The Art of Play: The Fire Chief, c. 1950

Tin Toy
England, Circa 1950
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made around 1950, this toy is now part of the Michael Buhler Collection of tin toys at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Museum of Childhood.

The tin car was manufactured in England and operates by means of a small friction system. Such cars were made at the time in a variety of styles. This one is part of a set which was made up of a Police car, a fire truck and an ambulance. This is the Fire Chief’s car, and, it’s pretty nifty. The tin has been neatly painted with great care and detail. Little people in firefighters gear have even been painted on the windows to give the impression of passengers. Tin toys like this developed originally in the U.S. around 1850, but the medium quickly caught on in Europe with Germany becoming one of the major centers of production.

The Home Beautiful: A Vintage Biscuit Tin, c. 1920

Biscuit Tin Bank
England, 1920s
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This biscuit tin from the early 19th Century was made for the Christmas season. After the First World War, the typical English biscuit tin—a convention which arose in 1861—had become more reserved than the Nineteenth Century, opulent, printed tin models. The exception to this was the Christmas Season when fanciful and clever designs were produced for biscuit companies wishing to appeal to children and their parents. 

These tins were made to be saved, and, often, they’d offer a feature which gave them extended use. This one, for example, was made to serve as a money box or bank after the cookies had all been eaten. It is decorated with printed scenes from “Alice in Wonderland” as well as depictions of Nursery Rhyme characters. The coin slot at the top could be punched out when the biscuits were all gone.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Clock Biscuit Tin, 1877

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This beautiful clock, on first glance, appears to be the real deal. However, it’s one of the many clever biscuit tins produced in Britain at the end of the Nineteenth Century after the Licensed Grocer's Act of 1861 allowed groceries to be individually packaged and sold. Biscuit tins were made in increasingly complex and elaborate designs—not only making them appealing to shoppers who might choose one brand of biscuits over another because of an attractive package, but also ensuring that they’d remain beloved collectibles for centuries to come.


This tin was produced in 1877 for the Christmas season and depicts a tall-case clock in the chinoiserie style which was so popular at the time. A remarkable job of shaping the tin with raised details is only made all the more beautiful by the chromolithography.

P.S.  The hands move and everything!

The Home Beautiful: A Vintage Biscuit Tin, c. 1920

Biscuit Tin Bank
England, 1920s
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This biscuit tin from the early 19th Century was made for the Christmas season. After the First World War, the typical English biscuit tin—a convention which arose in 1861—had become more reserved than the Nineteenth Century, opulent, printed tin models. The exception to this was the Christmas Season when fanciful and clever designs were produced for biscuit companies wishing to appeal to children and their parents. 

These tins were made to be saved, and, often, they’d offer a feature which gave them extended use. This one, for example, was made to serve as a money box or bank after the cookies had all been eaten. It is decorated with printed scenes from “Alice in Wonderland” as well as depictions of Nursery Rhyme characters. The coin slot at the top could be punched out when the biscuits were all gone.

The Art of Play: The Fire Chief, c. 1950

Tin Toy
England, Circa 1950
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made around 1950, this toy is now part of the Michael Buhler Collection of tin toys at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Museum of Childhood.

The tin car was manufactured in England and operates by means of a small friction system. Such cars were made at the time in a variety of styles. This one is part of a set which was made up of a Police car, a fire truck and an ambulance. This is the Fire Chief’s car, and, it’s pretty nifty. The tin has been neatly painted with great care and detail. Little people in firefighters gear have even been painted on the windows to give the impression of passengers. Tin toys like this developed originally in the U.S. around 1850, but the medium quickly caught on in Europe with Germany becoming one of the major centers of production.

The Art of Play: Pinocchio on a Donkey, c. 1969

Click image to enlarge
Pinocchio on a Donkey, c. 1969
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This tinplate donkey is coated in a tan plush material and has been decorated with a faux-fur tail. His nose is white plastic, as are his eyes, and his ears are lined with white cloth. A rider sits atop him—moulded in pink vinyl. The figure is painted and holds reins of red thread. Oh, and, he’s Pinocchio. Of course.  Because he would be.

Made in Japan in the late 1960s to early 1970s, this donkey features a key in his side. When wound, by means of his clockwork mechanism, he bucks up and down and tosses the rider about.

He comes with his original box. This charming, if not a little odd, toy is part of the Barry Joseph Collection of playthings which was purchased by the Victoria & Albert’s Museum of Childhood. 

The Art of Play: The Buhler Tin Monkey, c. 1950

Tin Monkey
Made in England
Circa 1950
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Tin Monkey! Yay! From the Michael Buhler collection of tin toys at the V&A, we have this English toy monkey which was made around 1950. The very first tin toys appeared in the U.S. in the Nineteenth Century, but the medium quickly spread to Europe where it was employed for decades. 


Chances are, this handsome monkey was designed to be part of a circus set. He has blue trousers painted on and a red and cream vest top with yellow ribbon edging Clearly, he is costumed for a circus act. At his left simian side, there is a hole on where a key or winder could fit. Winding the mechanism allowed for his arms and legs to spin all the way around--enabling the monkey to do a fine somersault.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Clock Biscuit Tin, 1877

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This beautiful clock, on first glance, appears to be the real deal. However, it’s one of the many clever biscuit tins produced in Britain at the end of the Nineteenth Century after the Licensed Grocer's Act of 1861 allowed groceries to be individually packaged and sold. Biscuit tins were made in increasingly complex and elaborate designs—not only making them appealing to shoppers who might choose one brand of biscuits over another because of an attractive package, but also ensuring that they’d remain beloved collectibles for centuries to come.


This tin was produced in 1877 for the Christmas season and depicts a tall-case clock in the chinoiserie style which was so popular at the time. A remarkable job of shaping the tin with raised details is only made all the more beautiful by the chromolithography.

P.S.  The hands move and everything!

Unusual Artifacts: The Scout Biscuit Tin, 1911

Scout Tin
Produced for Carr & Co., 1911
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This is the “Scout” biscuit tin—a creation of tinplate and offset lithograph, printed with a portrait of Lord Baden-Powell. British biscuit tins are highly collectible and many examples from the Victorian era through the present day survive—in varying conditions. The British biscuit tin came about with the Licensed Grocer's Act of 1861 which allowed groceries to be individually packaged and sold. The new process of offset lithography, patented in 1877, allowed multicolored designs to be printed on to unusually shaped tins.


The most ornate designs were manufactured in the early years of the Twentieth Century, just before the First World War. In the 1920s and 1930s, tins for the Christmas season, intended to appeal primarily to children, were the most exceptional examples.

The “Scout” tin was produced in 1911—the year of the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary. This tin was made by Hudson Scott & Sons for Carr & Co, to commemorate the founding of the Boy Scouts—a cause which King George V and his sons heartily supported.