Category: Summer 2025

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  • AHI and Swedish African Engineers (SAE):a Story of “Involuntary Sharing”

    Lou Sandbote

    Toy company Azrak-Hamway International, Inc (AHI), doing business as REMCO Toys, took its name from Marvin Azrak and Ezra Hamway, partners in the New York firm which marketed this recently discovered box of 30mm “Miniature Animals.” The AHI company was featured as a chapter in my book The Toy Soldier Artistry of Holger Eriksson –… Read more

  • “Les petits soldats de plomb” A fascinating Pathé Film

    Nassim Medjaoui

    During the course of the research for my book, I discovered this short film which contains some very interesting images of toy soldiers, including some rare Paris Office types. To support the war effort, Pierre Bressol, a French actor and filmmaker who was wellknown during the silent film era (but is now completely forgotten), made… Read more

  • Anglo-French Sudanese Expeditions (Expédition du Soudan by Krause) – an intriguing find

    Gisbert Freber

    Introduction Thanks to the kind mediation of a collector friend, a few years ago, I was able to purchase a very large box of lead figures manufactured by Krause in Gotha. The original lid inscription reads: “Expédition du Soudan”. This means that it is an export box for the French market. This surprised me because… Read more

  • RECONNAISSANCE

    Rob Wilson

    Auction Review – Important auction in the South of France The lifetime collection of Monsieur Lavigne, a well-known French collector and connoisseur of toy soldiers, came under the hammer at the offices of Carrère et Laborie on the 5th of June in the southern city of Pau. Bidders from across the world competed for some… Read more

  • Britains Territorials for Coronations

    John Franklin

    A King George V Coronation 1911 This article has two parts: This first part is an intriguing enigma, the second a straight report. There have been some intriguing, clearly Britains, full dress troops, appearing at auction in recent decades, probably a dozen lots or more since the millenium, with no definitive reported history in the… Read more