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I'm starting out with my favorite soldier. This was my very first one – the one that sparked the whole collection! When I joined the fife & drum corps as a drummer at 11, my mom got it for me from a Church Christmas Sale-thing. It belonged to the minister's brother in-law when he was a kid, and is alleged to be about 70 years or older. I'm not sure who the maker was, but it's one of the more detailed ones I own. It came with a drag-rope on the bottom of the drum, but unfortunately, it broke off, like soft lead tends to do. His head's on a little crooked too, but I don't dare bend it back! He's got rosy cheeks, and a happy smile and remains the pride of my collection. If anyone has more information on what the age/make of this soldier is, please e-mail me!

This Citadel drummer all the way to the left was the second soldier I ever got. I got him brand-new in a gift shop at Fort Sumter, SC, while on vacation in 1988.

I increased the size of my collection (of the previous 2) dramatically when I went to Disney World in 1996 and bought a bunch of soldiers from a gift shop in the Magic Kingdom. I can't really make out his signature on the bottom of these pieces, but it looks like he signs his work "Lehan's." These are some of the nicest pieces I have in my collection. Great modeling skill went into these, and (I think) the painting is really good. This is the only confederate drummer like this one that I have.

This is the same mold used for the confederate drummer, but painted in Union colors. I currently only have one of these. I used to have 2, but I gave one to the son/grandkids of a former drumming teacher who sadly passed on, as this "little drummer" fondly reminded me of him. We both played in a group wearing union uniforms like this, and he was notorious for being "the little guy."

These are great pieces representing the "Old Guard" fifers & drummers. I have 2 fifers and 2 drummers.

These are some more great pieces representing British fifers & drummers. I have 2 fifers and 3 drummers.

This is what I think of as a stereotypical "toy soldier." Standing rigidly tall, and fairly simplistic. The neat thing about these, is their right arms move! I'm not sure of the age of these. Britains have been around since the 1800's (I KNOW they're not that old!) but I believe they had this style in the 1950's(?), and I think they brought some like this back as a "revival" recently. Who knows? My mom found them at some little shop in NJ somewhere and gave them to me as a Christmas present a couple of years ago.

Again, I think the "simple" little soldiers are cute. These are Wm. Hocker soldiers I got at Colonial Williamsburg during the Grand Illumination we play at every year. They're supposed to look like the CW Senior Corps.

A variety of Scottish bandsmen.