The Collector's Guide to Model Tin Figures

For countless generations, regiments of toy soldiers have waged imaginary war in the nursery. But only recently have the often faultless replicas been accorded by adults the attention they so richly deserve - not as relics of childhood, but as works of art. Collectors have, in the main, so far devoted themselves to the round lead soldiers often known as French "solids", rather than their forbears and cousins, the German "flats"; this book is the first detailed account in English of the skill and intricacy with which flat tin figures were, and still are, produced.

The tin figure had its origins in the workshops of the artist-craftsmen of Nuremberg in the eighteenth century. In the first half of the book, the author carefully pieces together the history of the tin figure from its inception to the present day, and places it within the wider context of model figures generally, complementing verbal description with a rich selection of illustrations. In the second part of the book he gives an account of their production - how they are engraved, cast and painted - and includes a section on the problems of collecting, whether for teaching purposes, in single pieces, or (most popular today) for dioramas and War Gaming.

The Collector's Guide to Model Tin Figures is a book which no devotee of these fascinating objects can afford to be without. It is an authoritative and invaluable guide to a medium whose high standards have gone unrecognized for far too long.

Erwin Ortmann, a journalist in Weimar, has been interested in model figures since boyhood and has written numerous articles on this subject in journals. His personal collection of model figures totals nearly 100,000 and he is a
leading member of the G.D.R. collector's association. He has also practiced every stage in the production of model figures, and has built dioramas and arranged exhibitions for museums.