Tuesday 27 August 2013

Tom Loback - Thomas' Tin Soldiers - American Civil War 'Toy Soldiers'


Around 1997 the Dragontooth sculptor Tom Loback perceived and executed a range of American Civil War figures in the Britains toy soldier style. I know very little about the range however have attempted to collect as many pictures as possible for posterity. I have contacted Tom via his Flickr account and hopefully will get some more information. It seems like 4 ranges were released; Infantry (ACW), Flag Bearers (FB), Drummer Boys (DB) and Famous Officers (FO). The flags themselves have been engraved with Tom sculpting the figures in his inimitable style. Please pass any other information you have so I can collate it. These ranges must not be forgotten!

The generic base stamp


Sample box showing address which was close to the old Dragontooth address (150W. 26th St. No. 502 NYC, NY 1001)


DB1 Drummer Boy 69th New York Vols. Iron Brigade


FO1 Colonel Shaw of the 54th Massachusetts 1863


FO1 Colonel Shaw of the 54th Massachusetts 1863 box


SB1 Irish Brigade 69th NY Regimental Color


SB2 69th New York Flag Bearer


SB4 2nd Wisconsin Iron Brigade


SB5 Iron Brigade 6th Wisconsin


SB6 Iron Brigade 6th Wisconsin Regimental Color


SB7 Iron Brigade National Color


SB8 Iron Brigade 7th Wisconsin Regimental Colors


SB9 Iron Brigade 24th Michigan National Color


SB11 Iron Brigade 19th Indiana Regimental Color


SB12  Color Bearer 1st Texas Hood's Brigade


SB13 4th Texas Hood's Brigade Flag Bearer


SB14 Color Bearer 5th Texas Hood's Brigade


SB15 Color Bearer 3rd Arkansas Texas Brigade


SB17 Color Bearer 1st New York Fire Zouaves


SB19 Garibaldi Guards 39th NY Italian Color Bearer


SB25 Bucktails' 42nd Pennsylvania  National Color


SB26 Orrs' Rifles 1st South Carolina Color Bearer


SB26 Orr's Rifles 1st South Carolina Color Bearer


SB27 Coppen's Zouaves 1st Louisiana Color Bearer


SB28 16th North Carolina Color Bearer


SB29 Irish Brigade 28th Massachusetts Regimental Color


SB30 Irish Brigade 28th Massachusetts National Color


SB31 The Irish Brigade 69th New York Vols 2nd Irish Color


SB37 69th New York State Militia Irish Color


SB39 Irish Brigade 9th Connecticut Regimental Color


SB40 9th Connecticut National Color


SB41 Virginia Military Institute School State Color


SB42 1st  Virginia


SB43 8th Virginia Battle Flag


SB44 Semper FI Marines National Color


SB45 10th Tennessee Irish National Color


SB45 10th Tennessee Irish National Color


SB47 33rd New Jersey Zouaves State Regimental Color


SB48 Hawkin's Zouaves 9th New York Presentation Color


SB51 5th US Heavy Artillery Colored Troops Regimental Color


An excellent US auction source is Old Toy Soldier Auctions US. There are far more aspects to this hobby than you realise! They also publish a quarterly magazine; details here.

I have borrowed 4 pictures off their past auctions and am awaiting permission to use them but will post them here in the meantime

ACW4 Panache Figurines Louisiana Tigers 1861


ACW22 Iron Brigade 2nd Wisconsin Regiment


ACW 23 Iron Brigade 6th Wisconsin Regiment


Various color bearers


If you have any information please contact me on enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

4 comments:

Joe said...

Dave, a nice tribute!

David Wood said...

Thanks Joe.

Unknown said...

I was one of the co-owners of Classic Toys, a toy store that specialized in toy soldiers and operated from 1988 to 2005 in NYC.

We carried Tom Loback's 54mm figures and they always sold very well, especially the flag bearers, which are exquisite. We could never get enough.

If I remember correctly, all of the production and painting was done in NYC.

There was one very short lived additional line of figures in 54mm, a line of (I believe) French colonial figures. I remember this range as having only a handful of different sets. These had flimsy plain white boxes not the nice heavy blue boxes Tom eventually adopted for the Civil War range.

David Wood said...

Thanks Francis. I was actually sent a set of French Foreign Legion figures just before Xmas. Once I'm up and over the usual Christmas bug I will get around to posting pics.