As 2025 begins, it is business as usual in the world of collecting Old Toy Soldiers.
This issue contains the usual range of articles, including one on how to display your marching bands
correctly by Norman Cuthbert (who as a bandsman himself should know what he’s talking about). So, no excuse for not getting this right in the future.
Norman Joplin comes up with an interesting take, based on his local knowledge, focusing on a shipwreck in his nearby town of Port Washington which throws up some new information on the Peter
Pia story first introduced by Robin Forsey.
Not to be outdone Robin comes back with a piece on The civil war equivalents of “G. I. Joe”. While not
to everyone’s taste, collecting G.I. Joe pieces is very popular amongst younger collectors who had them when they were kids. Many will be surprised to see that 100 years before Mattel and H introduced
Barbie and G. I. Joe (Action Man for British readers), U.S. companies were marketing similar dolls in Civil War uniforms!
Bill Anderson returns with The Royal Navy – the Senior Service as represented by Britains, documenting all the sets made by this famous company to portray this important arm of the services.
A number of very interesting items have turned up in auctions and online in recent months. These are covered in part in the Reconnaissance section. However, two extremely rare finds warrant their own articles. The first, is The Britains Edwardian family. This may be only the second complete example known. The second, focuses on a piece that I have never previously had sight of, not even in a photograph. The Royal Horse Artillery gun team by Renvoize has been mentioned in various books, but as far as I am aware, never pictured. It now graces our front cover. This prompted me to think again about other British makers of gun teams. The article presented here extends earlier pieces focused
on Britains items.
No matter how long you have been involved in the hobby there are always new surprises to look
forward to!
Happy collecting.