Penny toys is a name used for cheap tin toys mostly manufactured in Germany between the 1880s and 1914 that were sold in the United Kingdom for one Penny. They were originally sold to wholesalers by the gross for 8 Shillings allowing the seller, often street peddlers to sell them for one penny making a substantial profit.
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Manufacture
Offset color lithography enabled fine detail and color to be applied to sheets of tin plate quickly and economically. Shapes were machine-cut and stamped and then assembled by unskilled workers, sometimes in cottage industries. Many were manufactured by the Johann Philip Meier company of Nurenberg.
Types
Types of penny toys included toy dolls, whistles, trains, motorcoars, soldiers, animals and even a small Bible.
References
Penny toy Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA