Tin Toys | Museum of Childhood

Tin Toys

The toys we had when we were young were not often of our own choosing but given to us by relatives on our Birthdays or Christmas. Well-off families could afford to spend money on mechanical novelty toys and well built German cars, boats and planes, while those children of the less well off played with penny toys and yo-yo's.

Now, as collectors we can search and find those things that really appeal to us, and is it really ever to late, to acquire that dream toy of our childhood? That toy may still trigger off those sweet childhood memories and even though it was beyond our reach as a child, you may still find the idea and pleasure of owning it, is still quite as strong.

There are many fields of Tin Toys to collect from and the choice is rich. Whether you are attracted by the craftsmanship, the artwork or the design there are so many examples to choose from. Like ourselves, the toys reflect the era in which they were manufactured and perhaps in this lies their charm. Here is a link, however tenuous with our own beginnings.

Here you will find examples of the colourful history of Tin Toys. Those clockwork, then battery driven mechanical novelties from France, Germany, Great Britain, America and the far East. From 19th Century marvels to the robots of the 1960's.