Obituary – Debbie Trochlell
January 13, 1953 – February 3, 2025
Debbie was born on January 13, 1953 in Brookfield, Wisconsin on a small farm. She grew up there with her siblings and had fond memories of farm-life. Cows, chickens, pigs, goats and horses were all present on the property, which was surrounded by a growing suburb of Milwaukee. Her father enjoyed collecting, especially lead Dimestore toy soldiers and model railroad cars. He would eventually pass this “collecting knack” on to Debbie.
In 1975, she married her husband Ed, and in time, would have three children. As a life-long collector, Debbie inspired the same passion in her son Aaron. Together they enjoyed collecting old toys, particularly antique toy soldiers. Debbie especially loved finding Britains lead circus and zoo figurines, Schoenhut circus pieces and Heyde lead figures. For many years, she looked forward to attending the Chicago Toy Soldier Show. Visiting the Old Toy Soldier bargain room was always a highlight! Over the years, many great memories were created from the toy soldiers and treasures that were discovered. She passed away on February 3, 2025. Throughout her life, Debbie gave so much love to her family, children and animals in need. She will be greatly missed.
Obituary – Jeremy Brewer
September 11, 1941 – July 3, 2024
It was with great sadness that I heard last year that Jeremy had passed on 3rd of July 2024 after a brave and stoic battle with a long-term illness.
Jeremy was a well-known English collector, frequenting shows and auctions across the UK for the last 40 or so years. Extremely knowledgeable, he had a great eye for quality figures. He delighted in the rare and iconic sets including: Boer war figures; first version Britains; and Heyde character figures, such as the Alice in Wonderland series – in fact anything old and rare.
Jeremy Richard Brewer was born on 11th September 1941 in Tonbridge Wells and lived there his whole life. He worked for many years in the accounts department of his family’s timber business in London, which allowed him to scour the various antique shops that one could find in London in the 1970s and 1980s for rare and unusual figures. He was also to be found at the top London auction houses, bidding on the best lots with much success.
I first met Jeremy in the 2000s at auction houses and the London toy soldier fair. Quiet and unassuming, very private and a true gentleman, he almost always bought a figure or two from me, at times I thought just out of politeness, but it would always be from the best I had.
Sometime around 2010 Jeremy went to visit Andy Morant’s stall in Portobello market and was shocked to see how busy it was. He immediately lent a hand, staying for the rest of the day. This was the beginning of a new chapter for him and on a Saturday he would invariably be helping out at Andy’s stall, interacting with hundreds of tourists every day, often telling them things about their countries they didn’t know. He really loved those days, getting up at 5am to walk to Tonbridge Wells station to spend a day with Andy in London and he did so for over 14 years. It was around this time I discovered he was also the world’s foremost expert in stamps from Tibet and the surrounding countries. His first ever purchase of collectibles was in fact a stamp collection financed by a loan from his father. He was often flown out around the world by top auction houses to authenticate the rarest and most valuable stamps, but typically for him, he never spoke about this.
He is survived by his much-loved sister, niece and nephew. He is missed by them, Andy, myself and the collecting community in general.