Age of Collectors Poll (2 Viewers)

[ucla1967]

Looking at the results, the rough peak is about 55 years old. Which meant they were ten in 1963. I was 5 but remember seeing The Longest Day, The Great Escape, etc. That was also about the height of plastic soldiers & playsets, so I am surprised so many collect metal figures. I had thought most metal collectors were older and had those as a kid. Unless metal figures were still made then, and I just didn't know it. It seems now, that most just moved on from plastic to metal. I stayed with plastic, for different reasons I suppose, but I think the most important was that I was introduced to the Britains Swoppets, Herald and Timpo at 10.

I grew up in the 1940s and 50s with Marx plastic sets from the Sears Christmas catalog. I only had one set of 54mm metal Gordon Highlanders plus a bunch of 30mm SAE metal figures. When I started collecting about 15 years ago, I had no real interest in plastic maybe because of the cheap bags of plastic "little army men" from Hong Kong that were so prevalent in the 1950s and 60s.

 

[jac28]

Looking at the results, the rough peak is about 55 years old. Which meant they were ten in 1963. I was 5 but remember seeing The Longest Day, The Great Escape, etc. That was also about the height of plastic soldiers & playsets, so I am surprised so many collect metal figures. I had thought most metal collectors were older and had those as a kid. Unless metal figures were still made then, and I just didn't know it. It seems now, that most just moved on from plastic to metal. I stayed with plastic, for different reasons I suppose, but I think the most important was that I was introduced to the Britains Swoppets, Herald and Timpo at 10.

I was 9 in 1963 and like many, grew up with Marx playsets under my Christmas tree for many years. My brother is 3 - 1/2 yrs older than me - and he started getting Marx playsets a couple of years before me. We both still favor plastic soldiers.... I have only 1 metal figure, while my brother does have a few K & C WWII pieces, etc.- but his main focus is still WWII plastic. I would agree that most participants on this forum have moved into metals but there remains a large group of collectors who primarily (or exclusively) collect plastic. It's all great fun.. even though I don't collect metal I still appreciate them..

Jim

 

[Captain]

I'm 49 for a couple more months. I just got into the hobbie. Of course I loved toy soldiers when I was a kid. I had the usual playsets but my favorites were 1/72 acw. In the last few years I began buying them again (not knowing exactly why) when ever I came across them. The last few months I broke them out and began painting them and building dios. A great hobbie that I am really enjoying. I bought a few metal figures but really prefer the stuff that I paint myslef. It is much more gratifying to me to look at them and think that "I did that". Great hobby, wish I had started long ago when I could see better.

 

[theBaron]

"As old as the tip of my tongue, and a little bit older than my teeth"

 

[mk26gmls]

I am 37 years old and will hit 38 this December. I am still young at heart though!

 

[Spitfrnd]

...and had toy soldiers for my birthday. Fallschirmjagers!

...

Funny thing, so did I. I was young when I was flying in that strange SEA War.

 

[Deitz]

I am 45 but still in my infancy in collecting. Too much to collect and so little time and money.

 

[Cardigan600]

Yo Troopers, dont think age has really anything to do with what you collect, I think its just something that happens that thing that takes your imagination at a certain time. I always have collected something over the years, its either in you or not. Did not start collecting Toy Soldiers until November 2007 and its was the Charge of The Light Brigade that has always held a fasination for me, so thats how I got into Toy Sodiers. To Make a point about age, in 2002 before I moved over to Ireland a mate of mine at work Billy asked me one day, could he borrow some of my Elvis books with the King in his Vegas costumes, was really surprised because Billy was not an Elvis fan, so I asked why he wanted them, reply my lad is going to a fancy dress and wants to go as Elvis so I have to make him a costume, Billy's lad was only 10 years old, yet Elvis had passed on 25 years ago yet he had fired this young lads imagination after all those years amazing. By the way he won the fancy dress competion. "The King Lives On".
Bernard.

 

[Harrytheheid]

Yo Troopers, dont think age has really anything to do with what you collect, I think its just something that happens that thing that takes your imagination at a certain time. I always have collected something over the years, its either in you or not. Did not start collecting Toy Soldiers until November 2007 and its was the Charge of The Light Brigade that has always held a fasination for me, so thats how I got into Toy Sodiers. To Make a point about age, in 2002 before I moved over to Ireland a mate of mine at work Billy asked me one day, could he borrow some of my Elvis books with the King in his Vegas costumes, was really surprised because Billy was not an Elvis fan, so I asked why he wanted them, reply my lad is going to a fancy dress and wants to go as Elvis so I have to make him a costume, Billy's lad was only 10 years old, yet Elvis had passed on 25 years ago yet he had fired this young lads imagination after all those years amazing. By the way he won the fancy dress competion. "The King Lives On".
Bernard.

Aye, no offence, but Elvis really was The King.
No offence intended towards Crowned Heads anywhere.

Cheers
H