Hi, Old Dragon!
I must credit those who have been in the hobby far longer than I have, with collecting information like this and putting it out there for our reference. That goes for collectors, and for the dealers, too. That's another benefit of getting to the shows, to meet and talk to other people in the hobby. Though the Internet (like this forum
) certainly makes it easy for us to talk and swap stories, too.
For German compostion figures, there are a number of books out there; the one I'm trying to remember right now escapes me, but when I get home tonight, I can get it and post it to this thread.
For general toy soldier info, Richard O'Brien's "Collecting Toy Soldiers" is a great overall reference. It went through four editions, the first two covering toy soldiers from all over the world, both old and newer makers, and then the third and fourth editions were for American-made and foreign-made (from our perspective) figures. However, since they came out in the mid-80s, they miss the emergence of K&C, Frontline, East of India. Those makers are listed in the books, but their heyday was yet to come. (As an aside, that's why Louis' book needs to get published. Any book on K&C, whatever the style and format, will fill a void.)
Another good reference is John Garratt's "World Encyclopedia of Toy Soldiers" (I think I've got the title correct). It has small articles on a great number of manufacturers, though it, too, was written around 1980, so it missed everything since. And, Garrett had a tendency to editorialize about some subjects. Still, I use it a lot for reference.
Anyway, this is part of the fun of the hobby, tracking down info, building a reference library, both on the shelf and in your head. And you make a really great point-it's the contributions of everyone here that make this a wonderful forum.
Prosit!
Bradley
