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.
Tin clockwork toy train, German manufacture, c. 1900
Description
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.
Types
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]
Manufacture
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.
^Levy, Allan, A Century of Toys from the London Toy & Model Museum Michael Edgley, 1982, p. 17 ISBN0949616001
^Pressland, David, Book of Penny Toys, Pei International, 1991
^Cross, G., Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood, Harvard University Press, 2009, pp 95-96
^O'Neill, R., The Collector's Encyclopedia of Metal Toys: A Pictorial Guide to Over 2,500 Examples of Tinplate and Diecast Toys Dating from 1850 to the Present Day, Crescent Books, 1988
^Pressland, David, Book of Penny Toys, Pei International, 1991
^Pedrick, Gale & Stroud, Jean Honest Penny Pelham Books 1970, pp.120-127
^Solis-Cohen, Lita These Little Toys are Penny Toys No LongerThe Baltimore Sun August 02, 1992
Further reading
Pressland, David & Chakra, Narisa (Editor) The Book of Penny Toys New Cavendish Books; 1st edition (5 Aug. 1999) ISBN0904568547
Pressland, David, The Art of the Tin Toy, Crown, N.Y., 1976
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