Hi, evzone, this very subject came up in a thread in the Glossy Manufacturers subforum. There is a manufacturer, Historical Toy Soldiers, who has some sets depicting French and Prussians. Their website is
www.historicaltoysoldiers.com
You can take a look and decide for yourself whether they are something you'd buy.
Their figures appear to be copies of other manufacturers' figures, like Britains. The 1870 Prussians are copies of Authenticast's Prussians.
They are very much in the classic toy soldier style.
Apart from those, there isn't much out there for toy soldiers from the Franco-Prussian War. Tradition has some figures in its catalog, available as kits, Russell Gammage included some figures in his catalog, but they are currently out of production.
Classic Britains included Prussian infantry and Prussian hussars, both of which could be used for the Franco-Prussian War. Those turn up from time to time on eBay, and if you don't mind painting your own, you can get new castings from authorized Britains dealers (like London Bridge Collectors Toys, here in the Stats:
www.londonbridgetoys.com).
Also, Little Metal Men used to include sets, in the classic Britains style, of foreign regiments that Britains never made, for example, cavalry from the other German states, such as Bavaria and Saxony, and also Prussian cuirassiers. Little Metal Men is still in business, as far as I know, but they've never answered my email enquiries. Their website is
http://littlemetalmen.homestead.com/littlemetalmen.html
There is a note on that page that they will be at the Chicago show, but page may not have been updated for some time (there is still a link to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief fund, for example).
In my opinion, the painting of their figures was crude at best, especially compared to classic Britains or Mignot figures. But they included in their catalog subjects, like those foreign regiments, and an Oktoberfest scene of Bavarian civilians, that no one else has done. For me, I'd strip them and repaint them.
That's all I can come up with, off the top of my head, hope that helps!
Prost!
Brad