Boxed battery operated tin toy, flying saucer, Space Ship, made by Yamazaki in Japan ca 1965.

Boxed battery operated tin toy, flying saucer. The flying saucer is circular; it is orange with a silver strip around the edge. Around the circumference are blue portal windows. In the centre is a large opaque plastic dome. One either side are small silver fins and aerials protruding. At the back are to metal rocket shaped exhausts. The words Space Ship are written on both sides in yellow text. At the back is a trade mark of a black eagle. The box is plain card on the base and has a printed card top.

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.44:1 to 3-2005