New member from Spain

[Isidro]

Hello, I'm Isidro! Since my most eager childhood I'm passionate about animals and plants, biodiversity at its most freak levels. However, during most of my life (and now I have 33), I paid little attention to animal toys. I enjoyed zoos, natural history museums, botanical gardens and trips to wild places, but I usually skipped the gift shops of these places.

However, slowly an affiction for animal figurines started. My first one (not counting unrealistic toys that I have as a child, such as a mini-hippo, mini bison and a velociraptor that was given with corn flakes), was a leopard shark of Safari LTD that I bought at Birch Aquarium, California, in my first (and at the moment only) trip to America, in 2016. I really bought it not much because I want a figurine, but because I was absolutely grateful by my aquarium visit and I wanted to give them a tip in form of buying a thing.

After that, I passed a long time with only this animal. But I have a friend that have a Schleich gemsbok, and I loved how accurate it was. After that, in last Christmas holidays when I was buying gifts for my family, I saw the Schleich offering and I bought a giant pangolin and the same gemsbok. I wanted also the bowmouth guitarfish that I've seen in an earlier visit, but somebody caught it already Once at home, I caught a cutter and sharpened the horns of the oryx, repainting them after, for make it more realistic.

These three animals were my collection. Then, that same friend show me a photo of more figurines that he had in other part of his house. It have normal stuff, a tyrannosaur, mouflon, horse, moose and.... a chiru! (Tibetan antelope). I die for obscure species and fell in love this figurine. I think that seeing this chiru was the thing that started my current hobby for figurines, hence is the reason for have been registered in this forum!

After that, I discovered casually that in the very small selection of the nearest kiosk to my parents house, there is a leopard seal!!!! Tough a bit large compared with the animals that I already have, I just needed this accurate model of a dreamed species. When buying it,  I realized that behind this figurine there is an African wild ass!!! So I bought both, and absolutely in love for the level of accurateness (the ass even have the veins in the face and belly!), I discovered that they're from CollectA, that leaded me to visit the CollectA website and find a looot of incredible fantastic dreamed obscure species, most very well made. And the chiru is from this brand too!

After that, I visited again the same shop where I bought the pangolin and gemsbok. Only Schleich here, so none of the dreamed species of CollectA can be found. I looked carefully for some animal to buy, but didn't found any obscure interesting species. Schleich level of accurateness is good, but the species are too much known. I doubted a bit with a sloth bear, but finally, as the claws were too short and thick, I've choosed a jaguar and a cheetah (that once in my home I customized painting a bit more accurately on cheetah's face, tail and the right side of the belly/flank where it lacked spots, and in the jaguar's face, breast, ears (from behind) and some spots of the back).

So that's my collection for now, just 7 animals from 3 brands, all very accurate (that's an absolute requisite for me) and in a more or less similar scale (I would said more or less 1:20 to 1:30). So now, I want to add more figurines, that must be very accurate, in similar scale, and better if from obscure species that I like. I suppose that an online buying in CollectA shop is the best chance for get more figurines of the desired species... Or there are cheaper ways?

[bmathison1972]

Hi Isidro!

Welcome to the forum! We look forward to seeing what you collect!

Yes, if a certain brand is not available you would have to order online. I am sure you have a local branch of eBay that probably has a lot of what you might be looking for! Some of us rely very heavily on internet orders to fulfill our collections!

-BAM

[Beetle guy]

Hi, welcome to the forum!!

This Ebay seller: http://stores.ebay.com/Friendino78  Has some collecta for a fair price and shipping. I bought a lot of stuff there in the past.

[Isidro]

Wow, thanks a lot for that succulent eBay link! That's great! However, I think the prices are a bit inflated, not? Just today I discovered a new kiosk with CollectA figurines and I bough the killer whale... it costed me 7,60 € and in the eBay link it cost 11,28 €...

[Isidro]

I looked carefully at each item for sale in the link. I will try to get any of the next:

-Saiga (8,8 cm)
-Himalayan tahr (8,8 cm)
-Pygmy sperm whale (selling as "sperm whale calf"), one of my most wanted (15 cm)
-Tibetan antelope or Chiru (8,6 cm)
-Ganges river dolphin (13 cm)
-Dugong (12 cm)
-Spotted seal (10,5 cm)
-Striped hyena (8 cm)
-Hirola (8,6 cm)
-Maned wolf (8 cm)
-Nilghai (10,8 cm)
-Baird's tapir (10 cm)
-Tiger shark (16,5 cm)
-Wombat (6 cm)

I also liked a lot the next figurines, but they looks like too big in proportion with the others. How I wish to have the same in a more reduced scale!
-Babirusa (10 cm)
-Bongo (12,2 cm)
-Caribou (12,5 cm) (certainly not an obscure species, but I love the degree of development of the stags!)
-Pygmy hippo (10,5 cm)
-Thylacine (11,6 cm)
-Markhor (9 cm)
-Narwhal (27 cm - without the tusk it would be about 20 cm... bigger than my new killer whale  )
-Secretarybird (11,4 cm, similar height, much taller than my wild ass...)
-Sawfish (16 cm)

And the next are the figurines that CollectA offers and I want but this seller doesn't have. However, I don't know the size. I guess many of them will be too big:
-Black antelope (sasin)
-Bowhead whale
-Pilot whale
-Double-wattled cassowary
-Diana monkey
-Black-backed jackal
-African civet
-Tasmanian devil
-Giant eland (they have the calf, but what I want is the adult)
-Mountain nyala
-Black wildebeest
-Ivory-billed woodpecker
-Yellow boxfish
-Red river hog
-Saola (my most wished maybe)
-Zebra shark
-Bowmouth guitarfish
-Fennec fox

[animaltoyforum]

Welcome Isidro! A pleasure to meet you.

[Halichoeres]

Bienvenido

[Beetle guy]

I looked carefully at each item for sale in the link. I will try to get any of the next:

I ordered a lot of 4D-Master beetles by this seller, The seller gives discount on bigger orders I Believe.