VINTAGE TOY

VINTAGE TOY

Strange how a toy evokes childhood, yet all toys were not made for children. Clappers were originally designed to drive away evil spirits, dolls to encourage fertility, corn-husk figures to promote a good harvest, and intricate moving toys were invented to amuse rich men at their banquets.

 African rattles were mere seed pods. Greek knucklebones were real bones, natural forked twigs were used in Australia while in England wishing-bones and old clothes-pegs were dressed up and became dolls.

Clay was modelled very early on, especially by folk living near rivers where plenty of mud was available. Minute pots and humped-back clay animals came from regions north of India, jointed dolls from Greece; there were also many birds which, when blown into, made a hollow sound.

Sticks and brooms ridden astride were the forerunners of the hobby horse. Hoops came from discarded barrels, and in South America a little wheel on a toy cart came before real wheels were used as a means of locomotion.

VINTAGE TOY

About 2,500 years ago kites were flown in the East and eventually it was a kite which led to the first suspension bridge over the river Niagara. Now they take the shape of huge birds, tortoises or flying bats and are beautifully coloured.

During the 5th century B.C., many little figures were made depicting the daily life of the inhabitants of Greece and Rome. Some were made of a mixture of lead, tin and antimony, others from bronze or from clay. Tin was added to harden the bronze and was in great demand, the Phoenicians even going as far as Cornwall in their search for materials. 




During the Middle Ages, treasures retrieved from sunken ships in­cluded miniature domestic items, and during the 12th century A.D. boys played with toy knights manipulated by strings.

Rattles are probably among the oldest children's toys but it was not until the 17th century that any substantial advances on their design were made. Particularly delightful are the silver rattles of the 18th and 19th centuries with tiny bells attached and often incorporating a whistle. Such rattles usually had coral handles for the baby to cut his teeth on. 





Hand­bells and drums were also popular in these centuries, the former appear­ing as pairs of handbells played by groups of children and sets of small bells each producing a different note hung together on a tree-like frame and provided with a small striking hammer.





 Tin drums first appeared in the early 19th century and for a time became even more popular than skin drums.

Copies of pilgrims' badges were made as toys for children and lead soldiers stood upright by means of boards with holes. These figures were made in moulds, many of which have survived. Model trees were often sold Hat and later bent into position.






 The Hilpert family in Germany were famous for their animals and soldiers. Other makers were Gotts- chalk and Beck, both from Switzerland. Ernst Heinrichsen was busy in Nuremberg, and it was he who introduced the size of 3 cm (1^ in) for the metal figures and soldiers.


 Another well-known toy maker, Allgeyer of Furth, also conformed to this scale from about 1848.

Early soldiers are flat and known as flats, though later ones are solid, like the Churchill soldiers in Blenheim Palace which were made by a Frenchman called Lucotte. The first hollow metal soldiers were made in 1893 by William Britain, an Englishman.

VINTAGE TOY

Toy vehicles of all kinds, whether road or rail, are useful historic indicators of how means of travel have altered. The first metal trains were coloured by hand, though later the rather brittle colouring was applied by heat.





 Little tin-plate German cars were assembled by means of tabs and slots, whereas those from France had the joints soldered. The more expensive cars of about 1908 had doors made to open am shut. Children's pedal cars came as early as 1906.

Rubber was an ideal substance for balls and solid rubber balls were played with in Mexico about A.D.700. Hollow animals and dolls were made in two halves and often contained a squeaker, but rubber dolls have never become popular being apt to fade and heavy to hold. Toy aeroplanes were propelled by rubber bands.

Miniature violins have been known almost from the time the full-size instrument was invented. Until the later 19th century they were made with the same precision as the normal violin and were intended to be played. 



Miniature violins as well as guitars intended only as toys and simply making an appropriate noise were manufactured in considerable quanti­ties towards the end of the 19th century. They were made in wood, papier-mache and tin, but it is usually only the more accurate instru­ments that are of interest to the collector.

Probably no other toy is more associated with the Edwardian Victorian nursery than the doll's house. They have been known since the 16th century and were probably first made in Nuremberg. The dolls' houses of the late 18th and early 19th century are more attractive and detailed than the later Victorian houses; to the Victorian child the furnishings were more important than the house itself.






 The interior of the lavishly- appointed Victorian house was often accurate to the last detail, from the perfect miniature carpets and curtains to the intricate hand-made furniture and upholstery.

VINTAGE TOY

Celluloid was used for bath toys and for ping-pong balls. It was made famous by the little Kewpie dolls designed by Rose O'Neill Wilson of the United States in 1913. With their shiny tummies, wide open eyes and tiny blue wings they were instantly appealing. In the heyday of celluloid, pretty goldfish from Japan floated in many baths, but eventually all

celluloid toys were banned because they were too inflammable. The material did, however, lead to the present-day plastics.

Buzz toys were introduced into the United States by British soldiers towards the end of the 18th century. German immigrants introduced arks, rocking horses and some of their dolls. Now, over the years, various toys have gradually become associated with specific countries. 





These include nest toys and pecking toys from Russia, creche figures and marionettes from Italy, silver toys, wooden dolls' houses from the Netherlands, and arks from Bohemia. Early dolls' houses were known as baby houses.

VINTAGE TOY

Germany is noted for its toy soldiers and engines, France for fashion dolls and strangely for cheap clockwork toys, Switzerland for intricate automata and England for wax dolls and paper cut-outs. The United States became known for cast-iron toys, intricate fire-engines, cap pistols and Daisy guns.




 Also from America came the first teddy bears, but gollywogs remain exclusively English.

Not only toys are collected, now their boxes are collected also. Little oval pinewood boxes are especially pretty and contain wooden animals and figures. Cardboard boxes can also be attractive; both oval and rec­tangular kinds appeared in the early 1880s, many with interesting labels. In times of scarcity even net bags take their place.