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)
