When I was a young boy, I was like many my age and played with toy soldiers. I remember the armies attacking each other and chipping the paint off a lot of them. My mother took me into Manhattan every Christmas to see all the toys at Macy’s, and the ones that fascinated me the most were the toy soldiers. I only wish I saved them all from my childhood. As I grew older and began painting military miniatures, I attended many figure shows and was totally in awe at the collections of toy armies displayed, but I had no idea of the value of them.

Pen and Sword has seen fit to publish the definitive book on collecting toy soldiers in the 21st Century, authored by James Opie. This gentleman has done a great deal of research in not only the collecting of toy soldiers, but also the history of them. Mr. Opie has discussed at length why we collect and how the toy soldier has evolved. Since the book deals with the 21st century, he has a chapter on collecting over the internet. Of interest to the collector is how to identify and the condition of the soldiers. Mr. Opie talks about shaping and displaying your collection and having fun with your collection. Of major interest to the serious collector are the chapters on buying and selling to your best advantage and price trends and predictions.

I would like to mention that this book is a large format book printed on beautiful heavy glossy paper stock. The photography of the toy soldiers and collections is superb and extensive.

I would recommend this terrific book to all toy soldier collectors and those interested in military miniatures in general. This is the definitive book on the subject of toy soldiers.

I wish to thank Steve Collins and Pen and Sword for giving me this fine book to review. I know I’ll have many enjoyable hours reading through it.