Penny toys is a name used for inexpensive tin toys mostly manufactured in Germany between the 1880s and 1914 that were sold in the UK, Europe and America in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
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Penny toys is a name used for inexpensive tin toys mostly manufactured in Germany between the 1880s and 1914 that were sold in the UK, Europe and America in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Penny toys, also known as tin toys, were made of tin metal with painted surfaces that typically included excellent detail. Most penny toys were manufactured in Germany and were originally sold to wholesalers by the gross for 8 shillings allowing the seller, often street peddlers to sell them for a substantial profit. [1] Typically the toys were miniatures, that is; under 10 cm and often included elements that facilitated movement, adding to their charm. [2] In the United Kingdom, the toys were sold for one Penny, hence the popular name of penny toys.
The advent of penny toys broadened the market for children's toys, by making them accessible and affordable for working-class families. [3] Although penny toys were manufactured into the first decades of the 20th century, the period 1885 -1914 is the peak period for their production. Today, penny toys are highly collectible. [4] Publicly accessible examples can be found in museums in England, North America, Scandinavia and across Europe; including Birmingham Science Museum in England, Royal Ontario Museum in Canada, Plassenburg Zinnfiguren Museum in Germany and Museo des Soldados de Iberica in Valencia, Spain.
Individual toys were manufactured for specific markets. Examples include; London omnibuses and ambulances destined for the British market; French postal delivery vans for Continental Europe and American locomotives intended for sale in America. [5] Types of penny toys included toy dolls, whistles, trains, motorcars, public transport and emergency vehicles, trucks, soldiers, animals and even a small Bible. [6]
Offset color lithography enabled fine detail and color to be applied to sheets of tin plate quickly and economically. Shapes were machine-cut and stamped and then assembled by unskilled workers, sometimes in cottage industries. [7] Many were manufactured by the Johann Philip Meier company of Nuremberg.
A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls go back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. They have been made as crude, rudimentary playthings as well as elaborate art. Modern doll manufacturing has its roots in Germany, from the 15th century. With industrialization and new materials such as porcelain and plastic, dolls were increasingly mass-produced. During the 20th century, dolls became increasingly popular as collectibles.
O scale is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad scale in the United States and remained so until the early 1960s. In Europe, its popularity declined before World War II due to the introduction of smaller scales.
Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer in business from 1919 to 1980. They made many types of toys including tin toys, toy soldiers, toy guns, action figures, dolls, toy cars and model trains. Some of their notable toys are Rock'em Sock'em Robots, Big Wheel tricycles, Disney branded dollhouses and playsets based on TV shows like Gunsmoke. Its products were often imprinted with the slogan "One of the many Marx toys, have you all of them?"
American Flyer is a brand of toy train and model railroad manufactured in the United States.
The Ives Manufacturing Company, an American toy manufacturer from 1868 to 1932, was the largest manufacturer of toy trains in the United States from 1910 until 1924, when Lionel Corporation overtook it in sales.
Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accessories, today it is best known for model railways and technical toys. In some parts of Germany and in Sweden, the company's name is almost synonymous with model railways.
A toy train is a toy that represents a train. It is distinguished from a model train by an emphasis on low cost and durability, rather than scale modeling. A toy train can be as simple as a toy that can run on a track, or it might be operated by electricity, clockwork or live steam. It is typically constructed from wood, plastic or metal. Many of today's steam trains might be considered as real ones as well, providing they are not strictly scale or not enough detailed ones in favor of a robustness appropriate for children or an inexpensive production.
The Hafner Manufacturing Company was a maker of tinplate clockwork-powered O gauge toy trains, based in Chicago, Illinois, from 1914 to 1951. It was formed when its founder, William Frederick Hafner, a co-founder of American Flyer, left the company in favor of creating his own company.
A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, American Indians, pirates, samurai, and other subjects that involve combat-related themes. Toy soldiers vary from simple playthings to highly realistic and detailed models. The latter are of more recent development and are sometimes called model figures to distinguish them from traditional toy soldiers. Larger scale toys such as dolls and action figures may come in military uniforms, but they are not generally considered toy soldiers.
Peg wooden dolls, also known as Dutch dolls, are a type of wooden doll from South Tyrol. They originated as simple lathe-turned dolls from the Val Gardena in the Alps. The name Pennywoods is also used for dolls of this type, in particular those made in the United States. These dolls were sold undressed. Children would then make their clothing from scraps of fabric.
Tinning is the process of thinly coating sheets of wrought iron or steel with tin, and the resulting product is known as tinplate. The term is also widely used for the different process of coating a metal with solder before soldering.
Tinware is any item made of prefabricated tinplate. Usually tinware refers to kitchenware made of tinplate, often crafted by tinsmiths. Many cans used for canned food are tinware as well. Something that is tinned after being shaped and fabricated is not considered tinware. Similar industrial products are called tin-sheet products or tinwork.
A toy museum is a museum for toys. They typically showcase toys from a particular culture or period with their history. These are distinct from children's museums, which are museums for children, and are often interactive – toy museums may be aimed at children or adults, and may have interactive exhibits or be exclusively for display.
A tin toy, or tin lithograph toy, is a mechanical toy made out of tinplate and colorfully painted by chromolithography to resemble primarily a character or vehicle.
A Frozen Charlotte is a specific form of china or bisque doll made in one solid piece without joints from c. 1850 to c. 1920. They were typically inexpensive, and the name Penny doll is also used, in particular for smallest, most affordable versions. The dolls had substantial popularity during the Victorian era.
The Toy Shop is an exhibit building at Shelburne Museum, which is located in Shelburne, Vermont. Toy Shop houses 19th- and early 20th-century playthings, including miniature transportation toys, penny banks, and music boxes.
Polistil S.p.A. is an Italian toy brand and former manufacturing company headquartered in Milan, with production center in Chiari, near Brescia. Polistil specialized in die-cast and plastic scale model vehicles of all sizes.
A bisque doll or porcelain doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of bisque or biscuit porcelain. Bisque dolls are characterized by their realistic, skin-like matte finish. They had their peak of popularity between 1860 and 1900 with French and German dolls. Bisque dolls are collectible, and antique dolls can be worth thousands of dollars. Antique German and French bisque dolls from the 19th century were often made as children's playthings, but contemporary bisque dolls are predominantly made directly for the collectors market.
Mettoy was a British manufacturing company founded in 1933 by German émigré Philip Ullmann, who was later joined by South African-born German Arthur Katz who had previously worked for Ullmann at his toy company Tipp and Co of Nuremberg. The firm made a variety of lithographed metal wind-up toys. Both Jewish, they moved to Britain following Hitler's rise to power in 1933.
Traditional Mexican handcrafted toys are those made by artisans rather than manufactured in factories. The history of Mexican toys extends as far back as the Mesoamerican era, but many of the toys date to the colonial period. Many of these were introduced as teaching tools by evangelists, and were associated with certain festivals and holidays. These toys vary widely, including cup and ball, lotería, dolls, miniature people, animals and objects, tops and more—made of many materials, including wood, metal, cloth, corn husks, ceramic, and glass. These toys remained popular throughout Mexico until the mid-20th century, when commercially made, mostly plastic toys became widely available. Because of the advertising commercial toys receive and because they are cheaper, most traditional toys that are sold as handcrafts, principally to tourists and collectors.