Originally published in Pearson's Weekly (C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.) vol.2 #66 (24 Oct 1891).
Almost everyone has seen the toy soldiers, moulded of tin or lead which are frequently encountered in the play-rooms of children. It is less generally known how much care is expended in the manufacture of these little articles, and how many branches of industry are concerned in it. The fabrication of these little articles is mainly performed at Nuremburg, and dates from the military enthusiasm aroused by Frederick the Great in Germany and throughout Europe by his surprising exploits in the Seven Years' War.
The best artists are hired to furnish models for the soldiers, and they are scrupulously careful to conform
to the military costumes of the period and country to which the figures are supposed to belong. The shapes designed are engraved upon moulds of slate or brass, into which the melted tin or lead is poured through a small orifice. Once moulded, the toy soldiers have to be painted, pains being taken to select the gaudy colours preferred by children.
This work is done by women at their own homes, who receive, however, very poor wages, not amounting to more than six or seven shillings per week. The packing is also intrusted to women. If made of tin, the soldiers are packed in wooden boxes, all of which come from Sonneberg in Thuringia. The extreme cheapness of these boxes indicates the low wages of the workmen, nearly all of whom, it has been observed die of consumption. When the toys are made of solid lead, they are packed in cardboard boxes with glass tops.
This toy-soldiery industry has prospered for one hundred and thirty years, though, as would naturally be expected, the demand falls off in periods of prolonged peace, to revive again when a great international conflict takes place, like the war of 1870 between France and Germany.