|
''Mettoy Playcraft Ltd'' was the name of a range of toys manufactured in Northampton, England between the 1930s and 1980s. The ''Mettoy'' (Metal Toy) company was founded in 1933 by German émigré Philip Ullmann and was later joined by South African-born German Arthur Katz who had previously worked for Ulmann at his toy company Tipp and Co of Nuremberg. The firm made a variety of lithographed metal wind-up toys. Both Jewish, they moved to Britain following Hitler’s rise to power in 1933.〔(Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood, accessed 3 January 2014 )〕 The firm is most famous for its line of die-cast toy motor vehicles of their Corgi Toys branch created in 1956. In the same year Mettoy merged with the Playcraft model railway and slot car company. The company was sold in 1984 with the assets of the company transferred to Corgi Toys but folded shortly after. ==History== Ullman and Katz set up their toy-manufacturing business Stimpson Avenue, between Abington Avenue and Wellingborough Road in Northampton, with their company registered on 31 August 1932.〔 They initially produced very similar tinplate toys to those being made in Germany. Within six years the Northampton factory was said to have 600 employees and from 1944 Katz was the managing director.〔(Power House Museum, Australia, accessed 3 January 2014 )〕 During World War II the factory not only manufactured munitions but a cooking stove for troops posted in tropical jungle environments.〔Ralston, Andrew Spotlight: Mettoy Christmas presents for 1958 Collectors Gazette's January 2012〕 The Northampton Factory moved to a large site, originally used as a boot factory, in Northampton at the corner of Spencer Bridge Road and Harlestone Road, NN5 7AE, now occupied by Aldi and Iceland supermarkets.〔Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map of Northampton South 1901〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mettoy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|