12/28/14 Report - Lead And Other Toy Soldiers And How They Might Help You Date A Site.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.





Vintage Dug Lead Toys.

Toy soldiers have been around for centuries.  They go back to the time of ancient Egypt.

Most of us know the green plastic soldiers featured in the movie Toy Story, but toy soldiers have been around for a long time. 

Most lead soldiers predate 1966.

You might be surprised to learn that many have double-digit retail prices.

By the end of he 19th century, the Mignot and Heyde companies produced painted lead figures but they were expensive and only collected by the wealthy.

In  1893 the William Britains Co. invented the process of hollow casting that produced hollow lead soldiers which were less expensive.  Toy soldier collecting became more common.

Here are some additional highlights of the history of toy soldiers from the web site link below.



More Dug Metal Toys.

Readily available by the mid-50s, unpainted plastic toy soldiers were omnipresent in the toy boxes of children around the world. Their success launched the introduction of painted plastic figures, which soon surpassed the competing lead models in sculpting and painting sophistication.

During the post-WWII years, the U.S.-based Marx Toy Company and its rivals produced inexpensive boxed toy soldier playsets...

1966 marked a turning point in the history of toy soldiers. International concerns about lead poisoning brought about new laws which banned the manufacture of toys containing lead...

In the late 1960s and ‘70s, anti-war sentiment turned the tastes of the public away from military toys like toy soldiers...

In the mid-1970s, cottage industry companies like Tradition, Blenheim, Nostalgia, John Tunstill’s “Soldiers Soldiers” and Marlborough reintroduced metal soldiers, now made of pewter, antimony and tin...

By the early 1980s the metal soldier market was still miniscule. A newly resurgent Britains began to produce metal figures in a new alloy as early as 1973, but the production didn’t hit its stride for a decade or more. Plastic production was dropping off in the early ‘80s, falling further into oblivion to the point where many collectors could only obtain figures at tag sales, swap meets...

By the late ‘80s, the world of plastic toy soldiers had come back to life. The baby boomer collectors of the 1960s had grown up and were now looking to rebuild the collections they remembered so fondly.

In the plastic arena, the 1990s saw a huge revival in the toy soldier collecting community. Some call this renaissance the “Second Golden Age” of plastics (the first being the glory days of the 1950s).

I've quoted liberally from the following linked web site.  Check it out for more of the story.

http://www.toysoldierco.com/resources/toysoldierhistory.htm

I think this information might help you date a site.  I'm sure you'll come across a lead soldier or two if you do much detecting.



"ENGLAND" On Indians Leg.

The first soldier shown in the top picture is the hollow cast 2.25 inch variety following the type of the William Britains Company.

The second is lead and shows no evidence that it was ever painted

The third in the top picture is a colorfully painted lead Indian.  It appears to be higher quality.  It has considerable paint loss.  Most interesting is the word England on the back of one leg.

  The first soldier in the second picture is solid lead, no paint, and seems to depict a flame thrower.

I think I made that one myself and found it when detecting the yard of my old home.

I received a Christmas present one year that included an electric heater that melted lead and had molds for making your own toy soldiers.  I am pretty sure that is one that I made.

The knight is the only one of these figures that is not lead.  It is made of some other type of metal.  The details seem clearer on that one even though it is smaller.  It was found on a local beach.

By Far The Most Modern Of The Group.

The surf is supposed to get up to 3 to 5 feet this afternoon but wind is from the South.  Don't expect much improvement.

Don't forget to respond to the blog poll.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

12/11/14 Report - A Variety of Really Nice Recent Land Finds. Take A Look.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.



Find and Photo by Dan B.

Here is a cool find by Dan B.  It is an antique toy Texaco railroad tank car. 

It has several things going for it as a collectible.  It would be of interest to old toy collectors, railroad enthusiasts and those interested in petroliana. 

That wasn't all Dan found, but it is one of my favorites.


Here are some more of Dan's finds at the site.

Miscellaneous Finds by Dan B.

Here is a photo of some of Dan's finds.  Notice the toy tank car near the brown bottle at the top left.

Also, there are a couple of embossed pepsin syrup bottles.

Some of the small metal objects look interesting too.

Here is one of those.   

Find and Photo by Michael E.

Michael E. has been doing a lot of land hunting around the Treasure Coast area and making a lot  lot of interesting finds.   Here are some that he listed -  1909 wheat non Vdb, 1905 Indian, a dozen smaller buckles and suspender clips, shield fob with the outline of where a swastika was attached. 1932 Washington hatchet stick pin, amid some other brooch and hat decor.  Concerning a backyard hunt by he and William M., Micheal said, it seems like we dug hundreds of bullets. William recovered a 1902 Indian, and I recovered a version 2, currently unable to see date shield nickel.

To the left is one of those finds.  Very nice.  Congratulations Michael!

And below is a FOB with the imprint of a swastika.  Again, very nice find Michael.  Congratulations! 

I wanted to show some of the older things that people have been digging around the Treasure Coast.  I planned on posting some of these earlier but had to show the big waves yesterday.

Find and Photo by Michael E.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/16/14 Report - Traveling To Detect. When It Is Hot It Is Hot. Amazing North Carolina Beach Finds.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com.

Eroded North Carolina Beach
Image from video by GoldNugget

On the Treasure Coast we still have that one to two foot surf.  The tides have been good due to the Super Moon.

I have a lot to write today - enough for four or five posts.  I'll have to hold a lot of it for another day.  I didn't post yesterday because I was traveling and didn't get a chance.  I'll try to get this post done in a hurry.

I was up North and had a great time giving a brand new detector a testing.  Among the finds was a Large Cent - 1829.  That was surprising, especially considering where it was found.  I'll get into more of that some other day.

Instead of taking the detector on the plane, I had it shipped up North where I was going to be and had it shipped home when I was done.  That saved all the hassles of taking it through security and on the plane or in baggage, which of course could be done instead.

I'll give you a review of the new detector and show some of those finds some other time.  Right now I want to show you what GoldNugget found on a North Carolina beach.  That isn't where I went.  I was in another state.

You'll remember after tropical storm or hurricane Arthur passed us, it hit North Carolina.  I mentioned at the time that it would be hitting North Carolina but I wouldn't be making that trip.  Well, North Carolina is where GoldNugget hunts, and he sent us some great photos of some great finds.   You'll enjoy them.

  Thanks GoldNugget!   And congratulations on the amazing finds!

They had some good erosion in North Carolina.  He sent me an email last week and said the site is still producing.   He said, When the Beach is Hot ,It's Hot.

 He posted a short video clip showing the beach where the items were found on Youtube.

Here is the link to that video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GppaqFyT-iA&feature=em-upload_owner

It is the first video that he posted.  Good job!

The photo at the top of this post is one of the first few frames from that video.

 Notice the undercut and eroded dunes.  That is more than a six foot cut I would say.

Also, that beach isn't at a park or walk-over or anything.   You'd probably have to walk a good piece to get to it.

And there aren't any obvious signs that this would be the place to be. 

Those are all important things to notice.   I've talked about things like that in the past.  

If you want to find a location like that you'll have to work for it, but when you see the finds below you'll see that it can be worth the work.

GoldNugget said, I'm still trying to Identify the Emblem looking item.

If you can help him identify the item, let me know.

All of the find photos below are from GoldNugget and the site described.

Like I said, I have about four days of posts in my head.  I'll leave them for some other time.  Today you can enjoy GoldNugget's finds and his video.  Give it a look and think about what you are seeing.

There is a lot you can learn from that. 

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net