How miniature armies become treasure trove
In 1977 actor Douglas Fairbanks sold a 3,000-piece collection of toy soldiers at auction house Phillips for US$16,000. In 1984, London surgeon John Hanington's collection went for US$300,000, much of it bought by the late Malcolm Forbes of the Forbes publishing family.
These two high-profile auctions are behind the boom in toy soldier collecting, according to the Toy Soldier Review, and are credited with turning an old-time hobby into a bona fide collectible with investment potential.
Many collectors stick to older military figurines, led by producers who are still creating traditional favourites from the 18th and 19th century. Well-preserved pieces for which there is more demand than supply can fetch handsome prices at auction.
Andy Neilson, managing director of Hong Kong-based King & Country, has a different approach. The company began production in 1984 and is now the world's biggest independently owned toy soldier producer.
'In the early days we followed the well-worn path that most of our competitors were on. Back in those years, we could see that our competitors in Europe and America seemed to be stuck in an historical time-warp. For some of our bigger competitors, subjects like Vietnam are too controversial. But we have always believed that you can't ignore history because you may disagree with certain aspects of it,' he said.
King & Country, which produces hand-painted white-metal miniatures at several factories in China, was the first toy soldier producer to create figures from the Vietnam War. The company has produced a World War II line, which caused some controversy for the inclusion of Nazi figures, and a range from the first Gulf war.
'Then we did Afghanistan last year and that was just humongous. The interest was just incredible. We couldn't keep up with the demand,' Mr Neilson said.
The range includes a seated figure of Osama Bin Laden sipping a cup of tea with an AK-47 cradled in his arm.
King & Country is about to launch a new series of military miniatures and fighting vehicles depicting both sides of the present conflict in the Gulf, including coalition marines and the Republican Guard. Mr Neilson strives to make the figures as realistic as possible, giving video footage, DVDs and other images to his team of sculptors.
'We pride ourselves on doing a lot of research. We have a lot of guys in the military that are collectors and if we get something wrong, we get letters. Quite a few of our collectors are in the Gulf at the moment.'
Bill Moor, a toy soldier dealer in Chicago who stocks only King & Country, said the public 'just went ballistic' when the Afghanistan range was unveiled at a Kentucky fair. King & Country is sold in 19 states in the US, the biggest collector market.
'This is almost like a re-creation of what was happening with the hobby of collecting William Britain's figures, which started production in 1892 at the height of Queen Victoria's reign. Any time there was a war anywhere in the British Empire, William Britain's would have the sets out 60-90 days after the event,' Mr Moor said.
Whether these depictions of contemporary conflict will prove to be significant investments in future, as early William Britain's figures have done, remains to be seen. They are limited edition as the moulds from which they are cast perish after about 1,000 sets.
King & Country pieces regularly crop up on eBay, and earlier, limited-quantity pieces have appreciated strongly. A 1986 set of Royal Marines on parade from the Malcolm Forbes collection sold at Christie's for more than seven times its original price.
