4-2-4 loose players

[mrchrisallen]

Fella in Kent replied to my Subbuteo ad and only wanted 20 quid including postage for the loose players, 2 boxed teams & 3 goals.
Arsenal
Leeds United
Rangers
Yellow Goalkeepers (no base/handle)

Must be 2 or 3 thousand?

Chris

[mrchrisallen]

Better photo of the two boxed teams: All White & All Blue.

[mrchrisallen]

Have counted some of them, then weighed the big bags to come to a total of 7,138 loose players!

[spudski]

In all my years of collecting Subbuteo I've never come across these, only seen them online.

Do people collect them Chris?

[mrchrisallen]

I don't think so, partly because there's a very limited range if teams to collect.
I paid £20 for 7000 of these painted figures from a fella near Tunbridge Wells. He wasn't sure, but he thought they were made locally.
Now 4-2-4 was based in Guernsey (tax reasons?) but I can't imagine there was a network of painters on the island.
Could it has been subcontracted to Subbuteo?
I've been trying to find out more about the history of 4-2-4 and even contacted the "inventor" on LinkedIn, but nothing.
If you need any, let me know.
It'll take me an age to sell them on Ebay at 50 a time.
Chris

[spudski]

Let us know if you find out whether they were subcontracted out Chris...interesting stuff.

Don't think I can start collecting anything else apart from HW Subbuteo...not enough room I'm afraid.

[qproy]

that is quite a find Chris.

I don't think they were based in Guernsey for tax reasons, it was just where the inventor Tom Watterman was from.

I bought an England v Brazil set from him a few years ago, and added 2 other hand painted teams to the order. I did try to contact him more recently to see if I could get some more but was never able to get a reply, and all of the previous website links no longer work so I guess it is no longer available.

They did try an relaunch it in a number of guises over the years, but it was never as popular as Subby, but it is very possible when they launched the Premier League "Derby" sets that they contracted the painting out to someone else. Or perhaps the company that tried to launch it as the cheapo Grand Slam version of the game contracted it out (although they were all blue and all white figures).

[mrchrisallen]

I'm keen to find out more about where they were made, because hand painting all of these figures is a major undertaking, even though the range of teams was very limited.

I'll keep trying to find the fella and will let you know if I have any success.

I've sold two lots of 50 on Ebay. Only another 7000 to sell!

Chris

[spudski]

I don't think so, partly because there's a very limited range if teams to collect.
I paid £20 for 7000 of these painted figures from a fella near Tunbridge Wells. He wasn't sure, but he thought they were made locally.
Now 4-2-4 was based in Guernsey (tax reasons?) but I can't imagine there was a network of painters on the island.
Could it has been subcontracted to Subbuteo?
I've been trying to find out more about the history of 4-2-4 and even contacted the "inventor" on LinkedIn, but nothing.
If you need any, let me know.
It'll take me an age to sell them on Ebay at 50 a time.
Chris

Nice bit of info on the Peter Upton site Chris.

Seems you could order any team direct from the owner.

http://www.peter-upton.co.uk/taf424.htm