GubernatorFan wrote:Sorry, I missed this post before. You make very good points. Yes, Pier 1 Imports or similar stores might have some elephant statues that would work in a pinch, although the style and size would narrow down the potential selection considerably. It is believed Hannibal would have used (primarily) African forest elephants which are a now extinct subspecies, and considerably shorter in stature than the African elephants that still exist. The Persians would have used Indian elephants, and some of those might have been used even by Hannibal, because of the tradition of their use from India to the Mediterranean (including Pyrros of Epirus, who invaded Italy with them in the 280s BC). These would be bigger than the African forest elephants but smaller than the existing African elephants. So maybe the product really is something that was once intended to be Hannibal's elephants (or based on information or imagery related to those). On the other hand, could you imagine if Asmus tried to recreate the "Oliphaunts" from Lord of the Rings?
Very useful and interesting info on Hannibal's elephants, thanks. On the option of using East Indian decor items for 1/6 elephants, whether the dynamic statues or more static elephant coffee tables, you are right that neither would be optimal. But I am speaking from a very multicultural city (Toronto) so our East Indian goods go deeper than a Pier-1 Imports level (who have gone out of business anyway) but rather a lot of quirky one-off shops, and I've seen a couple of elephants that would have almost worked. No room for me to collect them but I wish I had at least taken pictures. Speaking of no room to keep things, wow you're right how amazing Asmus Oliphaunts would be. In comparison to something we were talking about in the other thread, FIVETOYS: 1/6 guard tower, 1/6th Oliphaunts start to seem more feasible.