Minneapolis collector has thousands of toy soldiers in his basement

Peter Nussbaum is a peaceful guy who stages battles in his Minneapolis basement.

The retired engineer has been collecting toy soldiers since early childhood and now has troops numbering in the thousands. He has about 2,000 soldiers on display in elaborate dioramas and in groupings on shelves, plus another 5,000 to 10,000 packed in boxes.

"For me, it's a time machine," he said. "This is how I get back to my childhood."

Nussbaum's fascination with little fighting men was sparked when his mother's English relatives sent him some toy knights.

"They were metal knights on horseback, with spears and tufted helmets made from dart feathers," he recalled. He played with them so much that they eventually fell apart, although he replaced them with similar knights, which he still has.

Nussbaum's collection includes soldiers from many centuries and cultures — ancient Greeks, medieval Europeans, Mongol warriors and samurai — and he knows the lore and legends of all of them.

"I have a lifelong love of history," he said. "Not just war history, although war history is part of it."

He has figures that depict a wedding celebration of Cumans, nomadic medieval-era warriors of Eurasia. "Not everything is warfare," he said. He also has a blacksmith shop that he made himself. "I'm interested in medieval technology."

He also makes his own dioramas, using papier-mâché and paint to create landscapes, then sets miniature castles and catapults that serve as a backdrop for the battle scenes he creates.

Unlike military miniature collectors, a sub niche who re-create actual historical battles, Nussbaum invents his fighting scenes.

"These aren't real battles — they're battles I created," he said.

Creativity outlet

Some might consider his fascination with armed conflict grim.

"Do war toys promote violence?" he mused. "For me, in particular, the answer is no. I don't like violent movies. I like historic movies."

His wife, Sandy, agreed that he is not a warlike guy. "He's quite the opposite," she said. "He really enjoys the creative part," building the dioramas and painting tiny soldiers to match those depicted in the famous Bayeux tapestry, which chronicles a medieval battle in England. "He goes to hobby shops to get weapons, tools, barrels and ropes. It's his play space."

Some of his soldiers were manufactured to be interactive. He points out a display of figures called Swoppets.

"They make soldiers with components you can swap," he said, including shields, crests and weapons. "The mounted guys have horses, blankets and saddles you can swap. There are hundreds of millions of possible combinations." He does some occasional swapping, but is careful when he does so because the plastic ages and gets brittle. "You can break them if you're not too careful."

His most valuable pieces aren't soldiers at all but medieval female figures with tall, pointed hats.

"They're not easy to find in the U.S.," he said. Made by a German company, Hausser Elastolin in the early 1960s, they weren't produced for long because the company discovered that their primary customers, little boys, didn't want to play with miniature women, he said. Today the figures can sell for hundreds of dollars.

Nussbaum has invited kids to see his collection. While they're not allowed to play with his most valuable pieces or the arranged dioramas, he keeps "boxes of soldiers they can play with, including catapults that shoot."

While Sandy doesn't share his hobby, she's "a supporter," she said. "I found all the display cases. I certainly helped with many things. It's such an interesting hobby."

Before the pandemic, she often accompanied him on trips related to his collecting and love of history.

"My hobby informs a lot of our travel," he said. "I've been to Germany, to the German toy shows. There's a big show in Chicago every year, and we go with a car full of stuff."

While he doesn't buy much these days ("I'm maxed out," he said), he can still be tempted by "really rare stuff. It might be once every three years you find something."

Kim Palmer • 612-673-4784

@Stribkimpalmer