More Help From Mr. Peter Cozens

Thursday, October 11,2012
Another Super Autumn Day in Montreal

More Help From

Mr. Peter Cozens

     A few day ago, I wrote about Mr. Peter Cozens. He had given me the "go-ahead" (permission) to write about his blog. I initially started to check his site out after I got the OK, and realized that he a fantastic of sold images and toys in inventory that I'd like to use for many blogs. O write back, but the time differences between Australia and Canada being 14 hours and the next say ahead, I received the answer 14 hours later - an OK.

     So for today, I'm again showing nice toys that I havent' seen much on E-Bay. They are Meccano Cars ( Special Kits) and Lehmann Toys (German). 

Meccano  Vehicle Sets (Special Kits)

    Most of you (if you're at least 30-70 plus) probably played with these toys. For those who don't know, Meccano is a construction model sit consisting of colourful metal strips with holes in them.The kit came with nuts and bolts, and you assembled the pieces to create bridges, ferris wheels , and other things. Most of the time, I used my hands, since I'd have to clean up and put the pieces back in their box. However, the kit also cames with wrenches and pliers for those who really wanted to tighten their parts and keep the whole assembled toy in their room. In the US, there was the Gilbert Company that manufactured a similar type of toy. Those of us who were a part of the British Empire or after (the Commonwealth of Nations) would have had access to buy these items, as the countries traded with each other.  

     The toy was invented by Frank Hornby in England in 1901, and the company made these toys from 1908-1980 in Britain, before eventually being bought over by other companies. Nowadays, the kits are manufactured in France by Meccano S.N., and the "usual" China. The company is owned by the Nikko Group (Japan).

    The cars (called "vehicles) by the British were special kits that were released form time to time. 

other "special kits" included cranes, army toys, and airplanes.

Lehmann Toys

      I've never written about  the Lehmann Company as the toys are out of my price range for buying and selling on E-Bay. The company was created by Ernst Paul Lehmann in Brandenberg, Germany in  1881. By 1895 the company was very successful,and exported shiploads of toys to the USA and Great Britain. The toys are made of tin with the colours and designs lithographed on the metal. The type of toy is called a "mechanical toy". It has sets of gears and a coil that winds up with a key. Depending upon the toy, the toy can roll (car) kick (like the toy mule below) and do many other unique movements. The toys made in Germany are much more in demand and valuable. What happened after WWII was that the Russians confiscated the company, and I would assume, simply moved the factory into Russia. The Russians had done similar things with many other German factories after the war. Pre WWII toys have the letter "e" and a bell symbol around the letter. Other toys have the name of Lehmann on them.

    I'm sure that you can figure out what each of the above toys does, although the mule might be hard. I think it  kicks its legs back as if to show his/her displeasure with having to pull the cart.

So that's another post on

the wonderful world of old and antique toys.

A special thanks to Mr. Peter Cozens for 

sharing his quality photos andtoys with us.

Peter Cozens

Antique Toy World

Australia

http://www.antiquetoyworld.com.au/

Have a great morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you may be.