The Nuts and Bolts of Vintage Tin Toys
by Martin Swinton

Before Game Boy and Play Station, there were tin toys. During their heyday, these whimsical toys amused children for hours. Today, these toys have great nostalgic appeal. Here’s your guide to tin toys.

The Players.

In England, Wells, Hornby and Chad Valley were dominant players in the tin toy market. During the post-1930 period, these companies were at their peak and any of their work from this period is very desirable. In Germany, Märklin and Bing were the big guns. In France, it was Fernand Martin. Toys by any of these makers are desirable.

How It Started.

Before there were tin toys, children played with wood and paper toys. Tinplating was developed during the Industrial Revolution. Its discovery made the tinplated toy industry possible. Tinplate was fashioned into boats, submarines, cars, planes, horse drawn carriages and more.

Germany dominated the pre-WWI export market. The outbreak of WWI forced the rest of Europe, Japan and the US into the market due to wartime shortages and to counteract the German dominance.

After WWI, Germany refocused their economy and regained market dominance in tin toys.

But once again, war affected commerce when WWII resulted in shortages in raw materials and a battle-focused economy.

Post WWII, when Germany and Japan received financial aid to revitalize their economies, the tin toy industry in these countries was revived.

Just as tin toys were once the hot new toy replacing wood and paper toys, tin toys were usurped by plastic toys by the 1970s. These new plastic toys captured the imaginations of children since they were cheaper to produce, didn’t rust and were sturdy.

How They’re Made.

Tin toys were made from sheet iron that was plated with a protective layer of tin to prevent rusting. Before the Industrial Revolution, tin toys were stamped out, molded and hand painted. The Industrial Revolution led to mass production.

Around 1875, lithography - a transfer printing process whereby a series of dots make up colors - was invented. This eliminated the time-consuming hand painting and increased production.

Part of the charm of tin toys is that you wind them up and away they go. The clockwork mechanism (the mechanical part of a watch that makes it tick) is responsible for this action. In 1945, clockwork mechanisms were replaced by battery-operated mechanisms.

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