Unknown Lead Soldiers (1 Viewer)

[Clutch Cargo]

Hello, I recently acquired alot of lead soldiers, cannons, cavalry etc..

They are not painted and not marked and look to be solid. I have attached some pictures.

Does anyone have any ideas as to the maker and how old they could be?

Thank You.

 

[theBaron]

All German, that is, they all come from molds made by German firms, originally, for homecasters.

The field piece looks like a Schneider, the Roman is by a company called Ideal ("Ee-day-all", in German, but it means the same thing).

The knight may also be by Ideal, too. They had a good number of Ancients and Medieval Knights in their catalog. He's missing the top of his head, though. There should be a plume atop his helmet.

The field piece looks like a short-shot, that the melted metal did not fill the mold completely.

They all look like homecasts of a poorer quality, with a relatively higher lead content, making for a soft casting, with soft details.

As to age, very difficult to tell, because the molds exist and so many people have them. Also, depending on the alloy used, and how they were kept (in a box in a garage, in the flowerbeds, etc), two figures from the same batch could look very different, after a time.

If you paint, I recommend painting them up and having fun.

Thanks for sharing your find with us, prost!
Brad

 

[Clutch Cargo]

Thank you very much. So if I am understanding correctly, these are from German companies like Schneider and Ideal that sold molds to primarily home casters.....so homecast made with German molds?

 

[DMNamiot]

Yes that is correct

 

[theBaron]

The Schneider molds were sold here in the US, as well as in Germany and the rest of Europe. The most widely-known seller here was a gentleman named Henry Sachs, who put out a mail-order catalog of Schneider and other German molds, in the first decades of the last century. But the molds were also copied by other mold makers and sold as their own. The Rappaport Brothers, who later produced the Junior Caster line (or Home Foundry--I'm spacing which), had some Schneider figures in their early catalogs, before they hit their stride and started producing really good subjects. But regardless of the actual molds, the castings are referred to as "Schneider" figures, for a little more precision than "homecast".

Some enterprising folks bought the molds, cast and painted the figures, and then packaged them and sold them under their own home-made labels, too.

I've got a small collection of molds, some original Schneider molds, and others are reproductions made in a zinc alloy, after the war. It's fun to cast with them, and the figures have a charm to them.

Prost!
Brad