Date and maker - Unknown.
Who didn't have army men growing up? I can remember my earliest days of walking into the kitchen and seeing a hundred army men on every surface as a birth day gift in our small Boston apartment from my dad, to my Grand Father giving me a jar of larger plastic army men when I was six. I loved army men, My dad and I would set hundreds up and battle by chucking pillows at each others forces. Thousands of green army men every where. I eventually grew and got in to joes and traded buckets full of these unmovable soldiers to a kid in my neighbor hood for GI Joes, 300 plastic army men a Joe. I thought it was a steal and army built crimson guards for my self. Eventually I came across plastic troops again in my life, and sold them off, there are still probably hundreds in the dirt of my old house near the projects in Boston laying under the earth possibly never to be found from wars I and the neighbor hood kids would have. I still have a few revolutionary army men which I will cover at a later date but for now I will cover five Metallic army men I have. The predecessor of all army toys, These baby's are old, I know that much other than that, I know nothing about their origins.
I was told that in the 50's and 60's there were company's and back yard makers who would create molds, melt lead or metal and make army men. Are these from some company or some dad who got creative one day? I'll never know. But I first laid eyes on these troops at a back woods antique shop in the state of Georgia. I really liked em, but didn't have enough cash to get them, Yet Stacey knowing I wanted them bought them while I wasn't looking and knowing it was my birth day set them up like my dad had done when I was a child in her parents kitchen, and promptly called me in to surprise me. I was psyched, and here today I display them for you all to see. Notice the first two troops, both painted differently. But none the less are cool, it looks like the first is in its original paint and the second some ambitious child got a hold of with paint, the next two are obviously Gerrys, while the last was converted by the same kid into a MP. again, there are no markings, or dates. so I have no idea where the hell they came from, so if any one has clues let me know!
3 comments:
The men you have are common in most dealers lots, mass produced, but yet collectable i my self have the ones you are showing. Like you said many molds were produced and the more valuable ones are the british soldiers. There are box sets of many diffrent kinds of metal men. I would just hold on to these for your personal collection.
Awesome, Thanks for the info!!!!
I have a Metal British gaurd from when I was 4.
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