The above wind-up tin toys may ring a bell to some but maybe not to the younger generations. They may be rather dull toys to the kids now, but these are some of the fabulous toys that I’m keen to get my hands on in the past.
To play, you just need to wind-up the toys and it will “action”! No batteries needed! But be careful, if you “over-wind” then the toy will breakdown.
If you take a closer look at these toys you bought in Singapore then, majority were made in China;
All the while I thought such tin toys originated from China but I am wrong until I read up on it – History of Tin Toys. In fact, such tin toys only started producing in China in the early 1920s.
Show me yours if you have! Oh, by the way the above 3 tin toys shown are still available at a shop here in Singapore – maybe of limited quantities…
if you’re interested in tin toys, do check out the retail section at the museum of shanghai toys. I know nuts about tin toys, but hope you manage to find some gems there
Or you could have visited the Galleria and Tropics Atrium at Suntec City Mall (but too bad if you haven’t, ‘cos today is the last day). They displayed some tin robots, one broken helicopter, some wooden tops, marbles, kuti-kuti and of course a real tikam-tikam board with all pieces of paper in its bottom half intact. They also had a lot of old stuff there – spittoon, tingkat, typewriter, wooden washing board, tin pails and basins, gramaphone, records, radios, etc. It was the HeritageFest 2007. Did you visit the exhibitions?
Hi Shaun, thanks for the info. But that museum charges is rather high for a family of 4 – at least to me.
Hi Victor, I was there with my family on Sat. It’s a good exhibit and it was divided into 2 parts – kids zone and adult, in 2 separate areas of Suntec City. Captured quite a lot of photos too.
Thanks.
hi i was looking at your pictures of your old tin toys and i also have the same exact toy of a jumping frog but mine is also from china sames colors but different number’s in the bottom if any questions please contact me back at my email
Greetings, I do believe your website may be having browser compatibility problems.
When I look at your site in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in IE, it’s got some overlapping issues. I simply wanted to give you a quick heads up! Apart from that, wonderful blog!