For people adoring playing and collecting toy soldiers (Elastolin, Lineol, Durso, Britains, Marx, Timpo, Starlux and many others). I am presenting images of vintage toy soldiers as a historical curiosity without endorsement of any political ideology and propaganda of war.
May I ask your opinion concerning tinplate guns? I recently picked up two, both the same. They appear to be pea-firing, and the mechanism includes a sloping box fixed to the top of the gun trails, which can hook on to the pulled-back spring, and provides a method to release when wishing to fire. Do you think they are genuine 1930s, I have seen others with more modern wheels which are post 1945. One seller has claimed they are Hausser Lineol, but I have seen the same firing mechanism on others produced by IDEAL and one apparently marked Made in England. One of mine is marked made in Germany. Interested in your opinion.
ReplyDeleteMichael (Wargaming with 54mm......)
Hi there. It would be great to see the photos. Best regards, PG
DeleteHi PG, I thought it a bit rude to put a link to my blog, but I have put some photos up there. If I may, they are on 'Wargaming with 54mm Toy Soldiers'. Thank you.
DeleteMichael
No worries. I think these two first cannons “Erbsenkanone” with tinplate wheels were produced in Germany in 30s/40s probably by Ideal (penny toys maker). On the other photos I can see the pre-war camouflaged cannon with tinplate wheels fron IGNAP (Italy) . The Cannons with rubber wheels are from the end of 40s/50s. There are no Lineol and Hausser/ Elastolin cannons. On your photo with 4 cannons, I can see the German “Pascha” cannon with tinplate wheels. This cannon was made in 30s and it has a quite interesting cap firing mechanism.
DeleteThank you PG. Yes, I've seen the same cannon produced by/for IDEAL, they are stamped on their shield. Mine have no stamps and only one has 'made in Germany'. Well, I do wonder if the WW1 type wheels might serve to claim they are preWW2, with the tyre examples confirmed as postWW2. Shame we can't discover who was the factory in Germany as they might have kept records. Thank you very much for your opinion, I have become a bit of a tinplate collector, and these two guns look great with my old lead toy soldiers. Very best wishes.
DeleteMichael
(I shall now refer to them as Erbsenkanone-Peashooters. As a child of the 70s, I had a Japanese Sekiden pea firing pistol, lol.)