What age is appropriate? (2 Viewers)

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Old Guard

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I had a holiday party last night with some friends over and they looked at my K&C Santa’s that I have. A couple of my friends were really impressed by them and asked to see more of my collection which of course I was happy to show off.

After being even more impressed by my DAK soldiers my friends mentioned that their boys were interested in WWII and wondered if they might like to start collecting K&C. My friends recognize that these are not toys but are made for display. They asked at what age it would be appropriate for their boys to start buying some or getting them at gifts.

Well I have to admit I was stumped by their question. I started collecting when I was an adult and my two year old daughter has so far shown no inclination to start collecting anything but hugs and kisses. So can anyone out there give an idea of what the recommended age is for K&C toy soldiers. I would love to help a couple of young potential collectors start on the road of toy soldier happiness, or is it madness.

Thanks,
Old Guard
 
Great Question. Suggest you ask Scott - Arnhem44mad - what do you think - what about other young collectors?
 
I'm 14 and started collecting when I was 8 but I always loved history as a young child. I have to say when I was 8 I did not have that much respect for them and I always broke one or two.
 
mitch292 said:
I'm 14 and started collecting when I was 8 but I always loved history as a young child. I have to say when I was 8 I did not have that much respect for them and I always broke one or two.
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Good for you, thanks for the reply, at least you now have time to build a collection like Louis' ;)
 
I doubt there's any among us who haven't done that. When I move figures now, I put a blanket or comforter on the floor, just in case they fall.
 
I say any child who appreciates them is not too young. Remember, toy soldiers were originally intended to be children's toys. I remember wanting them desperately as a kid, and building plastic models and buying unpainted casting and painting them myself instead because painted metal toy soldiers were just too expensive.
 
Old Guard,

I began collecting toy soldiers when I was seven or eight years of age. Based on my childhood experience, I might suggest the following.

Purchase some inexpensive plastic toy soldiers for him/her that are clearly intended for play purchases. Then, on other occasions, provide him/her with a set of collector figures with instructions that the collector figures are for display only due to their value. In this manner, a nice collection can be built while also having figures with which to satisfy the need to play.

During my childhood, I played with Marx figures and dimestores. My collector figures were only displayed. Many of my collector sets were never removed from their boxes. Consequently, I still have many collector figures/sets (Britains, Crescents, JoHillCo, etc.) that are still tied to the original tie cards in their original boxes, which are nice items to own today.

I know the above approach will not work for every child. However, as an adult, I am glad my parents took this approach as it successfully worked for me.

Warmest personal regards,

Pat
 
I got my first King and Country sets when I was 7!!!!:D they were brilliant!!!!:D It was then I knew I should be a collector forever ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..........:D

My friends found out about my figures this year and were amazed!!!!:D They wanted to know where I got them and what other kinds there were. My friend Kyle liked the Crusaders ans Sarcarens and my friend Stuart liked the Iwo Jima range!!!!!!:D
 
Great question; in my opinion, it depends entirely on the child.

About five years ago, I was at a show in New Jersey and a woman with her young son (he was about 10 or 11 at the time) were looking at all the figures and buildings on my tables and were chatting and pointing at various things. I let them mull things over and asked if I could be of assistance and they proceeded to pick out about 900.00 worth of goods.

I felt bad assuming (you know what happens when we do that) they had no clue of what the prices were and I sheepishly told her how much all of the items he wanted were to cost to which she replied "No problem, he loves these soldiers and has been collecting them for two or three years. I had a similiar situation at the Hasbrouk Heights show in December when a father and his young son bought numerous Normandy type displays from me and the father told me his son knows quite a bit about the Normandy campaign, which I thought was absolutely terrific and a nice thing to see.

Long story short, he is now a teenager and regularly buys loads of K & C at all of the New Jersey shows. Point of the story is he fully appreciated the figures and was very careful when handling them even at age 10, so it all depends on the child as I said earlier...............
 
If you really think about it, there are probably more kids you can think of that you would trust handling your collection than there are so-called adults.;)

Fred
 
I guess I was about or 8 or 9 when I started
I had plastics [boxes and boxes of airfix ho scale given to me in scotland by a family friend] for playing with,

Britains deetail I gradualy built up a collection of and admitedly they would get blown up with double happys come guy fawkes time:) .But where also displayed in between.

And occasionaly ,I would get britains metal sets that where stricly for display.
Because I paid for a fair few of them myself I was never tempted to send
them off to war;) .
 
In my humble opinion there is no age. It has to do with the fact that the individual is ready to leave them in a case and not play with them. Until that ich is gone, don't waste your money! Ull end up breaking them. I for one still haven't loss the ich! :D
 
I think that it is a unique situation for each unique individual. My 7-year old grandson has been around my hobby since he was born. He has had the "getting in trouble" times when he was caught playing with Bap Pa's toys without permission; but, he is now able to touch with an understanding that care is the watch-word.

This past week, while he has been visiting with me, I put my John Jenkins French and Indian War figures on the sofa table so that he could "play" with them. He would gently move each around with the greatest care so as not to drop or due harm. When one of them "died" he would not knock it over or lay it down, he would simply move it off to the side (sort-of-like moving a chess player off the board). He understands the beauty and delicate nature of them and is very appreciative that he gets a chance to handle them without me hovering over him. I do this because I trust him. He has plastic soldiers that he plays with every day, but Bap Pa's are very different and he values his time with them as much as I value my time with him.
 
I had asked Joan Smith, our manager at Kings X about this, and she agreed with Pat, saying that it all depends on the child. She has set up wish lists for the boys that collect though her so that relatives can add to their collections without duplicating. Her sales to people who are buying for young collectors are quite significant, but I will tell you that these boys (and her entire list of young collectors is male, apparently) have been "trained" to appreciate these items and handle them with care.
She thinks the ideal age is usually 8 to 10, depending on the child, and that the parent or gift-giver needs to understand that a little gentle wear and tear means that the child truly understands the story behind the soldiers, and that he values and enjoys them.
IF the gift-giver cannot stomach the idea that the soldiers WILL get played with, even gently, that may be because the hobby is not a good fit for that particular child, OR because the giver is not understanding that it is a child's "job" to learn through playing.

:) In my observation, even grown men "play" with their soldiers!
 
I totally agree with the thought each child is different.

and

Yes, I play with my guys too...;) ;)
 
Old Guard said:
I had a holiday party last night with some friends over and they looked at my K&C Santa’s that I have. A couple of my friends were really impressed by them and asked to see more of my collection which of course I was happy to show off.

After being even more impressed by my DAK soldiers my friends mentioned that their boys were interested in WWII and wondered if they might like to start collecting K&C. My friends recognize that these are not toys but are made for display. They asked at what age it would be appropriate for their boys to start buying some or getting them at gifts.

Well I have to admit I was stumped by their question. I started collecting when I was an adult and my two year old daughter has so far shown no inclination to start collecting anything but hugs and kisses. So can anyone out there give an idea of what the recommended age is for K&C toy soldiers. I would love to help a couple of young potential collectors start on the road of toy soldier happiness, or is it madness.

Thanks,
Old Guard
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To be honest, I am very young myself (hehe) so I would suggest to see if the kiddies are mature enough to collect K&C, because spending a Hundred or so dollers and have the kidds think they are toys and make them fall and brake, which is money wasted so make sure they are mature, age doesn't matter, maturity is the key..
 
I like the idea of starting kids off with plastics. Give them something to start with. The one thing I really hate is to hear parents yelling, "Billy, don't touch!"
I can understand it . I just hate to hear it:mad:
 
KV

I agree with you - Kids should be in the plastics first - really like all of us were at one time.

Ron
 
Hi Guys,

Lots of good points here.

I think that the kids who are around the hobby like mine are know that they cant mess with dads stuff. However my nephew is a problem in this area. He is a preteen and still does get the idea of keeping his paws off of things that arent his or his folks. I nearly throttled him when I caught him in my wifes curio of crystal and American Indian Pottery. So whenever he is visiting (which isnt often) he is watched like a hawk.

But I think its good to give the little kids plastic or if you are a caster metal ones they can bash around in the yard with. Because as a kid I made a bunch of lead ones and bought a small fortune in Green, Tan Blue and Blue Grey soldiers and tanks so I think every kid should be able to do the same so they will get the bashing and playing out of their systems and can in the future become collectors.

All the best

Dave
 
I think you should start kids like I was started, with models. You teach them to build and paint the models, the children put some effort into it, and learn to appreciate and care for the models they build. Once you see they respect the models, get them started on unpainted lead figures. They put effort and skill into painting these, and again they develop respect and appreciation. Once they properly care for these, now they are ready for expensive painted lead figures.
 
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