13 Lead Soldiers is a 1948 American mystery film directed by Frank McDonald and starring Tom Conway, Maria Palmer and Helen Westcott.

He is approached by a friend, Phillip Coleman, who tells him that he owns two similar figures and that he has received first offers, then threats to sell them.

Drummond and his friend Longworth then visit Stedman Manor and meet the daughter of the victim, Cynthia.

She tells them that her father's figures were very similar to those brought by Drummond but different in detail and that they were part of a set of 13 soldiers that Dr Stedman bought at auction together with an Anglo-Saxon palimpsest.

Dr Stedman was convinced that the statues were exceedingly valuable and he received an offer to buy them from a man called Vane.

The next day, Drummond and his friends are at Inspector McIver's office when Ms Stedman identifies the dead man as Vane.

He tells them that he has done research on the soldiers: the figurines show the 13 last leaders of the Anglo-Saxons before the Norman Conquest.

Before being defeated, King Harold hid his treasure at a manor near London and had the parchment with a map and instructions written, whilst the figures served as the cipher/key to find the hiding place.

Drummond arranges the soldiers on a pedestal just like in the drawing and their weight distribution opens a secret door.