John Jenkins produces extremely detailed collectible toy soldiers from different time periods for modern collectors. Toy soldiers are miniature figurines of soldiers. They can represent any personality from actual soldiers to Indians to cultural depictions. The title “toy soldier” covers a range of products from plastic playthings to crafted collector’s items. Toy soldiers have been a popular toy and later, collectors item since the late 1800’s.
Toy soldiers have been around in different forms for hundreds of years. In the early 20th century, metal toy soldiers were mass produced. Toy soldiers, as we know them, first gained popularity in the 20th century when European companies began making affordable and widely available toy soldiers.
After World War II, plastic toy soldiers gained popularity as well. By the mid-50’s, the well known bags of plastic, unpainted model soldiers had become a common favorite among children.
In the 1960’s, toy safety laws were enacted in the United States and, shortly after, in countries around the world. This drastically affected the toy soldier market. Lead was the main material used in metal toy soldiers and strict safety laws prohibited it in toy manufacturing. Established toy soldier companies couldn’t produce metal toy soldiers any more and had to create a new line of products or leave the industry.
Between the 60s and 70s, demand for toy soldiers fell off drastically. To boost sales and interest in toy soldiers, popular toy soldier companies reintroduced metal toy soldiers. These were often made from a safe material called alloy and were most popular with adults who had collected toy soldiers as children. Though these new metal soldiers were introduced in the 70’s, they didn’t gain great popularity until the 80’s.
Toy soldiers were improved once again in the 80s with imaginative poses. Toy soldiers had previously been stiffly positioned and modern toy soldiers were depicted doing real battle activities like firing, charging, and aiming. This gave toy soldiers a more lifelike quality and made toy soldiers more appealing to modern collectors. More graphic toy soldiers were another improvement in the toy soldier of the 80’s. Very true to life features, expressions and clothing made these toy soldiers practically photographic representations of the real thing.
John Jenkins has a great selection of toy soldiers with photograph like detail. John Jenkins himself worked in different design positions before working as a designer of toy soldiers. John Jenkins toy soldiers are made in the likeness of different periods in time and different wars. John Jenkins offers two sizes of toy soldiers. They make miniature 28mm figures. John Jenkins Designs also has standard size toy soldiers that are 1:32 scale or 54mm. The figurines, buildings, and airplanes he makes represent different time periods, wars, and even people from different countries.
John Jenkins collections are organized by century. Toy soldiers from the 18th century show figurines from the 7 Years War with The Jacobite Rebellion and the Raid on St. Francis. His toy soldiers from the 19th Century show figurines from The War of 1812. And his Twentieth Century toy soldiers show figurines like airplanes in the Knights of the Skies collection. Every figurine John Jenkins Designs produces has lifelike detail. Props like buildings, guns and spears, and airplanes add accents to these personalities. The collections for John Jenkins are also constantly expanding with the addition of new figurines.
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