The Games People Played: Dominoes
By Anne Furnish Cartwright The earliest reference we have to the game of dominoes dates back to Chinese writings of around 900 AD. The earliest set of dominoes known, also Chinese, dates from 1120 AD. A set of Chinese dominoes (not to be confused with mahjong), is composed of 32 tiles representing various (but not […]
Children’s Favorite Tool Chests
By Ken Vliet In collecting children’s tool chests it is difficult to find them with their original tools. It is a great joy to find a complete or nearly complete tool set because it provides the source for what to look for at toy shows, antique shows, and thank goodness for flea markets. Several of […]
Carl Adam: The Little-Known Inventor of A Lot of Well-Known Toys
By Jurgen and Marianne Cieslik Rare luck. While researching our book Ein Jahrhundert Blechspielzeug: Ein Jahrhundert E.P. Lehmann (Lehmann Toys, the History of E. P. Lehmann 1881-1981), we had a chance meeting with Artur Adam, the son of Carl Adam, in August 1980. Artur was living in modest circumstances in Frankfurt am Main where we […]
Ahrens Fox Pumper
By Roy Blomster I am a toy collector. I have been collecting since the mid-1970s, and as a member of the ATCA, I enjoy going all over the country viewing other people’s collections. Most of the collections date prior to 1941–a year that was to become a major turning point for toys because the metal […]
Crandall’s Pigs in Clover
By Christina Rubin Charles Martin Crandall, born May 30, 1833, started inventing toys at the tender age of 12, and took over the Crandall Toy Company at age 16 upon his father’s death in 1849. The company under the guidance and ingenuity of Charles, became famous for its toy blocks, Crandall’s Acrobats, and numerous other […]
Palmer Cox Brownies
By Jeanne Solensky, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library One of the joys of my job is to search through manuscripts and ephemera for related items after finding something that grabs my fancy. One day, by chance, I found a cigar label depicting writer and illustrator Palmer Cox (1840Ð1924), creator of the Brownies. Although the Winterthur […]
Structo Toys 1915 – 1920
By Paul Stimmler The toy company we know as Structo was formed in 1908 by partners Louis Strohacker and C.E. Thompson. Located in Freeport, Illinois at 122 North Powell Avenue, they were originally known as the Thompson Company. The company started by making erector-type toy steel construction sets which they sold directly to the retailer […]
Buddy
By Michael Yolles In 1982, Albert W. McCollough’s book The Complete Book of Buddy “L” Toyswas published. He began the Story of Buddy “L” as follows: “There is something special about Buddy “L” Toys that is unmatched by any others, it is their unique appeal that has endeared them to children, parents, and collector’s for […]
Mr. Edison and the Talking Doll
By Christina Rubin In 1877, Thomas Edison dreamed of creating a talking doll using his recent invention of the phonograph. But it took a fellow inventor, William W. Jacques, to develop a real working prototype for the dream to become a reality. Excited by this new application of the phonograph, Jacques with his partner, Lowell […]
A Nodding Acquaintance
By David Finn These days almost any Z-list celebrity or sportsperson has a bobble-head dedicated to them but back in the 19th century this was not the case. Although a huge variety of nodding figures were made, maybe the finest were to be produced in the Thuringen town of Sonneberg in Germany. They were usually […]