I've been hooked on toy soldiers since the day a man walked in my shop with a biscuit tin from his immigrant Grandmother that contained a German Youth armband, a copy of Mein Kampf, and a handful of Elastolin toy soldiers.  Quite the time capsule!

German composition soldiers

A pre-WWI German castle "fort" by Gottschalk.
In this display it is defended by 1930's Elastolin knights!
Follow this link to a great article on toy forts!

IIIrd Reich composition 'personality' figures
Elastolin and Lineol in composition 7cm scale.
Represented here are various poses of Hitler and his fellows...Goring, Goebbles, Hess, and foreign leaders Franco and Mussolini.
A chilling look into a child's toybox of the era.


An array of German composition flagbearers
Elastolin, Lineol & more with excellent detail.


The wehrmacht at war!



War games?

Seldom seen 1930's Lineol soldiers in the smaller 4cm scale. Not very popular at the time and now very hard to find.  Unknown to many collectors, they are defending a Marklin tank!

Britains' and other hollowcast lead soldiers

Boxed sets of Britains 1950's Regiments of all Nations
American Civil War soldiers guard these Civil War weapons!

Zulu warriors confront the Lancers
Pre-WWII boxed sets

Authenticast, impressive realism by Holger Eriksson in Eire!
More on Authenticast here...

SAE Swedish African Engineers
This has always seemed an unweildy name for a toy company but Eriksson's next endeavor and still great detail but in a smaller scale.

Timpo lead soldiers from the 1950's.
Note the G.I.'s have been painted with blue helmets for UN troops.

Vintage tin airplanes
I found these two photo's in a Luftwaffe officer's photo album, I wish I had the planes!

German tinplate military vehicles

follow this link!

...and all the ships at sea!

follow this link!

Children's uniforms

And of course, my trains!

Follow this link!

Brief histories of important toy makers

The Wm Britains Toy Soldier Company