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A Brief History of Toy Soldiers

Just the words ‘toy soldiers’ can bring a smile to the face of children and adults (the ones who haven’t lost their love of history and fun). Whether the affection is for plastic toy soldiers, metal toy soldiers, lead toy soldiers or any other variety, the passion for these ‘little men’ is the same.

Toy soldiers have been collected since the time of the Pharaohs. First made from wood, stone, clay and metal for the rich and royal, it wasn’t until the end of the 18th century that toy figures – or military miniatures – were first mass-produced. Made in relatively small numbers by the Paris-based firm of Mignot, these figures were charming but expensive, and failed to find a wide market. By the turn of the 20th century, several companies in Europe were producing inexpensive lead (or metal as they are now called) toy soldiers which began to catch on with children and adults alike. About 2-2 ¼ inches tall, these “little men”, produced by Britain’s, Heyde, Mignot and others, depicted armies of England, America, France, Germany and their opponents. Such noted collectors as Winston Churchill and H.G. Wells can be seen in old photographs, playing with little armies of toy soldiers on their rugs and lawns.

For the first half of the twentieth century, the only soldiers available were made of lead or a sawdust and glue mixture called "composition." But after WWII, some manufacturers looked to plastic as a cheaper and more child-friendly medium. While interest in lead figures continued unabated, children now had the chance to revel in inexpensive bagged sets of 20 or more unpainted plastic figures for less than $1.00. Readily available by the mid-50s, unpainted plastic toy soldiers were omnipresent in the toy boxes of children around the world. Their success launched the introduction of painted plastic figures, which soon surpassed the competing lead models in sculpting and painting sophistication.

During the post-WWII years, the U.S.-based Marx Toy Company and its rivals produced inexpensive boxed toy soldier playsets. Sold through retailers and widely distributed through the Sears catalog, these theme-based collections of unpainted plastic soldiers and accessories, sometime supplemented by tin lithographed buildings and vehicles, became a passion for many boys. Marx playsets included movie tie-ins (Ben-Hur, The Alamo, The Untouchables, The Guns of Navarone and Tom Corbett Space Cadet, for example), historical themes (The Blue and the Gray, World War II Battleground and Knights and Vikings), and even obscure subjects like the circus, Arctic adventures and African tribal life.

Because lead and plastic soldiers were so widely available, many baby-boomers grew up collecting both. Their closets and shelves were filled with shoeboxes full of painted and unpainted plastic Civil War heroes, spacemen, Nazis, Cowboys, Indians and knights, plus the proudly collected (and-too-often dented) metal figures of exotic “Arabs of the Desert,” Foreign Legionnaires and Zouaves. One day, the Cowboys and Indians might attack a Moon base made of wooden blocks and oatmeal boxes which was defended by Robert E. Lee’s Virginians and Spacemen. The next, D-Day landing craft would be stuffed with American Colonials and GI’s, storming the beach defenses manned by Nazis and Knights! Favorite figures, whether lead or plastic would always be the last to fall or triumph.

1966 marked a turning point in the history of toy soldiers. International concerns about lead poisoning brought about new laws which banned the manufacture of toys containing lead. William Britain’s, the best-known producer of 54mm metal figures, ceased production of new figures and focused exclusively on plastic figures. Many other companies, like Timpo, Crescent and Cherilea, were forced to do the same. At this point, collectors began to see new modeling techniques emerging, and plastic toy soldiers were all the rage until the world began to change. In the late 1960’s and ‘70s, anti-war sentiment turned the tastes of the public away from military toys like toy soldiers. The rise of the action figure, based on science fiction and fantasy movies, and the rising appeal of video games, changed the collecting interests of younger children. Another blow to the hobby was the dispersal or outright disposal of many cherished baby boomer toy soldier collections when the kids grew up and went to college or joined the armed services. Well-meaning mothers, eager to clean out the roost, simply gave the soldiers away to younger relatives or dumped them the trash. (How often have we at The Toy Soldier Company heard the cry: "My mother threw away my soldiers??!!")

In the mid-1970s, cottage industry companies like Tradition, Blenheim, Nostalgia, John Tunstill’s “Soldiers Soldiers” and Marlborough reintroduced metal soldiers to the market. These “New” toy soldiers were better sculpted and better painted than their ancestors. As production was very limited, the price was much higher per figure, rising from a bare 50 cents to several dollars each. Plastic production, meanwhile, had contracted around a bare handful of manufacturers, Britain’s being the most productive during this period.

By the early 1980s the metal soldier market was still miniscule. A newly resurgent Britain’s began to produce metal figures in a new alloy as early as 1973, but the production didn’t hit its stride for a decade or more. Plastic production was dropping off in the early 80s, falling further into oblivion to the point where many collectors could only obtain figures at tag sale, swap meets and through a couple of devoted dealers who published monthly lists of items they had picked up through aggressive scrounging. When we at The Toy Soldier Company first went into business in 1984, no other dealers we knew of offered an order form, renewable stock from current manufacturers or illustrated catalogs!

By the late ‘80s, the world of plastic toy soldiers had come back to life. The baby boomer collectors of the 1960s had grown up and were now looking to rebuild the collections they remembered so fondly. Interest in old plastic figures, like Marx and Timpo, grew so great that the old molds were dusted off and run again in limited numbers as ‘recasts.’ European manufacturers, such as Preiser, Starlux, Dulcop, Charbens, Cherilea and Jean Hoefler were reintroduced to the American market. Their popularity led to the later reintroduction of Matchbox, Airfix, Jecsan, Reamsa and many other manufacturers. This renewed interest led to the establishment of new companies such as Accurate, which began producing new plastic figures for this relatively small hobbyist market in 1988. The market was still primarily adult males, but fathers were introducing their children to the hobby. Still, the toy soldier collecting community was spread out, and isolated to those who happened to know of collector societies and swap meets. Many adults maintained and cherished their toy soldier collections believing that few if any others felt the same about these figures.

Back on the metal front, figures were primarily marketed to adult collectors who had been involved in the hobby for years. Most of the soldiers being produced replicated the ‘old toy soldier’ style, with poses devoted to parade and ceremonial stances. But younger collectors, raised on the action-packed poses they had seen in their childhood plastic figures, were ready for a change. Now the metal manufacturers began producing action sets, using new molding technology to bring about a more realistic style of figure. These new fighting poses, with far more detail in sculpting and painting than their predecessors, caught the imagination of an up-and-coming crop of collectors, obliging established companies, like Britain’s, Tradition and Marlborough to shift their focus from parade ground to battlefield.

By the 1990s, the “New” Toy Soldier was superceded in popularity among some collectors by an even more detailed style which we call 'photo-realistic.' These figures, typically priced around $20.00 each, are produced by makers such as Britain’s and Conte in mainland China. They are not only modeled to look like real people, but their paint jobs are as detailed as figures which only a year or two previously would have sold for 4 times the price.

In the plastic arena, the 1990s saw a huge revival in the toy soldier collecting community. Some call this renaissance the “Second Golden Age” of plastics (the first being the glory days of the 1950s). Over 30 new manufacturers in the U.S., England, Germany, France and Italy have joined the field, offering many hundreds of entirely new sets of figures covering every historical era from the Stone Age through the Space Age. Led by such ground breakers as Play Along, Conte, Barzso and Italeri the list of current producers continues to grow every year, and includes Classic Toy Soldiers, Armies in Plastic, A Call to Arms, Imex, BMC and many others.

The growth of the internet has transformed toy soldier collecting, allowing like-minded enthusiasts the opportunity to find information, support, and above all, to find toy soldiers! Websites set up and maintained by collectors share photos of set-ups and beloved figures, as well as provide information on new releases. Online communities and message boards such as Yahoo Groups are devoted to the many specialized worlds of toy soldier collecting. Ebay has thousands of toy soldiers up for auction every day. Shops devoted to selling only toy soldiers, available in the past only to those collectors lucky enough to live nearby, can now promote their wares through websites. And mail order toy soldier companies, like The Toy Soldier Company, can now present their catalogs to an infinite number of online collectors.

As of this writing in Spring 2004, there are over 200 international manufacturers, producing metal and plastic figures, both painted and unpainted, for sale to children, collectors, hobbyists, and wargamers. The high skill and low wages of production in China has produced affordable plastic and metal toy figures, armor and artillery that were unimaginable just ten years ago. Companies such as 21st Century Toys, Forces of Valor and New Ray are transforming the industry with their highly detailed yet still affordable die cast armored vehicles. And the sentiment of the public seems to be turning back to comfort with fantasy military play, as toy soldiers and accessories begin to appear in mass market venues like Wal-Mart.

Here at The Toy Soldier Company, we strive to offer the greatest variety of quality plastic and metal toy soldiers. To read more about toy soldiers and our company, click on the following links:

About the Toy Soldier Company
An introduction to toy soldier collecting
Other toy soldier websites
The Toy Soldier Company Home Page