These are an MPC slot hand figure on the left and an MPC ring hand figure on the right. As near as I can tell they are the two oldest figures in my collection. I believe they were given to me by my parents, perhaps in 1958 when I was three years old. They had a baby book that said toy soldiers were good for boys starting at age three, and I have had these two soldiers for as long as I can remember.
The figure on the right has a black line drawn around his waist. When I was about seven or eight, I met a neighbor boy and his younger brother who both had toy soldiers like mine. We wanted to play with them together, but we did not want to lose any of our men or take the other guys troops. So I made a black line with a Marks-A-Lot black marker pen as a way to denote them as mine. He put an X on the bottom of the base of his figures. This soldier still has that marking.
These troops are semi-retired and occupy a place of honor on a wooden pedestal under a glass dome in my workspace. They are secured in place by a bit of museum wax. It holds them still but does not damage the figure and allows them to be intentionally moved. They are my most prized possessions.
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