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In Argentina, as in many Latin American countries, from the days of the independence war up till the first decades of the twentieth century, these kind of toys were imported, made elsewhere, England and Germany specially. Once brought to the country, these items were hand painted accordingly to the style of the local army. It was a time when most of the toys were home made, except for those played with by the upper class children, for whom their parents brought them specially from abroad. However foreign the main flow of the toys were, there can be found several examples of hand made local ones, these are nowadays exhibited in Museums or private collections. It was during the late 40s when most Argentinean toys were began to be produced in the country. It's very hard to reconstruct this part of the Argentinean toy industry. However our hard work has paid off, we acknowledge at least two of the main original lead soldiers Birmania, and the second one EG Toys, also manufactured plastic ones. And a funny aspect of this industry -hence the little info- is that it has, throughout time, prevailed the artisan aspect of the production, design and finishing touches. Even to our days we can acquire the same kind of hand made, one of a kind soldiers. Email: The Buenos Aires Toy Museum,Bob Frassinetti. The Buenos Aires Toy Museum,Argentina. Bob Frassinetti. Copyright 2005. Roberto Dario Frassinetti.