its the stuff of wargamers dreams especially the lovely Hinton Hunt collection.So well done.

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    1. I was reflecting on that very thing this morning. It does seem to be the fulfillment of a my early fascination with miniatures. I would never have thought forty years ago it would be a reality.

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  5. That looks fantastic. It is a shame that so many of our collections spend most of their time stored away out of sight.

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  6. Most of the miniatures I have painted still fall into that category unfortunately. I have a large Persian and Macedonian force that lives in a box, as well as a host of 15mm DBA and DBN armies. Oh Yeah, did I mention all of the lovely Lord of the Rings figures boxed away....

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  7. Love it and particularly your choice of books to accompany the collection - the Airfix rules bring back many early memories and Oman was my first serious buy (it was a lot of money to me back then) that kicked off my book addiction.
    Now you just have to teat us to a few games - how about some the rear guard actions (by both sides) from the 1810 campaign as you have Massena and mistress!

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    1. That's the plan Rob, but you must have patience. There is still a long road ahead....

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  8. I have browsed the pictures and this is a really great collection. There are a few figures that I have never seen before.

    For instance the dismounted French Hussar kneeling - are they Lamming?

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    1. That's a great question Mark. I believe some of the French Sappers are Les Higgins, but I personally have never had any of the Lamming figures, so I probably won't be able to tell until I pop them off those bases, but I will be sure to check when I do so. Apologies for the quality of the pictures. Once I get the display a little more refined I will go back and get some better pictures with a proper camera!

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  9. A splendid collection David.. and an excellent 'man cave'...
    I think that I would spend a lot of time just looking at these toys... you are a lucky man indeed...

    All the best Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly. I assure you there have been many hours spent gazing at them already!

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