Mettoy Mad Hatter's Race Game

Here is a preview of the section on the Mettoy Mad Hatter's Race game from the forthcoming book.  Enjoy!

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Founded in 1933 by Jewish emigrants fleeing the Nazis, Mettoy (a contraction of METal TOY) made a metal, tin, and plastic toys over a span of fifty years.

Arthur Katz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1908.  When his father died in 1920 he moved to Nuremberg with his mother since she was originally German.  After completing school he entered the toy business as an apprentice for a toy export company.  Once his apprenticeship was complete he began working for a tin toy company, Tipp & Co, which was owned by a cousin Philip Ullmann.

With the rise of the Nazis in 1933, he emigrated to England on his South African British passport.  Ullmann joined him shortly thereafter, and the two formed a new toy company, Mettoy, in a workshop owned by a model train maker, Basset-Lowke.  But within five years they has to switch from tin toys to war production as England entered World War II.  Interestingly their landlord Basset-Lowke had a vested interest in many Jewish-German suppliers for their business, and that company spent a large portion of their profits helping Jewish refugees escape Germany.  

The war and accompanying defense contracts were good to Mettoy, so much so that the company needed to expand into a larger manufacturing space, which was arranged by the British government.  The new factory was in Swansea, Wales in the town of Fforestfach.  When the war ended in 1945, toy production resumed.  By this time Mettoy had expanded into plastics given that rationing of metal was still in force, but by 1956 rationing had been lifted and they began making their most well known toy line of all:  Corgi die cast vehicles.  

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s Mettoy continued to grow with Corgi sales increasing in their standard car line but especially so with their licensed cars for Batman, James Bond, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  However, the arrival of Mattel's Hot Wheels in the late 1960s, coupled with a devastating fire in at the factory in 1969, Mettoy's fortunes began to turn.  The 1970s and 1980s were a difficult time for Mettoy, and despite many efforts to turn the company around, including the creation of their very own personal computer product "The Dragon", the company went into receivership in 1983.  

The following years saw the company spin-off the Corgi brand, which eventually was purchased by Mattel.  The brand was sold several more times through the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, until it was purchased by Hornby in 2008 where the brand continues to be sold to this day.

The number of Disney toys made by Mettoy is not known to me, but I am aware of a few tin toys from the 1950s including a zoetrope called the Disneyland Moviedrome, a toy called the Disneyland Skating, and the Alice game below; as well as the plastic film viewer toy from the 1970s called the Walt Disney Movie Viewer.

The one known Alice toy, The Mad Hatter's Race, was likely released at the time of the original film's release in 1951 or perhaps 1952.  No historical pricing has been discovered.

This is one of the coolest toys ever made for Alice in Wonderland.  It is a game played on a tin race track, with the game piece being a windup toy of Alice on the Drink Me bottle from the Sea of Tears.  I have only ever seen one complete example with box - this one.  I've seen the tin board and the windup toy once or twice before.  Needless to say this is an exceptionally rare toy.

The Nursery Play Toy by Chad Valley of England

This is a picture heavy post, so bear with page load times.  Quite possibly one of the coolest toys to come out of the original release overseas is this set of tin blocks by Chad Valley of England.  Called 'The Nursery Play Toy', this set eluded me for years, but I finally acquired it, in its original box!!

The set consists of a set of five cylindrical tin block that nest together, each lavishly illustrated with a scene from the film.

The box itself has some fun illustrations as well including baby oysters on the lid!

The side panels of the box have large illustrations of the characters including the White Rabbit

the Mad Hatter's Tea Party

the Walrus and the Carpenter

and a few flowers on the bottom.

The largest of the tin blocks features Alice, Dinah and her sister with the White Rabbit racing by.

The top of this tin features Alice riding the bottle on the sea of tears.

The next size down features Alice in the Garden of Live Flowers

and the Caterpillar.

and a Rocking Horse Fly.

The Dodo makes an appearance on the top of this block.

Next size down features all the denizens of the Mad Tea Party

with the Cheshire Cat on the top.

Down one more size we have the White Rabbit and Bill the Lizard outside the White Rabbit's house

and the White Rabbit on the top as well.

The smallest block has the Cards painting the roses red

with the King and Queen of Hearts

and of course Alice on the croquet grounds.

A not very attractive image of Alice adorns the top of this tin.

This is a very rare toy indeed.  In the more than 25 years I've been collecting this is only the second complete set I've ever seen.  A partial set was on eBay a few weeks ago, and went for big bucks even though it was missing the smallest of the blocks.

Chad Valley toys is a very old brand in the UK, makers of fine toys for most of the 20th century.  The brand is still active, most recently purchased in 2009 by Argos which exclusively offers Chad Valley toys today.

Toffee Tin - Edward Sharp & Sons, Ltd.

This is one of those items you look at and just say "Wow, that is pretty damn cool!"

This is a vintage toffee tin from England, by Edward Sharp & Sons, Ltd. of Maidstone, Kent to be precise. There is no date, but I'm guessing it is from the original release or thereabouts due to the presence of the infamous red-striped stockings.

This particular tin was filled with Plain Super-Kreem Toffee according to the label, which the previous owner graciously removed yet kept in side the tin

along with the Sharp & Sons guarantee.

Edward Sharp & Sons made lots and lots of specialty toffee tins, including this Alice and for sure a Snow White as well. Edward Sharp himself was the first Baronet of Warden Court, a relatively recent Baronetage created in 1922.

Sharps toffee can still be purchased today, although I believe the brand has been purchased by Taveners .

200th Post - Mad Hatter's Sky-View Taxi - Linemar Tin Toy

Hard to believe this is my 200th post, and I've had just over 30,000 visitors. Of course most of those hits were people looking for sewing patterns for Alice costumes, or free coloring pages.

The first time I ever heard of this toy was in the oddest place. It was at the movies. It was 1995, and I got dragged to see Dracula, Dead and Loving It (ugh). Before the movie started, the theater showed slides on the screen, some with ads, some with trivia. And then all of a sudden this toy appeared on the screen.

It was a slide showing an auction result from Smith House Toys, I believe the final hammer price was something like $1800, which was pretty spectacular. I remember actually standing up in my seat. My friends were of course highly amused. I even tried to get the theater to part with the slide (to no avail).

I eventually found this one at the Glendale Toy Show, in Jan '97. I've only ever seen one other example in that time. I have no other information on this Linemar toy, but it is definitely rare. They did a couple of other tin toy cars that look similar. If anyone has any other information on this item, I would love to see it.