OLD BRITISH MODEL SOLDIERS 1893-1918.

L W Richards. An A5 hardback book, 75 pages illustrated throughout in black and white. There was a time when this was virtually the only book on the market for collectors of old figures and it has recieved just acclaim for breaking ground where so many have since followed. It is a reference guide for collectors of early hollow-cast lead figures, predominantly Wm Britains but also many interesting items by smaller makers.

When I was in my early teens I started collecting hollow-cast figures and this was my bible. Every Saturday I went to London's Portobello Road market searching through boxes under tables and in every nook and crany for those elusive toys and just as regularly I would find a tall old man in a battered hat and raincoat on the same mission. We never spoke but over time we came to nod acknowledgement of each other, if we ever came upon a box of figures simultaneously he would always let me have first pick and watch with a certain amusement at the obscure junk that I selected. I didn't know it at the time but many years later I learnt that he was Len Richards who wrote this book, I've always felt that I owed him a certain gratitude.

Published 1970. Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0-85368-081-7 believed to be currently out of print.

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