Those metal figures, usually silver, produced in France during the 1600s, were
at any rate a pastime for the few, and the popular diffusion of them took place
only in the 18th century, thanks in particular to two factors: the
use of lead for the production of house ornaments, and the rise of the national
armies.It is important to note that, besides for the valuable products in precious metals, between 1670 and 1671
we
also find many examples of paper
soldiers, which were later destroyed,
presumably during the Revolution. The paper solider survives until 1925, the
year of its final disappearance. It had always been, at any rate, the ‘poor
relation’ of the metal model, even though the exemplars we still have nowadays
prove that it could be aesthetically pleasing.The production of toy soldiers in the modern sense of the term begins towards the middle of the 18th century. A German metallurgist from Nuremberg, Johann Gottfield Hilpert, begins the production in large scale of figures, whose primary destination was play. Quickly, many others would join him in the enterprise.
These
models, commonly called ‘Nuremberg’, bidimensional, made of lead, soon
received standard dimensions. The producers agreed on the height of the
infantry-men, 30 millimeter, while the chivalry-men were 40 millimeter tall.
These figures measure the distance between feet and head, excluding the pedestal
and the hat. These measurement criteria are still in use today.The natural evolution of metallic figures resulted in the development of models more and more similar to actual instances. After an initial production of flat models, still in Nuremberg, tridimensional exemplars were introduced and developed by Lucotte in Paris in 1789,
and
later produced by the French establishment C.B.G, starting in 1858.The flat figures were usually produced from the same molds used for their precursors, but were modified with new incisions. In particular, these alterations produced remarkable reproductions of horses, which nevertheless maintained the original position of the legs.
Lucotte’s activity is responsible for a marked increase in quality. His figures, the so-called ‘ronde bosse’, were aesthetically more pleasing, and were produced with an alloy similar to the one used for typographical purposes.
Shops and workshops begun developing in various European countries, and the production became more differentiated, in relation to the different geographical traditions, and to the military events of the time.
After 1890, the British William Britain begun the production of toy soldiers for his own
national
market. Three years later, he discovered a technique for the production of
hollow figures, which required a lesser quantity of alloy and hence reduced the
costs of production. These figures measured 54, a size which became standard for
the competition as well, and which has now become the typical size for toy
soldiers.Between the two Wars, due to a large extent to the horrors associated to the events of World War I, model soldiers experienced a declining phase. The dictatorial governments
in
Germany and Italy, however, promoted toy soldiers as a valid educational model,
which could shape the youngest minds in the desired direction.Due to the stance taken by these governments, the production increased during the 30’s. Metallic alloys, which had by then become increasingly rare, were by and large replaced by materials such as wood, flour, and glue. The main producers of what would be known as ‘pasta soldiers’ were inevitably Germans and Italians.
The most recent addition to the list of materials employed for the
production
of toy soldiers consisted in plastic materials. Producers of metal models, as
well as those who, at the beginning of the century, operated with composite
substances, soon converted to the new material.From the 1973 in the british market are produced the new toy soldiers in traditional style and up to the present exist many manufactures in all world.
Nowadays, production is extremely varied with respect to materials, dimensions, topics, and style. The newest models are the expression of the renewed interest for this form of collectionism, one which seems to evolve on a daily basis, and which may eventually be contained only by the very limits of creativity and fantasy.