680
When it is magnified about twenty times linear, all the ivarious parts may be distinctly seen, and they thenappear beautifully formed and perfect in their polish. !Every part is, indeed, as complete and perfect as it is tobe found in an ordinary percussion-pistol, so that the lock iacts when the trigger is pulled. The second contributionis a Mechanical singing-bird from another Exhibitor, andwill be found noticed in the List of Awards.
Although the number of Exhibitors of toys in ClassesXXIX. and XXX., whose contributions have been exa-mined by this Jury, is Twenty-one; yet, as the greater 'part of their productions consists of large models and other ispecial objects, the United Kingdom is scarcely represented jin Toys properly so called. Even of Wax-dolls, which 'are made in this country in considerable numbers, there jis only one contribution (Class XXIX., No. 122, p. 797) 1worthy of notice; and this will be found described inthe List of Awards. Rocking-horses are exhibited by !J. C. Dear (Class XXIX., No. 128, p. 797); and II. ■Lucas (No. 127, p. 797) sends an improvement on the 'Garden-horse, which is made to rock by means of the 'motion of one of the wheel-axes as the horse is draggedalong. A few Compressible-toys are exhibited (No. 21G, jp. 801): and a variety of Automaton and other toys, >chiefly foreign, are displayed by A. Bouchet (No. 124, ;p. 797). With respect to the models already referred to, :those exhibited at (No. 12G, p. 797), will be noticed in the iList of Awards. The others, which are worthy of favour-able mention, area landscape, with clockwork giving ,motion to a railway train, &c., contributed by J. T. Crirr(Class XXX., No. 14G, p. 829); another mechanical land-scape-picture, by J. L. Barritt (Class XXX., No. 339, .p. 842); and the model of an English villa (Class XXX.,No. 213, p. 832), exhibited by M. A. Smith. None ofthe ordinary strong toys of English manufacture are con-tributed, probably on account of the makers of these sorts ’being generally very poor. For most of the English wooden-toys are constructed by chamber-masters, whoseldom manufacture goods to order; but, on the contrary,when they have produced a small number, hawk themabout from shop to shop, or vend them in the streets.Without capital, and compelled to work almost literally :from hand to mouth, they continue to exist only, withoutany material advance, but making much the same kinds ;having the same general degree of merit one year afteranother. That this is no exaggeration, must be conceded jby every one who will recall to mind the toys of twenty ;years since, and mentally contrast them with those of thepresent day. That the progress has been slow, and re-quires long intervals for comparison to make it apparent,arises from the fact that all the improvements must bemade in the few leisure moments of the workmen, whoare compelled to labour many hours each day to gain a .livelihood, and who, probably, cannot even afford the time jto carry out any suggestions which may be made to them.That the poor workman does, nevertheless, endeavour to \improve in his productions, is shown by Mr. Dickens , ;with touching humour, in The Cricket on the Hearth , ;when Caleb is made to say, “ You couldn’t have thegoodness to let me pinch Boxer’s tail, mum, for halfa moment, could you?” When surprise is expressed at ;the question, he thus explains his meaning: “ Oh, never ;mind, mum; he mightn’t like it, perhaps. There’s asmall order just come in for barking-dogs; and I shouldwish to go as close to natur’ as I could, for sixpence. !That's all. Never mind, mum.” Dolls’-houses, shops,brewers’-drays, waggons, common horses, the body formedof a sort of skittle with a slice cut off on the under side, :and four round pins for the legs, are made in large quan-tities in England. Spades, wheelbarrows, garden-rollers,garden-rakes, skipping-ropes, caoutchouc-balls, tops, kites,and similar toys, are also made in great numbers. Waxor composition dolls are made entirely in England, butwooden-dolls are imported, as are also papier-mache dolls’-heads, the bodies only being made in this country.
That very large quantities of boys’ Marbles are alsoannually imported, we learn from the Hull collection,(No. 290, pp, 816. 817), in reference to which it is stated,
that 1,600 cwt. of these articles were entered at that portduring the year 1850.
As toys are among those foreign productions whichcome under the category of “Goods Non-enumerated,”the Reporters are unable to give a detailed account of thevarious kinds which are brought into England; but thefollowing list will show the extent of this trade, withrespect to the various countries which send their toyshither. The Hanseatic Towns , it must be remembered,represent Wurteuiburg, Bavaria, and other parts of Ger-many .
Value of Toys of all sorts Imported into the UnitedKingdom in the year 1850: —
From
£.
- - 323
- - 33,828
- - 6.201
- - 1,056
- - 4,209
Other parts - -
- - 513
From all parts -
- - 46,130
W CRTEMBURC.
Immense quantities of Toys are manufactured in Wur-temburg, more particularly on the borders of the BlackForest, and are exported to England, America , and othercountries. The contributions in the Exhibition comprisemost of the kinds which are manufactured in thatcountry; as, for example, Mechanical-toys (No. 98, p.1119), which arc noticed in the List of Awards; Boxesof miniature-tools, kitchen-utensils, See., made of copper,most beautifully finished, the latter being exhibited byF. Buehrkr (No. 59, p. 1117), with other things notbelonging to this class. There are also kitchen, stable,and garden-implements (No. 96, p. 1119); pewter andglass toys (Nos. 94 and 95, p. 1119); dolls’ houses (No.97, p. 1119); and lastly, two collections of very beautifulminiature ivory-work. One of these is exhibited byF. Schmidt (No. 83, p. 1119), and although less importantthan a similar display (No. 82, p. 1119), to be noticed inthe list of Awards, is deserving of commendation for theexcellence of the workmanship.
The number of Exhibitors from all parts is Fifty-one ;of these, there are—
12 Holders of a Prize Medal.
2 Who obtained Honourable Mention.
37 Unrewarded.
Total 51
The classification according to the various countries isas follows:—
British Colonies and British Guiana 1 1 _ 0
Frankfort - — — - — - — - 1
Hamburg - — - — — - — - 1
Prussia - -- -- -- -- 4
United Kingdom (including 8 in Class XXX.) 21Wurtemberg - — — — — - — - 8
Total - - - 51
List of Awards.
Allix, A. J., Paris (France , No. G, p. 1169), PrizeMedal, for Hair-dressers’ Wax-figures. These are mo-delled with considerable skill, and present a very life-likeappearance; the hair, eyelids, and ej'elashes being insertedsingly in the wax in such a manner as very faithfullyto represent nature. Although these models cannot bestrictly considered as belonging to toys, yet their manufac-ture so closely resembles that of doll-making, that theyare noticed in this place.
Bautte, T. F. Geneva (Switzerland, No. 236, p. 1281),Prize Medal (Honourable Mention accorded by the Jury of