Corinthian "Test" figures
(Pictures
courtesy of Warren H)
These figures in England 1996
grey away kit first came to my attention
about 8
years ago when someone told me that he had seen them out in Hong Kong
There
were supposedly ten teamboxes available as prizes in a competition
Until recently
I had never seen any of these figures but a friend in China
sent me
the pictures shown above of Ferdinand, Ince, McManaman & Sheringham
I am inclined
to believe that these are NOT repaints done by an amateur
but the
work of one of the official Corinthian repainters at the Chinese factory
where all
Corinthian figures are manufactured
The numbers
used on the back of the shirts are exactly
the same
as those used on the Euro 1996 figures and it would require
the work
of an expert painter who is accustomed to fine detailed work to reproduce
this sort of quality + he would need transfers for the badges & shirt
numbers
(Picture
courtesy of "Canadian Kevin")
Certain
figures have recently been discovered (all in China)
of players
that weren't supposed to be in circulation either because
licensing
wasn't granted or
Corinthian decided against marketing the player
Master models had been moulded for all of these figures
but official production was supposedly never started
These figures are usually referred to as "TEST FIGURES"
I
will list images of them here as and when they are received
Nicky Summerbee (Man City) - Paul Furlong (Chelsea) - Noel Whelan (Coventry)
Jason Lee (Forest) - Gary Mabbutt (Tottenham) - Steve Morrow (Arsenal)
Ike Immel (Man City) - Robbie Mustoe (Middlesboro) - David White (Leeds Utd)
David White (Leeds Utd) ... (Pictures courtesy of Toby Chow)
