Army of sculptures marching on area

A terracotta army of 1,200 imposing figures has marched on the Black Country as a firm which imports weird and wonderful garden artefacts took delivery of its latest batch.

Maurice Butler, director of Salvage UK Midland Limited, ordered the terracotta sculptures modelled on the famous Terracotta Army of warriors horses and other figures discovered in the Chinese Shaanxi province by a farmer in 1974. And the replicas looked so authentic that the businessman even had trouble getting them through customs.

This is because some officials thought they were the real thing.

Mr Butler's army, which has an estimated retail value of around £60,000, took three months to build.

Mr Butler took delivery of his stock only recently at his home in Skidmore Road, Coseley, in Wolverhampton.

He said that he delivery could not have come at a better time as statues from the original centuries-old collection are coming over to Britain for display at the British Museum, in London, until April.

"It was strange the way I even came by them to be an honest," he said.

"I had a meeting with the boss at a firm in China and his office was absolutely full of them. They caught my eye and he noticed and told me through a translator he knew the owner of the factory where they were made," explained Mr Butler.

"The next thing I know I was on the road there. I think they originally thought I intended to buy them for myself and were surprised when I ordered a full container."

Mr Butler, who runs his business from home and also at trade shows around the country, said he was pleased by the response he had already got for the sculptures.

"They were supposed to arrive a couple of months ago but were held up in customs. They look so good some of the officers thought they were real.

"We had to sign loads of papers and documents saying they were just replicas."

Prices range from £65 for four small figures to £550 for the largest sculpture.