Around 1930, a small group of well-known pewter figure collectors around Raoul Gerard and Otto Gottstein began a unique project. They planned to create a "central archive for documentation on pewter figures" in Switzerland. They began to collect all available designs and drawings of already engraved or still planned pewter figures and had them coloured by the best painters of the time, such as Krischen, Madlener, Douchkine, Rossi and Thaon. The painting was based on the most careful studies and is still as colourful and meticulous today as it was seven decades ago. The plates offer a unique overview of the most beautiful series and individual figures from around the mid-1930s, the "golden years" of the Kulturhistorische Zinnfigur. Through the research of the Swiss collector Bernhard Eggimann, these treasures have been brought back to the light of day and at the end of 2003 Edition Krannich began publishing them. We see the colourful court of the Sun King Louis XIV as well as the masterfully coloured designs for the "Army of the Blue King", one of the most extensive and beautiful series of pewter figures ever created by the old master Ludwig Frank. More than almost any other period of world history, the 17th century abounds in interesting events. The designer of episodes at the European courts will get his money's worth here, as will the specialist in military history who wants to recreate scenes from the Wars of the Spanish Succession, the Battle of Höchstädt (1704) or the Northern War (1700-1721).
