Merry-go-round tinkle toy, one of a group of traditional wooden toys made in Germany in 1850-1910

Composed of four horses and riders on a platform with a central pivot attached to the working mechanism and the crossbeam between the uprights.The horses are as follows:-
1. White and black with the rider in a red jacket and yellow hat.
2. Black with a rider in a yellow jacket and a blue hat.
3. Tan with a rider in a red jacket and green hat.
4. Brown with a rider in a blue jacket and a red hat.
The platform is a piece of circular wood painted blue. The uprights are of turned wood painted red and green, and the crossbeam is yellow and red. The base containing the mechanism is of wood painted brown on the top, with printed paper (red flowers) around the sides. On one side is a handle for turning.

Bequeathed by Mrs G. Landsberg

This is one of a group of German traditional toys which were made in the 1900s, but were based on very old designs. The whistle toys are said to have been carved in the Berchtesgaden region, the merry-go-round in Seiffen in the Erzgebirge. The simple merry-go-round was popular in the Far East long before it became common in Europe. The earliest European examples come from Germany. They were crude and colourful but played a tune when the handle was turned thereby becoming known as 'tinkle toys'. There are many examples of toys like these in the trade books of the time.

MISC.18:4-1971