The SAE Madeira figure story, taken from the Tradition Of London website:
“Swedish African Engineers (SAE) was established by Curt Wennberg in the early 1950’s in Capetown, South Africa.
SAE was the next project for Wennberg after the Authenticast establishment in Ireland [on behalf of Comet Metal Products of the USA in 1946].
The setting was ambitious and the volumes produced in 1953, according to Wennberg, was about 2 million toy soldiers.
The majority of the figures were produced by HE, but Curt Wennberg also converted own figures from HE’s basic models. A couple of other designers were also engaged by Wennberg.
In 1953-54 Curt Wennberg wanted to expand the production and he set his eyes on Madeira, a small island in the Atlantic.
The Swedish family Österlind were engaged to start the production and moved to Madeira.
However, after waiting for moulds until 1955, without any moulds arriving, the family moved back to Sweden.
Later on, one of the sons returned to Madeira.
Surprisingly, the Swedish Consul on the island informed him that he had about 40 moulds from Wennberg.
The moulds were brought to Sweden and are now back in production.”
I think this is a great little story – and you can buy and play with the outcome. If only the long-lost Peter Laing figure moulds would turn up in such an unexpected way ..
The surviving Madeira SAE figures are a quirky bunch – in the WW2 range, you have British, American, a few French and Belgians versus Italian Alpini and Bersaglieri (oddly no WW1 or WW2 Germans) including motorbikes and support weapons
but you could also have Franco Prussian War French, American Civil War and AWI Cavalry, Artillery and Infantry, mounted and dismounted Wild West Cowboys and Indians and buffalos as alternative foes!
Historifigs biography for HE
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Peter Johnstone’s old Spencer Smith Miniatures SSM shows the links between the SSM and HE figures – I believe these similar 30mm SSM moulds or figure ranges have now been sold to Wee Wolf Miniatures in the USAhttp://www.spencersmithminiatures.co.uk/html/h_e_.html
Tradition Of London (Sweden) still stock metal castings of many HE 30mm figures from 17/18th Century to modern ceremonial. 
The Binns Road uk Railway website features the US Gun Crew figures in a six pack
and also a blurry figure listing on the packaging, similar to many of the SAE Madeira figures produced today by Tradition Of London:
Much of HE’s 40mm output is still available as homecast Prince August moulds – it matches some of the 30mm style and poses but in larger 40mm scale.
https://shop.princeaugust.ie/holger-eriksson-he-moulds/
Interview with HE in Table Top Talk magazine with Jack Scruby’s son John
https://www.tabletoptalk.com/?p=572
and finally, the Donald Featherstone War Games 1962 photograph that made me aware of SAE / Spencer Smith figures from quite a young age.
In 1962 Featherstone wrote about SAE that:
By 1973 when my seventh edition War Games was published, SAE were no more.
Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN, 1 April 2024 (after noon)
Being a whole new rabbit hole prompted by buying some fragile 30mm SAE / plastic Spencer Smith Moderns / WW2 Figures:
Man of TIN blog two 
I remember when I was a kid I got a Prince August ‘starter set’ and a couple of more Holger Ericsson moulds. Even if I was very inspired by the diorama photos in the brochures, I never got around to make so many figures that I had an army or two. I used them again when my sons were younger to make some few figures with them. It really never took off at us….
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Hello Roger
I didn’t have any Prince August moulds in the 1980s when I first saw them advertised c.1983 – see the advert here at https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/tag/prince-august
I think the moulds and metal were too expensive for childhood pocket money and with no workshop space etc, my parents had a dim view of my ability to handle hot metal safely.
That all changed twenty plus years later when I found by chance the 54mm traditional toy soldiers casting Starter set c. 2005, although I still have no workshop space to cast and I usually cast outdoors on a warm dry day when there is no threat of rain. Days when this is possible in the UK and I have the time and mood etc. to set up casting don’t always combine!
Of all the moulds I have, I like most the oldest HE Holger Eriksson figures moulds such as the Cowboys and Indians in 40mm.
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I remember tin being expensive and somewhat harder to get. A familymember working on a wharf provided me with som lead pipes that could be melted ant mixed with the tin. I never got a round to it. – And today I can probably be happy I didn’t….
The Cowboys and Indians were nice. I only had some of the Karoliner moulds.
It would be nice to do an old style wargame with these old style figures.
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My late Dad worked as an electrician and gave me some lead from replacing the electrical wiring from our 1930s house. Apparently lead was commonly used before plastic wiring cover became standard. I still have it ready to mix in with a special tribute figure or two for him (as he inspired and joined in with many of my toy soldier games on the floor, carpet or garden ground level.)
Quite often the old ‘home casts’ in job lots of figures are very soft (and usually crude in detail) probably from old lead melt downs.
I have used 40mm Holger Eriksson cowboys and Indians in very small Skirmish type games before.
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l enjoyed reading this post, thanks for posting it. Interesting figures, company and man behind it.
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There is a very beautiful book about HE but it’s about £100-£150 from America which is too much Toy Soldier money for one book – featured on Brian Carrick’s blog
https://toysoldiercollecting.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-toy-soldier-artistry-of-holger.html?m=1
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