Is this a cavalry soldier, or not?

[Sylvia]

I won an auction for an old keychain today.

I like to name the figures when I add them to my catalogue at JustForKl!cks, but as this is a figure I don't recall seeing in any set, it makes the job rather difficult.

I've seen this style of blue hat used on the cavalry soldiers (like these) in old Western sets, but the black body doesn't seem to go with it.

Can anyone tell me which set, if any, this fella came from? I'm hoping he hasn't been pulled apart and re-assembled with different body pieces.

[playmofire]

I think it was also a cap used on the early German postman, which doesn't helpanswer your question about the provenance of the figure.

[Sylvia]

Thanks, Gordon.

I don't know yet if he has the playmobil logo on the back as many of the older keychains did, but judging from the old style of ring (it has a clasp which flips open to allow the keys on like this one), the short chunky chain and the type of figure, my hunch is that it's authentic and not home-made. I hope so, anyway.

[Sir Gareth]

It's certainly not  a mixture of hat and figure that I am aware of, to me it looks wrong.

The only figure that I have come across black with white arm's is the Sheriff, as in set 3381. As for the hat, well it's a bit hard to tell from the picture but it may not even be a US soldiers hat but just a normal peaked cap, it just doesn't seem to slope forwards enough to be the soldier type. It really is an odd looking arrangement but hopefully if it has a promo on the back it could well be a very hard to find bit of Playmo.

 Thanks for the picture Sylvia, I like stuff that gets the grey cells buzzing.

[Little Jo]

Sylvia, I do not want to spoil your fun about the won auction, but I just can follow the previous posters: I think it's a cavalry hat, not belonging to the figure below, which I also just know from the sheriff figure.

BTW I'm also not sure, if the clasp you showed is really a good indication for an original keychain, because I have (or had some time ago) many of these but without having any Playmobil keychain in my live at all. (They where also mounted to rubber keychain figures of different types, which I called my own in my childhood. Maybe I can find them again in my DIY spare parts ...)

Regards

Jochen

[Sylvia]

Thanks for your input, Sir Gareth and Little Jo.

Sylvia, I do not want to spoil your fun about the won auction, but I just can follow the previous posters: I think it's a cavalry hat, not belonging to the figure below, which I also just know from the sheriff figure.

That's what I find puzzling too.
But the thing with the Playmobil keychains is, they don't always follow the rules like the figures that come in actual sets.  I'm fairly sure that a small number were constructed simply out of surplus factory parts as a way to make extra revenue from pieces that would otherwise be thrown away. (For example, I heard that the remainder of the Playpeople British Bobby figures were turned into keychains after that set was retired.) That could very well be the case with this klicky. Have you ever seen the content of the Spanish Surprise Eggs? They are so random that this theory could easily be applied to them also.

BTW I'm also not sure, if the clasp you showed is really a good indication for an original keychain, because I have (or had some time ago) many of these but without having any Playmobil keychain in my live at all.

Ah, but I only mentioned that because it matches in some way with the age of the figure and what I have noticed on the vintage keychains already in my posession.  Almost all the older Playmobil keychains had this style of chain and ring, whereas the newer ones never do.

If someone made a fake one with the sole purpose to make money at auction, then it is my opinion that they would choose a more interesting figure to start with and it's unlikely they would just happen to use this style of chain and ring. It'd be more likely for them to use the common style with the interlaced rings.

This odd-looking klicky was part of a bigger lot, btw. It was offered together with a Native American keychain figure (one that is very common as it was available through the FunParks for a few years). There was also no indication in the auction text that the seller was trying to hoodwink collectors by claiming the item was rare or unusual. See for yourself: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6015188458


I just get the feeling that this is an authentic one, for some reason. It's very hard to put my finger on exactly why I think that though.

Of course, it's still quite possible that this was once a cavalry soldier keychain whose body got switched with a sherrifs, but I'll reserve judgement until I get a closer look at him.