Eurofigurines, Figuren and Zinnlaube

 In the past few weeks these three magazines have arrived through the post, here are some more details:

I was particularly pleased with this issue as it opens with an article on TRIUMF a Belgian manufacturer of composition figures which I'd never heard of but they are the same figures as we had in England made by TAG, which I covered back in February HERE  The really useful thing is that this article includes a catalogue listing of all the figures they produced.

Other articles cover; Regiments of Saint Cyriens, 

Curiosities finds and photos, 

Washingtons Regiment by Elastolin, 

Elastolin water carriers, 

The Emperor and his Old Guard, 

Knights of the middle ages in aluminium by Krolyn of Denmark, 

Fox hunting figure sets, 

Pirates by Starlux and Cyrnos, 

Greek Hoplites by First Legion, 

Toy soldiers made in conjoint tin (part 4), 

Palmer (USA) Astronauts, 

and finally Arctic Explorers.

Opens with a report on the 2019 Nuremburg Toy Trade Fair, which seems to have a lot more of interest to toy soldier collectors and modellers than the London Toy Trade Fair does these days.  

It continues with; Italian Askaris of the Abyssinian War in composition, 

Wooden cut out figures of the German army made in 1930's in Czechoslovakia by Bata, 

Personality figures of the Czech President T G Masaryk, 

The composition figures of Durso (Belgian), 

The Three Musketeers, 

Wundertute (Lucky Bags) Landsknechts from Heinerle, 

Atlantic Longhorn cattle in 1:32, 

Lineol Zoo rarities, 

Timpo catalogues 1968 to 1979, 

Bricklayer made by Lisanto, 

The Siege of La Rochelle diorama, 

Latest Preiser catalogue, 

Timpo Toys Special Issue No. 3

This was previously the newsletter of the collectors group FAS "Freunde Alter Spielfiguren" but it has now become and independent journal, I don't know the reasons for the change of editorial team but wish them well.  Text is in German and English, and it's published roughly once a year, the theme for this issue is the 150th anniversary of the Franco Prussian War, articles include; 

Glasenapp's volunteer hussars at the Battle of Rotha 1762, 

Cinderella in tin and lead, 

Vignettes for the Death of General von Craushaar 1870, 

the search of Jager Tromm - Prussian Jagers in tin and lead, 

Civilian figure sets by Spenkuch, 

Prussian Staff before Paris 1870 by Haselbach/Rieche, 

British observation balloons in the Boer War, 

the Stewart Collection of toy soldiers at the Frazier History Museum in Kentucky

So all in all a lot of very varied articles to get through. 

Subscription details for all these magazines are on their websites so just give them a quick Google rather than have me bore you with the same old information time after time.

Early Toy Soldier Newsreels

Continuing my romp through the YouTube archives, here are a few more finds that I think are worth more than just one look.  It always surprises me that however much you trawl through YouTube every now and again something new surfaces, which has probably been buried away there for years.

Model Soldier Club 1939
Now this is a bit of archive footage I haven't seen before, it's an early meeting of the British Model Soldier Society.  Among the luminaries I spotted Otto Gottstein (in the opening shot, sitting at the far end of the table smoking a cigarette, next to a chap with a pipe) he was President of the Society at the time and a great patron of the hobby.  Also I think I see a young Deryck Guyler (at about 22 seconds in) who was a keen member of the BMSS before going on to be one of the founding members of the Society of Ancients.  The clip includes a rather nice selection of model knights produced by Richard Courtenay.

Model Soldiers 1953
I have Detlef Heerbrand to thank for finding this clip and posting it on facebook (which I finally got around to joining this month - a sure sign that it's days are numbered).  It features Bill Carman who was Vice Chaiman of the BMSS at the time and was one of the first to manufacture model soldiers for the collector.  His figures are a bit basic by modern standards but I've always been a big fan of them so I was particularly pleased when this surfaced.

Toy Soldiers 1949
Archive footage shot inside the Britains factory showing the hand casting of hollowcast figures, through to cleaning the castings, painting and packing them.

Toy Soldiers 1965
This piece of footage has been doing the rounds for a while but given that it's dated 1965 it's interesting that the commentary points out the hollow cast figures shown are made strictly for adults as collectors items. Britains ceased hollow casting in 1966, the story that this was because of lead paint and child safety fears is an urban myth, the truth is they just weren't selling enough.  The second half of the film shows an injection moulding machine being loaded up with plastic pellets and states that production of plastics was in full swing for the juvenile toy market.

Model Soldier sale 1968
This newsreel covered the very first specialist auction of Toy Soldiers (in fact the first specialist auction of any toys), held by Knight, Frank and Rutley who were founded in 1896 as Valuers, Surveyors and Auctioneers, they are a well known Estate Agents (Realtors).  I didn't recognise any of the faces amongst the crowd here but the toy soldiers needed no introduction.