Author Topic: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards  (Read 10240 times)

Offline sweetking

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5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« on: January 04, 2011, 13:42:42 »
This topic won't be the presentation of the box as there is not so much to present in the box and as I don't have one at home :/


Most of you will anyway know much about this box released in 1991 : 5580

I allways found it was a bit out of the global victorian universe, which is only a personnal opinion.


Looking further into Lyra's production (Greece), I found the 8006 box 8006 on this well informed website :

http://www.toymuseum.gr/playmobil-bigsets-new.htm

What can we spot ? Similar hussards but dated 1984 or 1985, and also some shelters for guard strangely looking like the one released by Geobra in 1991 (box 5581)


As Geobra seem to have sold some Lyra or Schaper components in 1986 in the 3955 barrel, I believe they bought all the on-going production stock of components from Lyra around 1985 (Closure of playmobil production at Lyra).

I also believe they slightly modified the shako hat and the shelter to reach the 1991 versions, in order to use moulds and tools bought back from Lyra. There is only one step to do before guessing the 1900 universe was perhaps created to integrate these marvellous innovations from Lyra... and I'll do this step for sure.

What is your opinion ?

Offline Wolf Knight

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2011, 14:50:11 »
Its an interesting conclusion Arhtur... But I'll give you another...

It was never known if Lyra ever produced her own moulds... maybe someone who used to work in Lyra can know the answer... But, I know for certain that Lyra was getting their moulds form Geobra and produced rather low quality plastic playmobil... Maybe Geobra gave these molds to Lyra before deciding to use them for production, just to experiment how they will do on the market... or maybe Lyra got these molds and produce them without authorisation... Thus, when Geobra decided to produce them, they either knew these sets would make good sales, or they wanted to produce something better than what Lyra had produced...

Just a few confirmed facts and unconfirmed thoughts...

Offline playmo1989

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2011, 16:26:53 »
i have these sets from lyra they were a couple more that had these guards  (i found a picture of one of the sets on google):
 


 


i was wondering about this issue as well i think lyra made playmobil until 1990 so probably lyra took the moulds from geobra (this set 5580 was realesed by geobra in 1989 not in 1991 as you staited so that's how lyra made copies of these parts) 


* and one detail the figures on the photo of the lyra box are not made by lyra ,the lyra ones are very weird the mustache is totally different (not at all like any playmobil mustach) and the trousers don't have the red line on the side  ;)
« Last Edit: January 04, 2011, 16:32:34 by playmo1989 »
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Offline Andy R

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2011, 05:36:40 »
I actually wanna see this set come back…
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Offline sweetking

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2011, 06:32:55 »
WolfKnight, Playmmo1989...

Either on tomuseum.gr and in the collector book, it is written Lyra stopped producing playmobil in 1985/86. You both say they were new releases under lyra brand till 1990.

Could you please confirm this fact and can you say when the "new" boxes appeared ? According to this facts and also the presence of rotating hands on some of the figures in these "new" boxes... we could assume that Playmobil Hellas continued to use the "Lyra" logo even after the stop of production by Lyra itself.

Offline Wolf Knight

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2011, 09:49:53 »
Let me get back home, check a few boxes and I'll let you know more  ;)

For the time being I can tell you that Lyra was officialy bankrupt in 1986 but did not close down until 1989, when Playmobil Hellas took over. Playmobil hellas never sold any Lyra sets. The ''new'' boxes came out within this period of '86-'89 (still need to see my boxes to confirm this 100%) because at that time, the playmobil produced by Lyra was not under the approval of Geobra... lower quality plastic, mistakes in productions, no safety features and regulations...

Believe me there were a lot of legal matters involved between Lyra and Geobra in that four year time period.

I'll get back to you with more.

Offline Wolf Knight

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2011, 19:06:38 »
Ok so here is the first box, dated 1976....

This is very good quality plasti, identical to the Geobra factory playmobil...

Offline Wolf Knight

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2011, 19:09:20 »
And here is the ''new'' box....

 :hmm: 1978 production date...

But, do you notice any dfference between what is written on the first box and what is written on the ''new'' ?...

Offline Wolf Knight

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2011, 19:35:51 »
You may have noticed that the ''new'' box says nothing about a licence...so my original verdict may be wrong... Maybe these are sets produced exclusively by Lyra, and made from Lyra moulds... So maybe the Hussars are indeed Lyra and later changed as you suggested Arthur to produce the victorian set...

But there is another complication, one that could both confirm your guess and at the same time, based on my source, speculate the notion that Lyra did indeed only use Geobra moulds...


Have a look at the pic.. this horse has a different head from the original playmobil horse...maybe Lyra changed the head in order to avoid lawsuits... but then, why bother keep the playmobil logo, or even the same klickies, whose feet have no indication of whether this is Lyra or Geobra btw... you might also notice that the arm of the klicky is broken...another good example of low quality product!

Finally, a confirmed source tells me that Lyra did indeed get all their moulds from Geobra and produced the low quality sets in a Balkan counrty... Geobra finally lawsuited Lyra for producing these low quality playmobil sold in the ''new'' box... But if Lyra did get the moulds from Geobra and did not produce any themselves, how come this horse has a different head? Did Geobra give to Lyra moulds they produced but never used (we know designs exist that never made it to production, like the red house etc)? Maybe... As I said earlier, only a person who used to work in Lyra can varify any of this...

Offline skypurr

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Re: 5580 - The Republican Guard / Hussards
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2011, 01:24:14 »
I love the 4001 Lyra set with the children with balloons, windmills and skipping ropes.

http://www.toymuseum.gr/playmobil-bigsets-new.htm

Were these accessories only produced by Lyra?

Elaine
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