Chicago Toy Soldier Show


Chicago Toy Soldier Show 2012

Start your planning right now for our 2012 Chicago Toy Soldier Show on Sunday, September 23rd. 2012 marks 30 years at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield. For three decades they have been rolling out the red carpet for OTSN; so arrange your transportation and book your Hyatt room. Use the direct link on this website and lock-in Hyatt's special OTSN room rate for Show week. Go to the Information menu (above) and click on Dealer Info; then click Accommodations. You will be taken to the Hyatt Hotel's website with the special $109 per night show rate already on the form. Fill in the date you want to arrive and when you will leave; enter the other information needed into the computer and your Hyatt reservation is made. Our Hyatt "block" cutoff date is August 6, 2012, a bit earlier than in the past, so be sure to book early. After that date, you still will be able to get the special show room rate, but you will be competing with regular hotel guests for available rooms. Click the Show Contract on the menu bar to download a vendor contract for Sunday show tables or pre-Show room sales. Returning vendors will be sent contracts in early May. Check our 2011 Dealers List to see who many of our 2012 vendors likely will be.

If you are an OTSN Show regular, you know that our show is where the world's toy soldier makers often show off their new releases. Vendors will be selling current toy figures, military and civilian, in metal and plastic from virtually all the prominent manufacturers. Looking for antique metal, composition or plastic figures? You'll find older toys on tables throughout the entire venue. For many, show week is a social occasion; it is a time to talk with manufacturers and collectors from across the globe. OTSN is the once-a-year Show that for many is as much a reunion of worldwide friends as a time to buy and sell. But make no mistake----collecting is what it is all about!

At the Sunday show age and hobby experience make no difference. We encourage families to attend with youngsters12 and under Free! On Sunday, before the doors open to the public at 10am, men and women come an hour or two early to enjoy the fabulous displays of new releases on Manufacturers Row; then they join the hundreds of fellow collectors who line up early. Every year people see our advertising and come out of curiosity; many just jump in with both feet and walk out of the show with a bag full of figures; to help this along, free bags are always supplied by King & Country, a major maker of new toy soldiers. We can't wait to welcome everyone, veterans and first-timers alike, in September 2012.

Below see a detailed description of our 2011 show; click on the Gallery in the menu for photos from several recent shows. Most of all, mark your calendar for Sunday September 23, 2012.

Here are the vital details of our upcoming show:

When: Sunday September 23, 2012
Where: Hyatt Regency Woodfield, 1800 E. Golf Rd., Schaumburg, Illinois
Open: 10:00 am to 3:30 pm.
Admission: $8.00, ages 12 and under free with an adult
Early Admission: $30 entry at 7:00am with the vendors
Shipping: UPS service will be available to ship things home, starting at 3:00pm




2011 Show Report

Our 31st Chicago Toy Soldier Show was again a great success. It is still the oldest and biggest, old and new toy figure extravaganza in the world. Most collectors know that the show is far more than a one-day event. The Sunday public show, however, is big; it has over 350 tables, manned by more than 180 vendors in two ballrooms and all the connecting space between them. The half-week leading up to Sunday is a yearly reunion; it is an unofficial collector's convention of room trading, "great finds" and shop talk by manufacturers and collectors. This is the origin of the phrase: "a Chicago style show". Despite the struggling economy the Hyatt rooms and our show tables were, as always, sold out; again, as always, collectors, makers and dealers came from across the continent and the world: Europe, the Pacific and Latin America.

In the past decade soldier shows have proliferated on both sides of the Atlantic. To survive, many shows have specialized on old metal, or plastic, or European composition or new toy soldiers. We think that our show has thrived because it is all of these shows in one.

Again, as always, September in Chicago meant that there would be hundreds and hundreds of Britains sets, boxed and un-boxed for sale or trade; there was attractive and rare British lead in every price range. Fabulous Britains sets covered the tables of Scott Morlan, Ray Haradin, Joe Grandolfo, Mike Mattimore, Joe Wallis and a dozen or more other collectors. To help both new and advanced Britains collectors, Joe Wallis premiered a revised and expanded new edition of his path-setting and indispensible reference on post-War Britains production, Regiments of All Nations; it is all-color, hardbound and judging from initial sales a "must have" reference.

Heyde and similar pre-War German lead continued to be "hot". Among the most rare were big sets of size #2, 48mm figures. An unboxed, but nearly complete Robinson Crusoe, and a partial set of Emperor Menelik II's Ethiopian court both sold for hefty prices. Also sold was a "second only seen" Cavalcade of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. These stole the show but there was plenty of German lead at less lofty prices. One advanced collector of old French Mignot and Lucotte said that this was his best selling show in 30 years!

Great Dimestore figures like the eight Jones 3-inch figures one dealer brought sold very quickly. (An online addition this year was putting photos sent to us of new releases and interesting old figures coming to the show on our Facebook page: Chicago Toy Soldier Show. Several dealers reported that buyers saw an item there and came straight to the seller; that was the case with the Jones.) Another vendor reported that on Sunday they made a deal and sold out their entire table of hundreds of mostly quite common Dimestore soldiers all at once; an attractive price made the difference.

German composition and tin vehicles were well represented on several tables and a big size Elastolin Noah's Ark changed hands. Every old maker from Authenticast to Wend-al could be found. One collector had a good selection of 1/35 scale Identification Model tanks, not the common Dales, and he sold out.

Old plastic figures for many collectors means Playsets, especially Marx. After the Saturday opening of a factory sealed Zorro playset in the hotel's 5th floor lobby, the stage was set for a great plastics show. There were scores of fine boxed sets at the show; among them was a mint Scout Camp, a Wyatt Earp Western Town, a Fort Dearborn, and an Arctic Expedition. Dozens of boxed sets changed hands; no count is available on the bag lots and loose singles.

Manufacturers of new toy figures seem to agree that Chicago is the place to meet their collectors and premier new releases and "almost ready" 2012 products. Britains, King & Country, Figarti, Barzso, Collectors Showcase, Toy Soldiers of San Diego and a dozen others all showed off their newest products at our Sunday Show on Manufacturers Row and on vendor tables. Britains introduced figures in gloss and matte paint ranging from the French and Indian War to Napoleonics to a WWII German tracked vehicle, a Raupenschlepper. King & Country's master diorama artist, Gordon Neilson, crafted a massive 44 x 88 inch North African town that is a great setting for men and vehicles from WWI or WWII. Other K&C displays ranged from Ancient Greece to the Battle of Britain. Figarti continued their German WWII emphasis with men and vehicles (including horse transport) for the winter Russian Front. Their new American P38J is a big, twin-tailed silver beauty. As a special with The Hobbv Bunker, Figarti is manufacturing a U.S. defenders of Wake Island series.

There were plenty of new plastic releases too. Replicants of the UK is offering more American West figures and a saloon to go with them. TSSD is producing a massive Roman fortress with scores of barbarians to attack the Roman defenders. Ron Barzso premiered two playsets at the show: Von Steuben's American Revolution War Camp, and a Sioux Buffalo Hunt. Barzso's display was a knock-out with what seemed to be hundreds of charging buffalo; thankfully they weren't kicking up much dust on their terrain base, however.

Every maker seemed to have new figures like Collectors Showcase Civil War figures, Order of Battle's WWI trenches, and Somerset's WWI Rolls-Royce armored cars. Everybody from Patrick Adams' Churchill prototype to the Versteeg's had great new releases. Take a look at this year's show photos on this website or updates on our Facebook page Chicago Toy Soldier Show. Also check out the hobby's publications for their reviews of our 2011 show. You'll find stories and lots of photos in OTS magazine (Winter 2011-12), and Playset Magazine (#60, Nov/Dec 2011); Toy Soldier & Model Figure (#164, January 2012) had a ten-page photo-filled review. See their websites for more specifics. And see you in Chicago 2012.