"Need help identifying some toy soldiers" Topic

Here are some old toy soldiers that I do not recognize. I thought maybe Mignot. Also unknown representation. Are the US Spanish American war? The gray hats did not seem right.

Can any one give some info on these. To be sold on eBay.

Thanks much

Are they hollow cast or solid cast figures? Metal or composite? Any markings on the bottom of the base?

They could be manoil toy soldiers.

Sorry, style is wrong for manoil.

They look like Britains Armies of the world series,the first Britains came with round bases and no stamp or imprint.They had a label affixed to the underside of the base,this changed to a square/rectangular base in the early part of the last century.I do hope they are,I just got a call from my ninety year old aunt that her dear old eighty year old friend wants to get rid off her grandfathers toy soldiers.This lady is old,English and off of old royal navy stock(her nanny was a nazi spy!)incredible person,needless to say I nearly crapped my pants.I will be having a look in a week or two.I am fairly certain I've stumbled into a long hidden away collection of antique miniatures but have yet to see it!!

Sorry, I can't make out much uniform detail … Horse rider top left is wearing a kepi, "soldier" top left below that rider appears to have a US flag. Any chance these could be mixed up Confederates?

Are they different sizes or is it just camera angle?

"They look like Britains Armies of the world series,the first Britains came with round bases and no stamp or imprint."

Indeed they do.

The rifle arm on Britains' figures swivelled on a spiggot: do these? The green paint on the base doesn't seem to be the usual shade Britains used (of course, they could have been repainted). And there seem to be two or three riders with spiggots between their legs to fit them onto horses. I don't think this was a Britains pre-Second World War practice, where most of their cavalry were one-piece castings -except for a spiggot arm. And Britains' horses didn't come with bases, unless rearing on two legs.

All-in-all they don't look like Britains to me.

Thanks for the good input. I do not think they are Britains, as the horses are not to scale with foot and all the other reasons mentioned. Detachable riders. I have early 1900 Britains and they do not look like this. Metal but I will have to check if hollow. There are two different sizes. The "kepi" is a broken hat. Here is a close up of face which leads me to the Mignot theory. I do not know about the horse man ratio for those, however. And the two sizes. Not movable arms

If it is solid, the figure in the close-up could be a Hyde (I think?), judging by the shape of the feet -or lack of them. The uniform looks like a representation of Imperial German troops in SW Africa, late C19th.

Here is my GUESS based upon below: Heyde

Note the following:
1. Infantry are stepping off with the right foot. (Almost everyone else made them stepping off on the left foot.)

2. The Cavalry have bases. (Britians of the time did not have bases- Hyde did. Photo on page 80 of the World Encyclopedia of Model Soldiers (John G. Garratt) show typical examples.

3. Infanty arms are "fixed" (ie, not like the later Britians).

4. Small and stubby feet on the infantry.

5. Heyde and Mignot featured plug in heads. Those pictures look like they could have such. Therefore, Mignot is a second possibility. Again, check carefully for steppihng off with the right foot.

While not a positive match in any of the books I have (5), it at least narrows down the search due to item 1 , above. There must have been over 300 makers in Europe, but very little in terms of a definate "Whoa…That's it!" pictures to go by unless you have been a Pro for years.

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Tom Dye

Heyde
This is it. Thanks Tom and drusty. As I only collect Britains and SAE and have a couple sets of Mignot, I did not think further. I checked the Garratt book I have, "Model Soldiers" and found good confirmation. Then found a color picture of Heyde WW1 US troops in Toy Soldiers, by Peter Johnson that was almost identical to those in my picture. Small cavalry and larger infantry, and same color bases and style of weapon. These had mountie hats. I am sure the ones I show are SAW figs with gray hats.

Big thanks to all who helped. I think my friend will get a good deal for these on eBAY.

You're welcome, Bob. Glad you found them and thanks for confirming my suspicions.

Tom Dye

I was looking in my Toy Soldiers book by Richard O'Brien and on page 399 (Heyde) in the upper left corner they have a small b/w photo which looks just like your marching figure and you can even make out the black buttons. Yes, I think it is a Heyde and they are a standard 2" (48mm) and some at 1 3/4" in solid cast metal. They list it as a Boer. Only a photo of the marching soldier is shown.

377CGS Thanks for confirmation. In a pic I did not post there is a figure with US stars and stripes, so not Boers.