Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Paper Model Kit, 1939

Model of the Empire State Building
Robert Freidus, 1939
The Museum of Childhood
The Victoria & Albert Museum

In the 1930’s, artist Robert Freidus, created a series of paper model sets for children which were based on popular architecture across the world. Building paper models was a beloved pastime for both young and old since the Eighteenth Century. Though it’s largely fallen out of fashion, there’s still a fascination with these delicate models.


This set from 1939 produced a scale model of New York’s Empire State Building. This set, among many others, was part of an exciting exhibit at The Victoria $ Albert Museum which concluded in January wherein the guests were welcomed to create models of their own.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Paper Model Kit, 1939

Model of the Empire State Building
Robert Freidus, 1939
The Museum of Childhood
The Victoria & Albert Museum

In the 1930’s, artist Robert Freidus, created a series of paper model sets for children which were based on popular architecture across the world. Building paper models was a beloved pastime for both young and old since the Eighteenth Century. Though it’s largely fallen out of fashion, there’s still a fascination with these delicate models.


This set from 1939 produced a scale model of New York’s Empire State Building. This set, among many others, was part of an exciting exhibit at The Victoria $ Albert Museum which concluded in January wherein the guests were welcomed to create models of their own.

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: A Wooden Pull-Along Dog Toy, 1930-1939

Wooden Pull Along Toy
1930-1939
A & A Peacock, Ltd.
The Museum of Childhood
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This flat, wooden toy is painted to look like a Fox Terrier who scoots across the floor on jointed legs when pulled by his string. He is the creation of A. & A. Peacock Ltd. of Newcastle upon Tyne between 1930 and 1939.

The lurching movement of the toy would have appealed to any child then or now. In fact, the dog himself looks a little bewildered as he studies the floor with his giant brown and black eyes as if wondering, “how am I walking?”

The Art of Play: The Stuff of Nightmares

Mechanical toy cat, German 1900-1910,
and mechanical toy monkey, probably Schuco, 1920s
The Museum of Childhood
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Until February, 2012, The Museum of Childhood at the Victoria & Albert Museum, welcomes you to a magical and somewhat sinister world of unusual toys in their recently transformed Front Room Gallery.


Celebrated artists worked with school children to create this interesting installation which shows the innocence of a child’s playthings against a backdrop of fairytale mystery. Among the items on display are these mechanical German toys—a cat and a monkey respectively—which date between 1900 and 1920. The stuff of nightmares, indeed. But, an opportunity to find the innocence in superficial fear.