Antique Windup Toys
During the 1880s European toy makers started the craze of windup or spring-driven tinplate toys on a vast scale. Recognizing the great potential of this expanding market. American firms also began to produce large quantities of spring-driven tinplate toys in the early 20th century. The quality of the early windup toys was certainly lacking, but the action provided in the toys was well ample to attract a loyal following. Some of the first major American toy companies to offer windup toys were those of Julius Chein, beginning in 1903, Strauss, in 1914, and Louis Marx, who in the 1920s and '30s produced a really wide variety of finer and more creative now VERY antique windup toys, many of which depicted radio or movie celebrities or cartoon characters and many of which are still heavily sought by collectors.
Specifics of Spring Driven (windup) Windup Toys
Toward the end of the 19th century, European makers of spring-driven and friction toys were successfully pushing their toys in the U.S. The toys were so inexpensive that they were underselling American clockwork toy makers who were producing this type of toy. American toy firms soon fought back and began to market spring-driven toys. Prior to 1900 one of the more famous of the toy makers was Sehlesinger, whose windup toys are heavily sought after today but are extremely difficult to find. Strauss and Marx also made many (now collectible) windup toys of tinplate around 1910 and Marx soon after became leading maker of these windup and spring-driven toys with colorful painted and lithographed designs. Later with the introduction on of plastics into toy making, these plaything gradually died out after World War II, with the exception of some lower quality Chinese and Japanese models which still are considered less than collectible toys of the era.
Ives -- One of America's more famous toy manufacturers (E. R. Ives & Company) was one of the few companies to make windup trains and has become quite famous for them. Seldom will you find an opportunity to catch an Ives windup toy train in the marketplace, but if you do, consider yourself one of the lucky few. By the time Lionel took over the Ives company in 1929, collectible windup toy trains manufacture has been stopped.
|
