Since the advent of fully-round, solid-cast figures in France in the 1780s (or so), there have been hundreds of smaller makers who have come and gone, and a couple of larger companies that made the majority of the figures sold at any given time. At the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries, think Britain, Heyde and Mignot as the giants, followed by smaller companies.
Fast-forward to the 20's and 30's. You still had Britain, Mignot, and Heyde, but there were some American makers emerging, pioneering a unique American style, the dimestore figure. And makers like Manoil and Barclay had a score of smaller makers operating in their shadows.
Fast-forward another 10 years, to the immediate post-WWII period. Heyde was gone, as were most of the smaller German makers, bombed out during the war. So were many of the smaller American makers. Britain still dominated the market, but that market was evolving, as plastic became more common as a material. Bergen Toys (Beton) here in the states was a good example of a manufacturer who took advantage of the new medium.
But at that same time, there was another generation of small makers emerging. Many were really hobbyists and artists at the same time, who pursued a more detailed figure than what was available on the market. Imrie, Risley, and Jack Scheid here in the States, and Charles Stadden and Russell Gammage in the UK, were all starting to develop what would lead ultimately to the conoisseur figures of today. But smaller makers came and went, many no larger than cottage or garage industries, casting and painting small numbers of figures, sold in the various shops some of us remember, or as often as not, through the mail. Sometimes they went out of business, only to start up again, with a new business name at another time.
Meanwhile, along with plastic production in Hong Kong, metal figures were coming out of China (eg, King-White). Britain had finally ended its hollowcast line, and metal toy soldiers reached a nadir, compared to their popularity in the first half of the century.
Then we had the collectors figure develop, and we're up to the late '70s and the '80s. And in that time, we still have a couple of larger companies, in terms of their volume, who represent a majority of market share, with a larger number of smaller makers, who have lower production, and lower sales numbers, and who go out of business more frequently.
I see it as cyclical, with some rhythms repeating in terms of decades. And I think that in terms of the quality and variety of what is available to the collector, and especially considering the diversity of the collectorship today, from guys who just buy commercially-made finished figures, to those of us who buy figures, bash 'em and paint them, I do think this is a golden age for toy soldiers.
If things are rough in China, just wait-India is poised for an explosion of growth, and the cost of skilled labor might be cheaper there, in the near future, than it is becoming in China.
Prost, beianand!
Brad
