March of the Toy Soldiers

The Germans are dug in at Casa Brava, a sprawling waterfront home on the South Shore of Long Island. British infantrymen are charging at the front lines; others are recharging at a mess hall. Enemy tanks are playing a deadly game of chicken. From their respective positions, General Bernard Montgomery and Field Marshall Eugene Rommel stand at attention, each with his own funny hat and standard-issue blank stare.

Bill Jackey, 68, rediscovered toy soldiers, a passion from his childhood, about 12 years ago. When Mr. Jackey was a kid in the 1940s, his family had a summer home not far from the manse he now lives in with his wife, retail exec powerhouse Rose Marie Bravo. Back then, he and his best buddy, Bill O’Brien, spent hours waging war with meticulously hand-painted lead soldiers in a purple iris bed in Mr. O’Brien’s backyard.

Mr. Jackey retired in 1997—he was an executive at a furniture company—right around the time his wife became CEO of Burberry and they relocated to London. Ms. Bravo proceeded to spice up the trademark plaid retailer with a Kate Moss ad campaign and nearly doubled sales to a billion dollars.

“When you do retire, you just don’t sit around and watch television, you know, you do things,” said Mr. Jackey, who has a white beard and bears a resemblance to Kris Kringle. “I just do it because I have the time and I find it interesting. It isn’t a bad business venture, I don’t think—though that’s not why I’m doing it.”

Two weeks ago, he paid more than $30,000 for an extremely rare set of nine British fusiliers, guardsmen with big bear hats on. Made in 1893, it is a full set, in pristine condition, with the packaging straw still in the box.

In the span of a decade, Mr. Jackey has amassed one of the most valuable collections of toy soldiers in the world. “I’ve probably spent about a million dollars,” he said of his 10,000-strong militia. “Don’t tell my wife that.”

In the foyer, Mr. Jackey has set up the above-mentioned North African Campaign in display cases. Look up and you’ll see a dogfight between German and Royal Air Force fighter jets—the Battle of Britain. But soldiers of real value he keeps out of reach of the grandchildren, in a nearby room lined with glass cases. A staircase leading up to the living room is lined with photos of Mrs. Bravo with Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth.

“Here he was, with Rose Marie in London,” said Mr. Jackey’s childhood friend, Mr. O’Brien, “and at about the same time, all the major collectors of Britain’s toy soldiers came through the various auction houses, whether it was Phillips or Bonhams or Christie’s. So he was able to sit and cherry-pick all the greatest collections, and that’s what makes it a very unique, world-class collection.”

Mr. O’Brien, a retired admissions officer from Princeton University whose interest in toy soldiers has also endured since childhood, has seen many of the competing private collections—Ed Ruby out in California, Arnold Rolak of Texas, Bill Miele of Cleveland, James Opie of London. He never did get to see the collection Malcolm Forbes kept in his castle in Tangiers. He says his friend Mr. Jackey’s tops them all.

Mr. Jackey has long been a student of history.

“This is the Foreign Legion against the Arabs,” he said, indicating a nearby display case. “I’ve got a big collection of Arab stuff. They made Arab soldiers, you know, when they were in the Middle East, just before the First World War. That’s why we have the problems we have there: The British and the French divided up the Middle East after World War I. They created this whole mess. But I just did a little battle here. This is just French Foreign Legion against Arabs, like the movie Beau Geste with Gary Cooper.”

He says he’s not an obsessive collector.

“It’s a hobby,” he said. “I happen to have enough money where I can afford it. I’m more obsessed with what I should be obsessed with, which is spreading the Gospel.”