Huge Lot 106 Barclay Manoil Podfoot Lead Toy Soldiers US Military Army Figures

Description

Lot of 106 mid century die cast lead, podfoot style toy soldiers by 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's toy soldiers as "Dimestore soldiers". Barclay Manufacturing was formed by Leon Donze and Michael Levy in about 1922. In its heyday Barclay produced 500,000 toys a week, making them the largest toy soldier manufacturer at that time in the United States. In 1939 Barclay acquired another toy soldier company, Tommy Toy and its art deco sculptor Olive Kooken. Some of Barclay's first vehicles were slush cast white metal made in the 1930s. Also about this time, and into the 1940s, the company made a variety of military vehicles – tanks, trucks with cannon and other cars painted brown. Despite the inroads of plastic toy soldiers, Barclay kept manufacturing theirs in metal. Following the war, Barclay changed the helmets on their soldiers to the M1 Helmet. In about 1951 Barclay conserved metal by eliminating bases on their soldiers, which collectors nicknamed podfoot soldiers because each foot appeared as a flattened rounded blob. These were painted similar to figures in American comic books of the time – olive drab uniforms with green helmets with "enemy" soldiers in red uniforms with white helmets. In 1960, the lead soldiers were generally removed from Woolworths and other dimestores and more commonly found for sale in hobby shops. From 1964 the soldiers' uniforms were painted in green to reflect the modern US Army. In the 1950s and 1960s, Barclay's diecast metal vehicles continued in popularity. Barclay ceased trading in 1971 due to an inability to compete with plastics and the rapidly changing market (e.g. Mattel Hot Wheels), not because of issues regarding lead, which has been a popular misconception. The old firm's trademark rights were re-acquired in the 1990s, and now The Barclay Company once again manufactures solid metal reproductions of Barclay and Manoil Manufacturing Co. figures." (Source: Wikipedia)

Both Barclay and Manoil started making toy soldiers in circa 1935 with Manoil going out of business by 1959 and Barclay going out of business in 1971. Yes, these two main USA toy soldier makers are a major part of American toy soldier history.

Condition

Good Overall - Gentle wear; some chipped paint; couple of broken rifles/two broken tripods

Dimensions

1.5" x 0.5" x 2.75" (WIdth x Depth x Height)