Mystery Pair of soldiers

[Onbluehorses]

Hi, I have a pair of soldiers - lead from their weight - that I cannot identify and welcome any helpful suggestions! They are 4 cm tall in yellow uniforms and although a little worse for wear the skin colour on the heads is brown rather than pink. I have tried the usual searches on google but no joy. Many thanks.

[72 usmc]

Are they sold cast or are they hollow cast with an air hole at the top?  Side view? Are they semi flats ? Base is not well defined.   The Odd color, makes me think those are home kit cast, if solid.  A U.S home cast toy soldier:  solid cast not full body like a Manoil or Barclay. Lack of detail and odd base. Shape of body and base depended on the home casting set.   Non uniform size unlike U.S. 70mm and European 54mm?  Irregular base & no maker's mark on home cast sets.  Strong mold lines, not really well cast is also an attribute.  Blob type, poor detail on rifles and odd, not well formed helmets is seen on home casts. Also, odd colors derived from craft paints like Testor's enamel model paints of the late 1950s.  Factory pieces generally have uniform factory colors on all pieces, if you have a shelf full, the colors match. The cast your own lead soldier sets were a post WW II thing up until lead toys were frowned upon.  Chemistry sets, model rockets, flying model airplanes with fuel (the finger choppers), lawn darts, BB & pellet guns, firecrackers, and making gunpowder all sort of became no nos. But, the post war kids like me had fun hunting, fishing and, using BB guns and firecrackers to shoot up toy lead soldiers...

[72 usmc]

 It is not a normal U.S. factory made form. For paint and forms in the U.S. the best reference is American Dimestore Toy Soldiers and Figures, a Schiffer book by Piedin, Joplin and Johnson. I collect Manoil, Barclay, and Grey Iron U.S. toy soldiers.   Your figure tends to make  me think a Japanese paint your own set or a US home casting set figure.  Can I have a side profile view?  Be sure it is lead and not a poor cast iron soldier-use a magnet on the old boy.  From the paint wear attributes, I'd agree it is lead. 

[Onbluehorses]

Thanks guys, they are solid - no cast hole and from the weight I believe lead - and have checked with a magnet and not ferrous. The line down the edge does suggest casting. Couple extra views attached. All very curious!

[Fritz]

I assume the yellow is supposed to be light khaki

[72 usmc]

 With the photos you have added, I would say those  toy soldiers are definitely vintage, home foundry casting set toy soldiers. There are many different sets and molds. Most do not collect these type of soldiers and complete sets from the 1920s-1950s are pricy and hard to find in the box complete. See the attributes on these WWI style home cast soldiers.  Note yellow paint again. Some sets came with small glass bottles of primary colors of paint and one sort of had to mix your own to get correct colors which rarely happen with children.  Notice bases, seams, mold spurs, irregular shapes from lead poured in cold molds, lack of details on the soldiers, odd poor shaped helmets, and incorrect colors.  Generally most home casts exhibit untrimmed  mold seams and are always solid cast with soft lead that melted fast on an old wood stove top.  They should scratch with a finger nail, like soft lead on musket balls.  Generally, these are malformed toy soldiers that are not collectable unless you have a casting NOS in the box set. Then it is nice to have a "type"specimen  for each mold. Some just purchased the cheep molds individually. But figure patterns were limited and generally less exact copies of factory made Dime store soldiers.  Later in the early 1950s, a casting kettle and an electric melt pot was included inthe more expensive sets and kids used free wheel weight lead. Wheel weight lead is harder and needs more heat to melt.   I remember as a kid going to gas stations for their throw aways( clip on lead wheel weights).  The early 1930s sets in the box are the hardest to find. The later 1950s sets are somewhat more common.  Most sets only survive as mold plates. Few collect these sets. Most do not favor the home cast soldiers.  These can be found in the old Sears store catalogs in the toy section as early as 1916.  Remember, by the late 1950s plastic toy soldiers with great details and less price replaced the lead 10 cent to 30 cent per each soldier. One could get a bag of 10 to 25  plastic toy soldiers for the same quarter.   A good number of collectors are into plastic figures. 

 

 

[72 usmc]

 To me even in high school, one of the most exciting plastic solders were the 1963 Marx  Company, six inch soldiers in German, U.S., Japanese, and Russian figures.   These were very detailed, well formed soldiers.  These tall Marx figures sold at 10-29 cents per soldier and got damaged easily by dog bites, broken arms & guns, and most exhibit the deep normal dings and gashes due to hard play with a soft plastic figure.  Not to mention BB 's that stuck in the figure if your older brother used your soldiers for target practice!  Sun also faded the plastic. Ones in mint condition are always a good find, except they are $10-$15 each now. Look for the vintage round trade mark on the bottom of the base.

Later around the 1980s these were re-issued  with incorrect colors for Toys-R-Us stores in the US.   Even as a high school kid, I love these tall boys.

Below is a six inch Russian.  Marked 10 cents and an original color and Marx maker's mark.

 

 

 

Just collecting a type collection of a sample of all the post 1960 plastic soldiers is a task.  Back in 1963-66  with a few 6" soldiers and an issue of  Blazing Çombat magazine a kid was in heaven.  You bet, I still have all 3 issues. Then if you had a TV, you could turn it on and watch" Combat " 

https://combat.fandom.com/wiki/Combat!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blazing_Combat

[Onbluehorses]

Thanks everybody for your information - really useful to know the history. Must admit one of the things I love about any old items is the research and understanding their history!

[Fritz]

I think I remember the German ones, I had one of a soldier taking aim. I painted it as detailed and authentic as possible, all long ago.

[72 usmc]

 The 2000 reissue of 6 inch Marx sets of 6 figures with "Made in Mexico" maker's marks( paper or stamped): 

[Fritz]

There is a US tv series on youtube from the 1960s, full of action and a bit exagerated, at least 6 series with each about 30 episodes...

[72 usmc]

Actually old reruns are still on cable and in the U.S. one can get the entire series on DVD , but its costly.