Toy Soldier Collector

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The Queens Royal Lancers Part 1

Stephen Green delves into the history of the Queens Royal Lancers in the first of a two part series

I should start by stating that I gained a large amount of my information from ‘Regiment’ magazine, unfortunately this magazine is no longer being published, but if you can find old copies they are worth buying as they are an excellent source of reference material. I also dug into ‘Regiments at a Glance’ by Colonel Frank Wilson, a useful little book published in the 1950s as well as visiting the regiments website for the up to date information.

The Queen’s Royal Lancers were formed from a joining together of two, previously four, famous Lancer regiments at an amalgamation parade on June 25, 1993 at which Her Majesty presented a new Guidon. The ceremony joined the 16th/5th Lancers and the 17th/21st Lancers. The four regiments had been amalgamated into two following the First World War, when the roll of horsed cavalry was under review.
The first query to deal with is 16th/5th. Why not 5th/16th? This is all about seniority. The 5th had been raised first but had suffered disbandment, and so the 16th had longer, continuous service.

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Romans versus Gauls

Travel back in time to the battles fought between the Roman and the Gaul armies as we look at some of the plastic figures available to represent these historic warriors.

Travel back in time to the battles fought between the Roman and the Gaul armies
For regular readers of TSC it should be fairly obvious that I am very interested in all things Roman, having written a number previous articles related to this awe inspiring and colourful period of history. This issue I wish to concentrate on the fierce power struggle that the Empire endured against one of its toughest adversaries, the Gaul’s. Naturally there is a heavy emphasis on the toy soldiers available to collectors interested in this period and in particular I will cover two manufacturers who have produced suitable Romans and Gaul’s in recent years, namely A call to Arms and Italieri.

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King & Country ‘Down Under’

John O’Brien gives an insight into King & Country’s recent trip to Australia and the new Australian themed figures the company is about to release

There has been a rumor for some time that King and Country was planning to expand its World War One range of miniatures to include some Australian Forces. The debate going around was whether it would be Gallipoli, the abortive invasion of Turkey in 1915, the Western Front or the Middle East Desert Campaign, any of which would be a battlefield worthy of coverage for us collectors.

In late July, Andy Neilson, Co-Founder of K&C along with Helen Mok Sargent, K&C’s Managing Director, unveiled the new range on their promotional tour to the Eastern States of Australia. The good news is that the famous Light Horse Charge at Beersheba in Palestine on October 31, 1917 is the chosen subject matter, and the first batch of figures (due to be available later this year) will be seven Light Horsemen of the 4th Light Horse Brigade.

Typos in issue 29

Correction of two minor typos in TSC29

Please note there are two minor typos which have appeared in TSC29. Firstly within the competition page Kneller Hall as accidentally appeared as Knell Hall and we would like to apologise for this, this was a simple typo that was missed at the proofing stage of the magazine.

Also the Birmingham Show has been listed in Show Dates as Sunday 24th October, in fact this show is on Sunday 25th October, the date has already been corrected on the events section of the website and both of these typos will be corrected in issue 30.

Date Published Fri, 08/07/2009 - 08:56
Author: Andy Whittaker

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The man in the tower

Paul Stocker chats with Matthew Thair, the creative genius behind White Tower Miniatures

I first met Matthew Thair at a British Model Soldier Society show back in 2003, where he was exhibiting an amazing collection of all kinds of Robin Hood figures. That was a sort of premonition because when I next met him at a show a few years later, he was selling Robin Hood figures he had started making. Matthew’s long interest in Robin Hood has been as strong an influence on his output as a manufacturer as it was on his own collection. But he has other interests and these, such as the Wild West, also influence his growing range of figures sold under the White Tower Miniatures brand. Matthew’s approaching the end of only his third year as a manufacturer but he can already boast an extensive catalogue of fine figures.

PS: How did you turn from a collector into a full-time manufacturer?

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Bella La Bottega Del Soldatino!

Martin Ainscough looks at the figures by an Italian Manufacturer that has been involved in the toy soldier business for nearly a century

For generations the family name of Antonini has been associated in Italy, and worldwide, with the production and restoration of collectible toy soldiers.

In the shop, located in a suburb of Rome, you will find new modern day toy soldiers for the collector, old military figures, boxes of old toy soldiers, hats, helmets, uniforms and other interesting items of militaria. In fact it is a veritably Aladdin’s cave of delights for anybody with an interest in the military, or the collecting of toy soldiers old and new!

However, this idyllic scene of a bygone age could be under threat and could even disappear. This situation is due in part to the development of the commercial toy industry which has seen a vast increase in recent years in the appeal of electronic based games with a move away from more traditional hobbies. The outcome of this change is that the collecting of toy soldiers has now become the passion of a small but loyal number of collectors thus jeopardising the ongoing future of many small business such as that of the Antonini’s.

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A dream realized

A fond look back at how a young boy first started collecting W. Britain toy soldiers in post WWII America

Around Christmas time in the 1940's, before and after WWII, the American New York City toy store F.A.O. Schwarz printed a fabulous catalogue. In addition to all the ‘ordinary’ toys the catalogue had several pages devoted to toy soldiers. These were not toy soldiers one bought in Woolworth's 5 and 10 Cent Store, but German Heyde figures (before the war) and the hollow cast W. Britains. When the catalogue arrived at our house in late November I was quick to grab it, open it to the soldier pages, and literally devour the photographs of contingents of toy soldiers marching about in formation. To this day I have fond memories of what I saw in those long disposed of catalogues. And yes, I even sometimes dream of the contents of those pages.

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The Siege of Abbotsbury

Dorset local Stephen Green looks at the effect the English Civil War had on his area, and some new figures by Dorset Soldiers which represent the conflict

Most of my information for this article comes from: ‘Dorset in the Civil War’ by Tim Goodwin; A leaflet, ‘A brief history of St Nicholas Church, Abbotsbury’; ‘The Sydenham Trail’, an excellent article found on the web; and uniform detail from a book on the English Civil War by Philip Haythornthwaite, as well as various Osprey titles.

No great battles were fought in Dorset during the English Civil War, but nonetheless, the county had a very busy time with several major sieges.

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Dutch delight

Intrepid reporter Erwin Goossens visits the town of Ommen in the Netherlands, home of the Nationaal Tinnen Figuren Museum

Mid June in Ommen, a small town 140 kilometres North-West of Amsterdam, and Lou G. van der Aa is waiting for me up at the entrance to the Nationaal Tinnen Figuren Museum. Normally closed on Monday, Lou, the museum’s PR man and webmaster, was kind enough to open the doors so TSC could have a good look around.

The museum has its origins with an association of collectors, the ‘Nederlandse Stichting voor Modelfiguren - de Tinnen Tafelronde’ (www.modelfiguren.nl) which was founded in 1955. After a long search for a meeting and display space the association found refuge in the former town hall of Ommen. The museum has occupied a large part of this historic building which dates from 1832, since 1985. The museum collection numbers about 200,000 figures with more than 100,000 on display to the public at any given time. Twelve volunteers work for the museum, which since August 2001 has been officially registered as a ‘National Museum’. Guided tours are available as are information sheets in each and every room for those visitors wishing to take a more solitary tour of the museum.

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Sketches from Afghanistan

Colin Luxford reminisces about the Afghan wars of the late 1800’s with the help of some old copies of the Illustrated London News and a few toy soldiers

During the 1930s, my father unfortunately arrived too late to prevent a pile of old Illustrated London News from being thrown onto a bonfire, apart from two bound editions that covered the whole of the year 1879. He didn't know which issues were destroyed but at least 1879 was a pretty good year to save as it covered both the Zulu War and 2nd Afghan War.

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