Richard Schuster Collection (3 Viewers)

jazzeum

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On Saturday, Ed Curiel and I had the good fortune to go over to Rich Schuster's house to see his collection. Rich is better known here as Nysoldiers. This is one of the finest collections you'll ever see. Represented in his collection are all the principal makers, Britains, King & Country, Trophy, John Jenkins, First Legion, Ted Toys and many others.

First off, Rich and his family have a beautiful house, very spacious, very open. The large room where he houses his collection was intended to be a pool room, entertainment room but very large. When you first walk in the first thing you see is this huge mat which currently has some Britains American Civil War figures on it. The first photo is as you walk in and the second looking out.

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Right below the table there are many rare K & C collectibles, including a winter Sherman tank of which only 10 were made. I know that Louis has one of these and Larry may too.

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Here are some other views of his collection.

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Some of the many K & C tanks.
 
One of the reason Rich invited us over was to show me the Trophy American Civil War and the Union caisson that Rich thought I might like to purchase. Here are some views of his Trophy ACW collection.

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Here are more photos of other parts of his collection. I will leave it up to him to identify makers.

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Last few photos.

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Before we left Rich asked me if I would like to purchase some loose Trophy ACW singles that he had in his basement. Rich took us down to his basement where he said he had his "extras," which is not just any basement like most of us have. He took us into one room where he has his extras. This room was the size of a room we'd all like to have for our collection.

The room is very well organized. When you walk in there's metal shelves on the left where the empty boxes are neatly kept. On the right were several bins (more than 10 I'm guessing) where he kept his extras. One bin had many, many FOV vehicles. We then got to the Trophy ACW bin (I'm guessing he has bins for each maker, by range). Inside were about 40 or so extras. Forgot to take the camera down there (sorry about that) but it was impressive to say the least.

This is one of the best collections I've ever seen. I hope to go back in a few weeks so I will take some more photos but I think you've gotten a glimpse into the size and breadth of his collection.
 
Brad,

Thanks very much for posting the photographs of the Richard Schuster collection. He is very fortunate to have the space for an awesome collection which includes some hard to find Trophy sets. This correlates with the forum poll on "Collection Size" with "NY soldiers" listed as having in excess of 20,000 figures. He must have one of the largest collections of toy soldiers there is.

Raymond.:)
 
Which make are those English Civil War sets? It would be nice to see a new range of these in gloss. ^&cool
 
What an outstanding collection! Many thanks for the photos.

Paulo
 
Looks like the secret's out. ;)

I remember last year at the Symposium that Louis told me "Richard has a collection I am envious of" and I recall that Richard had Richard Walker (and I believe Ken Osen went as well) over to look at his collection and Richard seemed to have this shellshock/ sensory overload look about him when he returned for dinner. :) So, that gave me the impression it was a sight to behold. I have only seen pictures but it does appear to be quite cared for.

I have tried to feed Richard somes leads on some sets he has looked for recently so I'd like to think I have helped feed that collection to some very minute extent. {sm4}
 
Rich has one of the greatest collections I have ever had the good fortune to see. It is among the largest, most diverse, most well organized and most attractively displayed collections out there. I would estimate that of his more than 20,000 figures, he has north of 12,000 on display in that very attractive room. To give you a comparison, I have a little more than 5,000 figures on display. By the way, his lovely wife Madeline, who joins us at the Symposium, is also a very gracious host and an excellent cook, so there are other benefits to be invited to view Rich's collection.:smile2:
 
Which make are those English Civil War sets? It would be nice to see a new range of these in gloss. ^&cool
Same question I was going to ask. The ECW look fantastic. The whole collection is massively impressive. I was also wondering if the Jacobite figures were by Tradition? -- Al
 
Brad, thanks for letting us have a peek at a most impressive collection.
 
Looks like the secret's out. ;)

I remember last year at the Symposium that Louis told me "Richard has a collection I am envious of" and I recall that Richard had Richard Walker (and I believe Ken Osen went as well) over to look at his collection and Richard seemed to have this shellshock/ sensory overload look about him when he returned for dinner. :) So, that gave me the impression it was a sight to behold. I have only seen pictures but it does appear to be quite cared for.

I have tried to feed Richard somes leads on some sets he has looked for recently so I'd like to think I have helped feed that collection to some very minute extent. {sm4}

Before I went over there I had mentioned to Ken that I was going over there and he had just that look in his eye that "boy, are you in for a treat."
 
Brad,

Thanks for sharing the photos of Richard's collection. It is spectacular. Bob Walker's in California (see my thread "Bob Walker 5th Annual Open House" under dioramas) is the only other collection I am aware of that is in the same league.
 
Mike,

I would love to see Bob Walker's collection when I get there out again. I'm sure it's something else.

I'm hoping to take some more photos of Rich's collection soon.

Brad
 
Thank you for posting those pictures. It is an outstanding collection.
I have now thanks to the forum made virtual tours of the Badalato, Schuster, Walker and Allison collections.
They are all very impressive.
 
Mike,

I would love to see Bob Walker's collection when I get there out again. I'm sure it's something else.

I'm hoping to take some more photos of Rich's collection soon.

Brad

Brad,

You know that you have an open invitation to do so. When I get a chance, I will start a new thread on his collection located in his childhood home. Although smaller (about 3,000 figures), it is also artfully displayed with militaria and photos/prints and features Imperial German, Austrian, and Russian sets among others.
 
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Some of the many K & C tanks.

If someone could identify the maker of that building I would be much obliged (looks like in the bigger picture there was another one close to it). i think those would look magnificent with my modern troopers. Looks a little like the TSSD stuff I have seen in the past???? ^&confuse

Thanks
CC
 

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