Dimestore soldier is a name first given by collector and author Don Pielin to American-made

toy soldier A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, Native Americans in the United States, American Indians, pirates, samu ...

s sold individually in five and dime stores from the 1930s to the 1950s before being replaced by plastic toy soldiers called army men. Though most figures were

hollowcast Permanent mold casting is a metal casting process that employs reusable molds ("permanent molds"), usually made from metal. The most common process uses gravity to fill the mold, however gas pressure or a vacuum are also used. A variation on the ...

metal,

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

and plastic dimestore figures were also made. The popularity of the toy soldier reflected public interest in wars around the world and America's own military

preparedness Preparedness is a set of actions that are taken as precautionary measures in the face of potential disasters. Being prepared helps in achieving goals and in avoiding and mitigating negative outcomes. There are different types of preparedness, su ...

of the era. The largest dimestore companies are: Barclay, Manoil, Grey Iron, and Auburn.

Rise and fall

As opposed to the standard 54mm size popularised by

Britains Britains, earlier known by the founder's name W. Britain, is a British toy brand and former manufacturing company known for its die-cast toy, die-cast scale models of agricultural machinery, and figurines. The company was established in 1893 as a ...

figures, the minimally painted dimestore figures were 3 inches/7 cm in size to correspond with the American made standard gauge toy trains of the time. Though they had made smaller sized figures previously, Barclay began their 3 inch size in 1924 with the figures made of 87% lead and 13%

antimony Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...

. The largest manufacturer of toy soldiers in the United States in the 1930s and early 1940s was the

Barclay Manufacturing Company The Barclay Manufacturing Company was an American metal toy company based in New Jersey that specialised in diecast toy cars and hollowcast toy soldiers. Due to their common availability at five and dime stores, collectors often refer to Barclay ...

.p.61 O'Brien, Richard ''Collecting American Made Toy Soldiers Edition #3'' 1997 Books Americana Prices of the soldiers were mostly kept to five cents, a

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

during this time, making them affordable to children. Other manufacturers made similar figures in mostly comparable sizes. The soldier's uniforms changed with military fashion, going from high collar to open collar and from puttees to

leggings Leggings are several types of leg attire that have varied through the years. Modern usage from the 1960s onwards has come to refer to elastic close-fitting High-rise (fashion), high-rise garments worn over the legs typically by women, such as leg ...

. In 1942 lead toy production ceased with American toy soldiers being manufactured in composition, plastic and paper. Production resumed in 1945 with moulds reconfigured to the M1 Helmet but prices rose to 10 and later 15 cents. In the early 1950s, Barclay conserved metal by designing new figures with a large "pod foot" instead of the usual base. However, the low cost of mass amounts of unpainted plastic figures, the increasing cost of the price of metal and scares of the dangers of metal toys lead to the demise of the dimestore soldier. Barclay's biggest rival the Manoil Manufacturing Co. went out of business in 1959. Barclay ceased production in 1971.

References

External links

The Barclay Company
Militaria Toy figurines Metal toys 1930s toys 1940s toys 1950s toys {{Toy-stub