In 1977 actor Douglas Fairbanks sold a 3,000-piece collection of toy soldiers at auction house Phillips for US$16,000. In 1984, London surgeon John Hanington's collection went for US$300,000, much of it bought by the late Malcolm Forbes of the Forbes publishing family.
These two high-profile auctions are behind the boom in toy soldier collecting, according to the Toy Soldier Review, and are credited with turning an old-time hobby into a bona fide collectible with investment potential.
Many collectors stick to older military figurines, led by producers who are still creating traditional favourites from the 18th and 19th century. Well-preserved pieces for which there is more demand than supply can fetch handsome prices at auction.
Andy Neilson, managing director of Hong Kong-based King & Country, has a different approach. The company began production in 1984 and is now the world's biggest independently owned toy soldier producer.
'In the early days we followed the well-worn path that most of our competitors were on. Back in those years, we could see that our competitors in Europe and America seemed to be stuck in an historical time-warp. For some of our bigger competitors, subjects like Vietnam are too controversial. But we have always believed that you can't ignore history because you may disagree with certain aspects of it,' he said.
King & Country, which produces hand-painted white-metal miniatures at several factories in China, was the first toy soldier producer to create figures from the Vietnam War. The company has produced a World War II line, which caused some controversy for the inclusion of Nazi figures, and a range from the first Gulf war.
'Then we did Afghanistan last year and that was just humongous. The interest was just incredible. We couldn't keep up with the demand,' Mr Neilson said.