A special 'Find'

Have you ever wondered where those lots of figures that you find on eBay come from? I always imagine that they come from folks cleaning up their homes and attics, and as such I've always kept an eye out for toy soldiers whenever I go to a garage sale, a yard sale, an estate sale, or a flea market. After 15 years of looking however, I had never found anything. That is until last weekend. I was sightseeing in the city of Basel when I came across a big flea market. Being a European city, I had a feeling that I might find something there, but after going around all the stands once I did not see anything. Just then as I was about to leave I spotted a box with a bunch of Airfix figures! After a bit of negotiation I was able to secure them for 5 Siwss francs (about 5 dollars). They are a mix of about 80 Afrika Korps, British Support Troops, and British Paratroops. They are all painted, which tilted the price in my favor. I actually have all of these figures in my collection already so I basically bought them simply because of the thrill it gave me to find them. I know, it's money that is just going to sit on the shelf, but hey, I waited many years for this moment!

Here is what the box looked like when I walked by the stand

A sample of the figures that came in the box. There was actually only one German Infantry guy and two of the British 8th Army clones. BTW, notice that the box is labeled as 'MB Schrott'. MB must be the initials of the previous owner, but the amusing part is that Schrott means junk or scrap in German, which goes to prove the point that one man's junk is another man's treasure.

Click here to see a post about the Airfix toy soldiers

Click here to see British Paratroops in action