Boxed tin toy, flying saucer, Space Explorer Ship X8, made by Masudaya in Japan ca. 1955

Boxed battery operated tin toy representing a flying saucer. The toy is colour lithographed, the main colours being blue and red, and around the circumference are plastic lights in green, orange and blue. In the centre is a clear plastic dome; inside is a plastic astronaut figure seated at a control panel. The base is flat with three wheels. The box has a plain card base and a printed top showing a fanciful image of the toy.

This object was acquired for the V&A Museum of Childhood's exhibition Space Age: Exploration, Design and Popular Culture, which opened on 22nd November 2007. It was bought at Christie's in November 2005 as part of a collection of robots and space toys. The collector, Paul Lips, ran an antique toy shop in Milan from the early 1990s, where he became particularly interested in space toys. The collection covered what he believed to be their golden age: 1955 to 1965.

After the Second World War, Japan became the pre-eminent manufacturer of tin toys through direct financial support from the United States for its toy industry, and through preferential access to US toy markets. Importantly, Japanese manufacturers were able to perfect small battery-powered motors, which gave Japanese toys a superior range of movements. One of the most celebrated subjects expressed in tin toys is space and space travel. Many highly imaginative toys were produced in the era of the Space Age (1957-1972), inspired by the widespread optimism of the times, and by a fresh public appetite for all things space.

B.45:1 to 3-2005