To my way of thinking, this series represented the very pinnacle of Britains’ plastic output and it was never bettered. That is not to discount what came before and indeed during this range’s production, for with its Swoppet concept, Britains hit a new high in model figure production. No, quite simply, the fusion of colours and variety, together with the romance of what was essentially a chivalrous period, combined to make these models a delight to behold and, dare I say it, play with.

Back in the 1960s, a boxed mounted knight was the princely sum of 4s 6d (23p) – by no mean a cheap toy. Foot figures, however, were somewhat more affordable at around 1s 6d (8p).

Part of the fascination of these Swoppets, of course, lay in the fact that you could exchange and swap parts of the figures. In reality, this didn’t amount to much more than the headdress and plumes, for the weapons were limited in their exchangeability; but the potential was there, nonetheless.  In fact, in retrospect, the products of Timpo lent themselves much more to these transformations although they were less detailed and somewhat cruder in appearance.

The Agincourt knights, if Britains’ finest, were actually not the first range to be made under the Swoppet banner: that accolade went to the Cowboys and Indians, which came out earlier in the 1950s. These are equally delightful and indeed, the Britains Swoppet enthusiast will also point out the American War of Independence figures, the Union and Confederate range as well as the Second World War British infantry, the latter range including a couple of set pieces such as a field hospital and a mortar team. Today, all the figures are fairly easy to track down, since they were made in appreciable numbers; but it seems to be the knights that are enjoying a renaissance (no pun intended!). Essentially, there are four different mounted and six foot to collect, excepting colour variations.

As mentioned, part of the reason for the range’s success was down to the interchangeability of parts. Britains threw caution to winds when they decided to revisit Creçy and Agincourt. In all, they modelled not one or two but eight different visors. And they didn’t stop there: two types of sword and two types of lance (the pommels differed) were offered and there was a choice of poleaxe or halberd for the advancing foot knight.

Today, interest in the Swoppet range is predictably pushing up prices. If foot and mounted were expensive then on an individual basis, so too were the boxed sets. These are very hard to find nowadays but when discovered, they are something at which to marvel and cherish. The biggest  contains three mounted, five foot and some spares.

But be warned. Plastic embrittles over time and you would be ill-advised to try swapping the parts of these bodies around now. Moreover, because of their detachable nature, over the years hundreds of thousands of Swoppet parts have become mislaid: maybe they went down the sofa, fell into the sandpit, were sucked up by the Hoover or were swallowed by the baby. Whatever, there are many incomplete knights about.

Sadly, spares are hard to come by, although some enterprising collectors have tried to redress the balance. Whilst no-one is making the tin foil striped scabbards, reproduction swords and visors are currently available. These latter are probably the most likely to go missing. Crests and favours are very scarce but perseverance will turn up shields and roses – but beware, the latter break easily if you try to press them over their receiving bosses. More recently, there have been rumours of a run of belts, which would be a godsend, since many knights lack this essential part. I also believe that crests are in the pipeline. Watch this space!