Toy Musicians Identified by Expert Mike Niederman

Mike Niederman's comments on Robin Bannerman's childhood collection of hollow-cast toy soldiers:

The white plume on the left of the drummer boy's bearskin means he's a Grenadier Guard. There was a drummer in Britains set 34, Grenadier Guards standing firing. Drummers wore half-boots or gaiters until 1934, then got the full trousers this lad has. The set was discontinued in 1941.
The euphonium player's plume, if any, can't be seen. Painting a moustache was stopped by the late 1930s. Maybe a Scots Guard from set 1607, first issued 1938. And if both these guys are from the mid to late 1930s, they're from the same period as many other figures in this collection. (I'd use a soft toothbrush to remove that yellow shmoo from the drummer boy.)

Comments

[Isabella Bannerman]

My dad would only let us play with these when we were sick in bed. I would lay them out on the quilt just like in the Robert Louis Stevenson poem, " The Counterpane" http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/stevenson/stevenson_ind.html.

[Isabella Bannerman]

Okay, sorry that link to the poem didn't work. Maybe this one will http://www.lnstar.com/mall/literature/rls/LandofCounterpane.htm

[Mike Niederman]

The white plume on the left of the drummer boy's bearskin means he's a Grenadier Guard. There was a drummer in Britains set 34, Grenadier Guards standing firing. Drummers wore half-boots or gaiters until 1934, then got the full trousers this lad has. The set was discontinued in 1941.
The euphonium player's plume, if any, can't be seen. Painting a moustache was stopped by the late 1930s. Maybe a Scots Guard from set 1607, first issued 1938. And if both these guys are from the mid to late 1930s, they're from the same period as many other figures in this collection. (I'd use a soft toothbrush to remove that yellow shmoo from the drummer boy.)