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Maurice and Steve met each other some time ago via John Bennett`s excellent "Fireworks" Magazine . They both share an interest in our fast disappearing firework heritage. We hope that you will enjoy these images of actual fireworks, posters and associated memorabilia, and that memories of past smokey bonfires will be evoked. Feel free to contact us, Maurice especially for the older collectibles and either of us for the modern items of today that are literally future history going up in smoke! It would be nice to receive dead or inert items or display material from hidden manufacturers in distant countries...ie. a banger from Bangladesh, a tourbillon from Tibet, a rocket from Rangoon, and of course a Roman Candle from Rome. We will cover shipping costs and will offer you modern British items in exchange....if you can wait to the day after November 5th!! Maurice may even have a few oldies to swop for different oldies or very unusual new items.

FIRSTLY............................. A look at that famous book by Alan St. Hill Brock with scans of the illustrations, PYROTECHNICS: THE HISTORY AND ART OF FIREWORK MAKING Enjoy!

Now the virtual museum exhibits:

POSTERS
FIREWORKMAN STANDARD FIREWORKS POSTER 1950`S +
SMALL LION POSTER, YOUNG BOYS MUST HAVE LOVED THIS
STANDARD BONFIRE POSTER
ROCKETS AWAY... STANDARD POSTER....PRE-WAR
FIREWORKS ACROSS THE LAKE - STANDARD FIREWORKS 1930-40`S
STANDARD POSTER 1955+
STANDARD FIREWORKS ROCKET TO THE MOON
LION FIREWORKS ARE BANG ON TARGET
STANDARD FIREWORKS PRE-WAR
PAINS PRE-WAR WINDOW BANNER
SMALL STANDARD PRE-WAR POSTER
POSSIBLY LATE 1930`S STANDARD POSTER, NOTE WOODEN WHEEL
LION FIREWORKS WINDOW BANNER
PRE-WAR STANDARD POSTER
ARTWORK OF 1938 PRICE LIST, STANDARD FIREWORKS - things would soon sadly change .
LARGE STANDARD POSTER
BROCKS AD FROM PRE-WAR "BOY`S OWN" COMIC Shells advertised to kids!! Amazingly the population was not wiped out by these items that the public can no longer be trusted with!
GLOBE FIREWORKS FROM AUSTRALIA
STANDARD EARLY PRE-WAR SPARKLER POSTER
A RATHER BEAUTIFUL WELLS FIREWORKS POSTER
AN EARLY POST-WAR BROCKS SPARKLER POSTER FROM OVERSEAS
SEVERAL COMPANIES HAD SAVINGS CLUBS FOR YOUNGSTERS TO SAVE UP FOR THE 5th, THIS ONE IS FROM STANDARD
SMALL STANDARD HAND OUT PRICE LIST and same in green....fireworks and corporal punishment, one banned, one sadly to come I fear, or pink....doesn't that poor boy realise the danger he is in holding that rocket!!
COBRA INDOOR SNAKE FIREWORKS FROM STANDARD, PRE-WAR
STANDARD "THRILLER BANGER" POSTER
STANDARD POSTER FOR "ATTABOY POP GUN" AND BANGER
EARLY 1930-40`S STANDARD POSTER
COVER OF STANDARD 1967 CATALOUGE
AUSTRALIAN GLOBE FIREWORKS WINDOW BANNER OF UNKNOWN DATE
STANDARD INDOOR FIREWORKS PRE-WAR
MORE STANDARD INDOOR FIREWORKS, FOR CHRISTMAS PARTIES
STANDARD SPARKLERS, EARLY POST-WAR OVERSEAS

BOXES
LION AND WELLS FIREWORKS
LION AND EXCELSIOR FIREWORKS
LION AND BENWELL BOXES
WIZARD, WESSEX AND RAINBOW FIREWORKS
LION AND RAINBOW FIREWORKS

ASTRA BOX, early 1970 75p size ....NEW

ASTRA BOX, early 1970 £1.25p size....NEW

BROCK BOX, early 1970 75p size....NEW

BROCK BOX, early 1970 £2.80p size...NEW.......note helicopter and Jumping Jack

BITS AND BOXES
BITS AND BOBS......what a collection!
TOBY JUG OF GUY FAWKES BY ROYAL DOULTON
REVOLVING ELECTRIC LAMP FROM WIZARD FIREWORKS late 1930`s to early post-war.
STANDARD FIREWORKS "CARDS" OF THE ERA AROUND THE SECOND WORLD WAR

ACTUAL FIREWORKS, all items dummy, inert or fired carcasses.

CONTENTS OF 75p ASTRA BOX ABOVE.......NEW

CONTENTS OF £1.25p ASTRA BOX ABOVE....NEW

CONTENTS OF 75p BROCK BOX ABOVE........NEW

CONTENTS OF £2.80p BROCK BOX ABOVE....NEW

OLD STANDARD BOX AND SOME CONTENTS!...wow!...and a closer look into one of these boxes!
WHAT`S IN THIS BOX? PRE-WAR STANDARD FIREWORKS!! how many for a shilling Mister?
SPARKLER PACKETS FROM THE 30`s AND 40`s
ROCKETS, ROCKETS: BROCKS, WESSEX, WELLS, RAINBOW, STANDARD
STANDARD ROCKETS FROM 1945 TO 1988 when the British Standard came in . These bring back the memories for me, I can still feel their texture and shape...and the smell...was it glue?
LION FIREWORKS POST-WAR DISPLAY BOARD WITH SOME PRE-WAR ITEMS
STANDARD FIREWORKS DISPLAY BOARD FROM PRE OR EARLY POST-WAR
MERSEY AND HARBOTTLE BANGERS etc.
A PRE-WAR BROCKS SHELL, PRE-WAR STANDARD FAIRYLAND FRUITS, FLYING SAUCER, PLUS VARIOUS GOODIES Fairyland Fruits were indoor table fireworks just like these GUNPOWDER PLOT or these SOLDIER AND SAILOR BOMS spelt BOMS not BOMBS...described as a "table present bom", that is BOM not BOMB..uuuuhhhhh!!!!!!
A GREAT SELECTION OF WESSEX FIREWORKS FROM THE PRE AND POST-WAR YEARS
A FINE SELECTION OF PAINS FIREWORKS FROM THE PRE AND POST-WAR YEARS
SOME OLDER ITEMS FROM BENWELL FIREWORKS
A SELECTION OF OLDER ITEMS FROM WELLS, ASTRA, BROCKS
CHINESE NOVELTIES some not so old, but interesting. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS......NEW TWO-STAGE HELICOPTERS..... and Astra signal rockets, 40mm shell in mortar....NEW.....here is one taking off.... NEW....and here we have Happy Lanterns and Plane drops Parachute-by night.....NEW. Invasion from Mars....NEW consists of literally hundreds of mini rockets in a box, all pre-fused to go off over a short interval,.....Timely Snow....NEW is a 25 shot parachute battery, here we see the parachutes.....NEW floating down, note the parachute unit falling away......NEW and the black smoke ring in the sky ....NEW as the unit explodes and fires the parachute out after it has expelled the parachute and flare. Two more parachute fireworks....NEW are seen here as well as a fired one with a reconstructed and recovered parachute and flare candle in detail.....NEW These are now BANNED for public sale in the UK.

By the late 1980`s most British rockets had moved from traditional paper and card construction to almost 100% plastic......NEW The large green rocket was called a "Mega" rocket, and the two red and yellow rockets were called "Lunar" rockets, their performance was excellent, especially the "boom" when they burst!!!....no doubt due to the strong plastic head needing a comparatively high internal pressure to rupture. The green rocket with a "skirt" is an Astra item. The two small saxon wheels, from the 1960`s were called "REV-JET`S" and found very recently by a pal of mine lying unfired in a back lane!!!! This photo shows them compared to a very large German "Weco" rocket......NEW Here a small 50% plastic Brock rocket is compared to an almost whole card Nico item......NEW

About 10 years or so ago it was a devil`s own job to lay my hands on Chinese Crackers......NEW Not illegal, just hard to get.....then all of a sudden they were everywhere, such as this one with wrapper ....NEW and this one fully opened,.....NEW even for sale in the local newsagent or D.I.Y. garden centre type shop,....then as quickly as they came, they went....BANNED, by the Government Department of Banning Everything, as is the popular custom in Britain these days. The last time that chinese crackers could be bought by the public was late 1997..R.I.P. Here they are, ( along with a mine unit) possibly some of the last Chinese crackers ......NEW bought in the UK. BANNED about 12 months earlier for public sale in December 1996 were aerial shells. This one, 3inch or 75mm was bought in a newsagent in 1989......NEW, note the Standard Fireworks logo on the mortar tube. this was the first shell I ever fired. I still have the mortar tube....a collectible already!

A bundle of ROCKETS.....NEW from about 1981. Note the "traditional" design of the Standard rockets, and varied German and Eastern items ,oh I wish I had these now! My son, age 6 months would have seen these go. having been brought up on fireworks he has no fear, only respect, sadly many youngsters are terrified of them today as their parents have instilled fear out of ignorance in them; this puts at risk the place of fireworks in our heritage.

Still in current use are these beasts! On bamboo stabilising sticks about 14 feet long are these "GARLAND ROCKETS",.....NEW which are very large parachute rockets discharging a chain of lights suspended by one or more parachutes and sometimes by a parachute at the end of each chain. I well recall in May 1995 after the Plymouth VE 50 commemorations which had a huge display over the sea on Plymouth Hoe......that the next day on the flooding tide I went up to the Hoe and rescued items such as these floating in the sea and restored them rather well!!! The blue one is plastic.

A GUY FAWKES, IN DAY`S PAST many shops would have had one like this for a window display, they are still burnt to this day on Nov5th bonfires.

This is my son, Dominic (on right) and his friend Adam Chesters doing "Penny for the Guy" in 1992, when he was 10. With a good costume, make-up, a good Guy decorated with spent fireworks in true "fireworkman" tradition, cardboard gunpowder barrel and a cardboard box model of the Houses of Parliament, he and his pal would take a £100 ... ......NEW for a full day in the town centre of Plymouth, UK!!!! I wish I had had more than one child and then I could have been like "Fagin" with a gang of street urchins all bringing their loot back to their master!!!!! He banked his!!!....and bought some fireworks too!!!!!

DAYLIGHT SHELLS
These shells are designed to be fired in full daylight, they are made inert, any lifting or bursting charge being added after, this has made the collection of these amazing items easier....once you can find them that is. Often made in Japan, upon reaching their maximum height they would gently burst and discharge either a flag on a parachute, or more often a coloured paper model or representation of a monkey, hen, circus clown, doll, dog, aircraft, or whatever, this would then drift slowly earthwards, floating around as it did. LOOK AT THIS LITTLE LOT, DATING FROM 1913.

FIVE SHELLS, ONE WITH DUMMY LIFTING CHARGE FITTED
A DISMANTLED SHELL SHOWING A LARGE 6 FOOT WIDE "HEN." this is amazing, just look at it!!
AIRPLANE LABEL ON SHELL note it`s type, "string and wood."
JAPANESE FLAG ON A PARACHUTE LABEL
DOG LABEL (in a red coat!!) ON DAYLIGHT SHELL
DOLL LABEL ON DAYLIGHT SHELL
CIRCUS CLOWN IMAGE ON DAYLIGHT SHELL LABEL

NEW SECTION, NEW PHOTOS

TODAY`S ITEMS, TOMORROW`S COLLECTIBLES
or here today.....banned tomorrow!

A VULCAN PRODUCT (China) of 64 fused Roman Candles incl. Chirping Oriole and Flashing Thunder

A REALLY BIG CHINESE CAKE...tubes about 60mm bore...Crackling Waterlilies

AN EVEN BIGGER CHINESE CAKE....ABOUT 30Kg gross...Colour Spider

ZINK ROCKETS from Germany, not much to collect for a restoration after one of these has gone bang

SMALL FLIGHT ROCKETS FROM SPAIN, easy to restore as the plastic cone and motor are usually undamaged

EVEN smaller FLIGHT ROCKETS FROM SPAIN

PAIN`S FIREWORKS (UK) PLASTIC DISPLAY ROCKETS....a Standard Fireworks "Lunar" twin!

8 oz VULCAN ROCKETS....hard to restore as the card shell-head totally disintegrates

30 mm ROMAN CANDLE FROM VULCAN, individual candle and Battery of 4, easy to restore after firing

100 mm MINES.....easy to restore, it`s just a red mortar tube afterwards!

5 BAR BOUQUET OF ROMAN CANDLES, each unit containing 4 individual Roman Candles

N.B. These two photos show a child holding live fireworks, this is safe. She is supervised, and no matter how much the press will have you believe, non-chlorate fireworks just do not go off on their own!!! She is taught to respect fireworks, not fear through ignorance.

A GERMAN "WECO" WHISTLE WHEEL, SO LOUD THAT THERE IS A WARNING ON THE PACK, see it in action, I said see, not hear!

A BOX OF "COSMIC" FIREWORKS AND ASTRA AND STANDARD ROCKETS

SKY BEAUTY AND SONIC JACKS

A SMALL BOX OF COSMIC FIREWORKS

A SELECTION OF DISPLAY ROCKETS FROM THE 1997 SEASON, incl. Standard Saturn, Moog 3000 6 oz, Black Cat, Ricardo`s of Valencia, Vulcan, Weco, the black plastic shell head on the rocket is not a shell, it just looks like it, the charge is loose inside.....looks good tho`

SMALL ROMAN CANDLES AND FOUNTAINS

PAIN`S FIREWORKS "AIR BOMB" TYPE SINGLE SHOT ROMAN CANDLES

SMALL FOUNTAINS FROM PAIN`S FIREWORKS, and smaller

CHINESE CAKES IN COLOURFUL WRAP

PAIN`S FIREWORKS CHINESE TYPE ROMAN CANDLES

COMBINATIONS OF ROMAN CANDLES, THE ONE IN THE RED AND WHITE TUBE CONTAINS 28 FLASHING THUNDERS

SMALL CHINESE CAKES incl. a Pain`s CONGLOMERATION.....I think...?

MOST OF THESE ABOVE ITEMS REMAIN INTACT AFTER FIRING AND MAKE GOOD RESTORATIONS

NICO ROCKET AND FEISTEL-BENWELL ROCKET.......from Germany

SIGNAL ROCKETS ( Thunderflash) FROM "WECO" IN GERMANY AS WELL AS A SUPER BIG ORANGE-RED "WECO" CANNON CRACKER

check out the FIREWORK HERITAGE MUSEUM

more heritage and military sites from the webmaster

THANKS TO: SANDLING FIREWORKS ABOVE ALL FOR THEIR HELP, INFORMATION AND TOLERANCE TO MY CONSTANT QUESTIONS, GRAHAM AND CHRISTINE LUNDEGAARD I THANK YOU AGAIN. ALSO THANKS DUE TO CHRIS HUTCHISON OF THE FIREWORK COMPANY , ALSO JOHN CULVERHOUSE OF FANTASTIC FIREWORKS..NOT FORGETTING PAIN`S FIREWORKS & THE GREAT NORTHERN FIREWORK COMPANY...who have all helped in their own way with fired carcasses and above all advice and information.I must not forget overseas enthusiasts who have sent me fired examples of fireworks that are banned here in the UK.