By all accounts this cloth doll from the Great War is a rare piece.
It is of a French soldier and is in remarkably good condition for a toy which is over a century old.
Given its age and the handling it might have got as a toy I am surprised it has survived at all, and in such good condition.
Of course I doubt we will ever know much more about it and as I sit here looking at the figure, the questions bounce off the keyboard.
I assume it was made in France but how it got to this country will always be shrouded in mystery.
It could have been brought back by a British soldier or have been bought by a toy shop as a job lot.
On the other hand it might equally have been collected by a dealer and ended up in Britain long after the conflict.
So it is a toy with a story which as yet remains untold.
Location; Manchester and France
Pictures; French toy soldier, date and origin unknown from the collection of David Harrop
Given its age and the handling it might have got as a toy I am surprised it has survived at all, and in such good condition.
Of course I doubt we will ever know much more about it and as I sit here looking at the figure, the questions bounce off the keyboard.
I assume it was made in France but how it got to this country will always be shrouded in mystery.
It could have been brought back by a British soldier or have been bought by a toy shop as a job lot.
On the other hand it might equally have been collected by a dealer and ended up in Britain long after the conflict.
So it is a toy with a story which as yet remains untold.
Pictures; French toy soldier, date and origin unknown from the collection of David Harrop
