Treasure Classifieds Forum

Over the years, I've found countless lead figurines; soldiers, animals, human figures, etc. Most were broken, but some were still whole. All however, were very cool, and, IMO, should be considered relics as much as a bullet, horseshoe or any of the myriad of other finds we make.

Lead toys/figurines were highly prized way back when, and were mostly enjoyed only by the wealthy. After finding a few when I hunted the private yard yesterday, including one type I've never seen before, I decided to do some research, which is when I stumbled upon the following website. It gives a detailed, precise history of the lead figurine market, and is an informative read. There's a link at the bottom of the article, which you need to click on to view the the article in its entirety...

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/toys/toy-soldiers

Joe

What an awesome article. Thanks for posting it.
   I have never found a lead toy soldier while detecting , it is on my bucket list.
Pat

Cool info! Collectors Weekly is a pretty good research source. I use it often!

Ed

(10-25-2016 06:35 PM)Digsit Wrote: [ -> ]What an awesome article. Thanks for posting it.
   I have never found a lead toy soldier while detecting , it is on my bucket list.
Pat

I've found a few of the soldier types, but various others, as well. To think that toys used to be made from lead is pretty frightening, but those were the times, and nobody knew what they know now. Even better...

If you find a lead toy of any type, just like a wheatie, it is a terrific indicator that there might be older coins nearby, too

(10-25-2016 06:43 PM)Ohio Dirt Fisher Wrote: [ -> ]Cool info! Collectors Weekly is a pretty good research source. I use it often!

Ed

I never heard about it before, until I was researching a piece yesterday. It is indeed a great resource.

Joe

Joe, good article thanks for sharing it.

I love the lead toys that I find. Most of the soldiers are broken but the animals that I found are very good, a Scottie dog and an Elephant with it's tusk pointing upwards - come to mind.

I actually found a lead toy today, which is terrific. Never found one like this. I'll post it after cleaning...

Joe

Well, I found yet another lead toy this past weekend. Never found this type before. Does anyone know what kind of car it is? I thought VW Beetle, as it appears similar, but I think it's a bit earlier. Love finding this kind of stuff.

Joe

Way cool, I never saw one of those before - must be some type of Alien vehicle because it's out of this world, cool find

Thanks for the information. I'll add it to the resources. Don't know what type of car, way before my time. Maybe the real old timers might know.