Painted wooden figure of a fisherman made in England by Tony Mann in the 1980s

Flat wooden torso of a fisherman in an orange sou'wester and jacket, with painted facial features. In his outstretched arms he holds a curved fishing rod of copper wire which bends downwards and extends to the mouth of a flat wooden fish, which is painted with horizontal stripes of white, pink, blue and grey, with short black vertical stripes from the top. There is a short length of wire extending from the base of the fisherman. When this is balanced on the edge of a flat surface, the toy rocks gently with the fish below.

Purchased [88/883]

Tony Mann was voted “Toymaker of the Year” by the British Toymakers’ Guild for both 1987 and 1988. He originally trained as an industrial designer and worked in this field for twenty years in both this country and Canada, where he emigrated in 1962. He later set up degree courses at the College of Art and Design in Nova Scotia.

This fisherman toy, made in the mid-1980s, show Tony Mann’s love of Mexican and Japanese toys with his use of bright colours and preference for a rough finish. The fisherman sways precariously on his 'river bank' when touched.

MISC.26-1988