AirmetTango
Forum Supporter
While curbstripping earlier in the week, a nice older lady asked the usual "Are you finding anything?", and the conversation lead to standing permission to hunt her yard. Rain chased me off before I could hunt more than an hour or so, but out in her backyard I unearthed a small battlefield...literally a battlefield in miniature 
Within a few feet and minutes of each other, I dug my first lead soldiers! The first one rung up a bouncy 16-20 on the EQ800, and expecting trash, I was pleased to bring up what I thought was a mortar man! A couple minutes later, an advancing "rifleman" showed up under a more solid 21-22 signal! After clean up at home, I realized my "rifleman" was actually equipped with a flamethrower, and I knew by the M1 style helmets that they had to be WWII or later. That helped nail down the ID pretty quickly, and I found both online almost immediately - Barclay pod foot lead soldiers from the 1950s. Unfortunately, the mortar man is actually supposed to be an "anti-aircraft gunner" - the barrel of the gun is broken off and should be a couple inches longer.
When I showed them to the homeowner the next day, I could tell she was enthralled by the soldiers, so I offered one to her - "Oh! Can I really have one?? What a great conversation piece for the house!" she said. "But you found them - you choose which one you want". Let me tell you, that was a tough choice - they both are great despite the AA gunner being a bit broken - but I ultimately kept the flamethrower.
Part of me felt bad about "breaking up the set". I really wanted to keep at least one since it was my first lead soldier. At the same time, I really like the idea that the homeowner was genuinely interested in the history those toys represented for the house - a snapshot of a time decades ago when a young boy turned her backyard into a battleground with his imagination while playing with his toy soldiers - so it only seemed fitting for at least one to stay with the house. Maybe I'm just getting sentimental in my old age!! 
Within a few feet and minutes of each other, I dug my first lead soldiers! The first one rung up a bouncy 16-20 on the EQ800, and expecting trash, I was pleased to bring up what I thought was a mortar man! A couple minutes later, an advancing "rifleman" showed up under a more solid 21-22 signal! After clean up at home, I realized my "rifleman" was actually equipped with a flamethrower, and I knew by the M1 style helmets that they had to be WWII or later. That helped nail down the ID pretty quickly, and I found both online almost immediately - Barclay pod foot lead soldiers from the 1950s. Unfortunately, the mortar man is actually supposed to be an "anti-aircraft gunner" - the barrel of the gun is broken off and should be a couple inches longer.
When I showed them to the homeowner the next day, I could tell she was enthralled by the soldiers, so I offered one to her - "Oh! Can I really have one?? What a great conversation piece for the house!" she said. "But you found them - you choose which one you want". Let me tell you, that was a tough choice - they both are great despite the AA gunner being a bit broken - but I ultimately kept the flamethrower.
Part of me felt bad about "breaking up the set". I really wanted to keep at least one since it was my first lead soldier. At the same time, I really like the idea that the homeowner was genuinely interested in the history those toys represented for the house - a snapshot of a time decades ago when a young boy turned her backyard into a battleground with his imagination while playing with his toy soldiers - so it only seemed fitting for at least one to stay with the house. Maybe I'm just getting sentimental in my old age!! Attachments
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It sure was fun to dig them - hopefully we can all find more!
