European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Toy fire trucks displayed at the museum of the City of new York were popular with american youngsters in the 1870s. The ageless fantasies of Vijto visa toys Are As old As civilization and that includes centuries and centuries of dolls cabbage Patch dolls Are just one of the latest versions. By Hugh a. Mulligan associated press. N Christmas morning in front of the  in the Nursery at Blenheim Palace 6 year old Winston Churchill deployed his. Regiments across the carpet and set up. A ambushes behind the chair legs pretending to whip the. A Flench again at Blenheim As did his famous ancestor the. Duke of Marlborough. 7. F a a 7-� amused at to child s concentration his lather. Lord y a Randolph Churchill asked if he would like someday to go into the army. Y a a. 7. Quot i thought it would be splendid to command a army so i answered yes at  Churchill recalled in his memoirs. Quot the toy soldiers turned the current of my life 1 Wilbur and Orville Wright were still in Grade school in Dayton Ohio when an Uncle brought from Paris a Christmas present of a flying mechanical toy by Pednaud the famous French to maker. After school the Brothers began Selling toys it their own invention to earn pocket Money to buy the science books that would one Day Lead to liftoff at Kitty Hawk f. By a. A a. Y a 7young Frank Lloyd Wright erected his first building with Froebel blocks introduced by the German educator a. Friedrich Froebel who devised the kindergarten system of learning through play ,77 7. V a the dream world of toys is the Sobious business of. Quot. Childhood a ,. A and fortunately for the How  toy Industry. Quot Many adults throughout history never put away childish of. Things. A a. A7 English colonists arriving Ai Roanoke. Island in 1585 -.7 greeted the indians. With gifts of knives Glass marbles and a dolls.  furnishings when he came to Philadelphia a in 1.630, William Penn packed Quot Lucli Iiara doll gorgeously. Gowned in velvet and brocade.  Paul Revere to maker As Well As Silversmith made Drums from Nail kegs and baby  gourds in   Playing , Benjamin Frantum had ,sideline in his Philadelphia print shop turning out Quot educational a. Playing cards a 7 a a a Quot. A French novelist gear  a no presen Ted 120 plays an designed All the costumes for. Her puppet theater at chateau a Nahant. Joseph Haydn composed operas for Prince.  Esterhazy s toy Heater. Johann Wolfgang von f Goethe  poet and playwright made ail the r scenery Lor the puppet theater he gave to his son August. A quo for Christmas in .1800. English Cabinet makers Thomas. Chippendale and Thomas Sheraton fashioned elegant . It is not surprising that those who live by their imaginations cling More steadfastly to the fantasies of childhood Cervantes Anatole France go. Chesterton and Robert. 7 Louis Stevenson were avid toy collectors. Lewis Carroll was a steady customer at Creamer s toy shop on Regent Street. A. Toys Are As old As civilization older if you can envision a Brontosaurus Pup. Playing with  Stone Tike a Kitten. With a Ball of yarn anthropologists assure us that Cavemen played Marble with nuts and dry to a of when net dragging live dolls about by the Ponytail. ,. Egyptian children were entombed with their beloved toys the dolls of Early christians who died Young were buried. With them in the catacombs. A a a  existed in China in the 3rd Century . In 200 e3c,. Gen. Han sin sent up a Kite to gauge the distance Between a his Camp and the Palace of emperor Wel Yang Kong. American Clipper ship s brought Home from China some sensational new toys that were already centuries old theyo to the merry go round and a Low weighted doll that was a impossible to tip Over called a Dagruma Quot after the Monk who a introduced. Buddhism to China and whose legs were said to. Have withered away during nine years of contemplation. From the Middle Ages Down to the present German to makers in nurnberg1.oberamnnefgau1feerchtesgardcn and Sonneberg excelled in imagination craftsmanship a a. And merchandising skills. Paddlers with sacks on their. Y a backs like grounded. Santas carried toys along the. Medieval Trade routes of Europe Down the Brenner pass into Italy. Some were women called notion nannies who included toys in their regular Fine of pots pans arid thread.7 f y f7. The French were famous for Windup toys marketing a  that could Quot write perfect penmanship Quot and another who played a Melody on the harmonium nodding her a head As her fingers flitted Over the keys then stood up to take a Bow. Marquis de Vauban the French military. Engineer devised for the Nurnberg to makers an army a. That could March fire reload and even Retreat . Sterling Silver. A -., .7.  Antoinette who loved and collected toys a ii her life was shown a doll in an  Henri o3que Druz whose mechanical marvels delighted the spams. Royal family and just missed being condemned As diabolical a rid burned at the stake by the inquisition. The doll proceeded to sketch a credible likeness of the French Queen As she sat for her portrait 7 f . Maria Antoinette  then that her Fate a and that of her husband. Louis Xvi would create a 7. A demand for toy guillotines Goethe asked a Friend , him one from Parte. A Quot /. Grim toys have been As in daringly popular As Grimm fairytales children in Ages past played with a live Bird on. A string kept crickets in a Cage trained mice to pull. A wagons puppet shows made ogres of dwarfs 7 7 a Hunchback and cripples. Toy Cata logs before world War i  musical Model of the titanic that played 7nearer my god to thee Quot As it Sank in the Bathtub. Teen age mutant  swords and nun Hakus multimillion Dollar hit in this years toy Market after the 7 Success of. The movie have been blamed for an increase in playground violence in Australia and Are banned from. A Many classrooms.  A  a a. Clay horses and wooden knights fuelled the. Fervour of the 30.000 boys and girls who followed Stephen a French 7 a Shepherd boy on  s crusade in 1212. Many Jost their lives in the deadly game of trying to free the holy land from the infidel. 7 a. 7 toys of War were part of the education of a Prince. Chiles v of  known As Charles the mad a a received a toy Cannon for Christmas in 1383. Emperor a. A Maximilian of the holy roman Empire ordered toy knights that could be dislodged from their horses for his 10-year j do son Ludwig. Six years later the lad was a horsed and a set fighting the turks the future Louis Xiv received for. Christmas two Sterling Silver armies each with a troop strength of 30 regiments of cavalry and infantry. Then As now toy  to War with the most f a modern weapons this year  Joe is mounted on the Ahum-vee1"the new Moidel army jeep widely deployed in. A operation desert shield in the persian Gulf Quot.  fantasy world of make believe a but the most successful playthings always reproduced. Reality As the child experienced it. Down through the a centuries chariots and archers the Stag Hunt and Raimand Forest scenes gave Way to Royal carnage cowboys. Quot and indians horse drawn trolleys Modett Fords dump. A trucks Highway trailers Jet planes rockets and space a. A a shuttles and now a Laptop computer just like dad s Ormom s. A. V 7 to makers keep up with the times. Apolitical  fun at. Theodore Roosevelt s sparing the life of a. Bear cub on a Hunting expedition inspired the Ideal toy co to ask permission to name a stuffed toy for him. Quot i. A Don t think my name is Worth much to the toy Bear cub. Business but you Are Welcome to use it a the president. Answered underestimating the  clout of the Teddy bear.7  with the merry Melody of. The Cash Box the dream world of toys has inspired countless poems paintings. Operas , plays movies and pop songs. Robert Louis Stevenson s nostalgic evocation of his  a  among the nicest. A .7. A a Quot and some pm As for an hour or so -7 7 a Quot watch my Leaden soldiers go 7. 7 ,. A with different uniforms and drills  among the bed Rothes through the Hills. Quot a tin tradition by Chris Hedges new York times n a world of Nintendo and 01 do action figures a the Little armies of tin soldiers that Lay wrapped under a Christmas Trees Ihire or Lour decades ago seem a quaint anachronism. A the Groat British concerns that once produced the toys by the millions discontinued their fines  20 years ago and the figures that survived the nagors of childhood. Play have been snapped up by wealthy collectors despite the decline in the Industry a Lew thousand a collectors arid a handful of toy makes who laboriously. Mold and paint tin soldiers continue a tradition that often was kindled on a Christmas morning. A the collectors and toy makers most of whom. A developed their passion in childhood Are univ i Sally nostalgic about a world that with the Patina of time appears Gallant and romantic. A. A we look at these wonderful people in their turn of the Century uniforms and we wish it was us Quot said Michael g. Abbott who has been collecting Loy soldiers since his. Childhood in England. These Days his living room in. Locust Valley n.y., is the scene of a mock Battle Between scythian and persian soldiers who fought around 400 a a . 7a. A v a Quot this is about being f3ary Cooper Quot the 30-year-old. Stockbroker said Quot but All that is gone . Quot the  us return to the uncomplicated a imaginary world of our  said Stephen Balkin the owner of Burlington antique toys to which Abbott had slipped away on his lunch hour from his Wall Street Job to. Browse. Quot a lot of this is about  a Balkin s store one of four shops in now York catering to collectors is in a cramped basement room at 1002 ,. Madison Avenue. A. 7. 7 Thomas n. Loback the Only manufacturer of Metal toy soldiers in new York City and one of the few in the United states has his business in his loft in the garment District. The 40-year-old sculptor who first began by producing figures from the , Tolkien books now works 10 or 12 hours a Day hunched Over Small civil War figures often. With his cat perched on his shoulders. First he sculptures a figure and then lie has it cast into. Bronze. Tin copies a Lead alloys Are no longer used a Are made from the Bronze. 1  7. 7 Loback s assistant Susan St. John Ryan an actress paints the undercoat onto 54 Millimater High toys while listening to tapes of Shakespeare plays. Loback then applies the detail painting in lots of 24. The process take three or four  sets of antique toy soldiers Are expensive. A 50-year old British set of the Indian army Mountain Battery 1.1 pieces sold for $12,100 in april at the Phillips auction a a gallery a a a a 7 -7 f. Many collectors Are  out of the Market by the current prices turning instead to the handful of 7. A artists like Loback who continue to produce the toys a. Which Colt at $50 to $110 a set depending on the number and Quality of the pieces 7 quot7 7.ofthe recent civil War series on the Public broadcasting system and the movie glory have boosted sales of civil War figures among collectors. Loback has sold Over 100 sets of four Black soldiers and a White officer from the 54th Massachusetts which he modelled from Augustus Saint Gaudens Monument on Boston commons since the set was introduced last year. Each set costs $59. F he makes 24 different civil War sets that depict units a  Union s elite Iron brigade in trademark Black. Slouch hats the 69th new York Irish brigade with the sprigs of Evergreen they tucked in their Caps when their Green Battle Flag was too tattered to be carried into. Combat and the Confederate 23rd Virginia tin soldiers that fail to conjure up the glory of a Distant Era have always fared poorly most shops do not Stock toy soldiers from the Vietnam War and few collectors expect a a flood of figures depicting the military deployment in the persian guff. A. 7 f j a. A a a. Quot for these toys to be. Successful they have to be seen a through the Rosy glasses of  Loback said. Quot the. Awful questions can no longer be asked or. Answered Quot Page 14 a a a the stars and stripes monday december 24,1990&Quot a the stars and stripes a Page 15 \