Toys are objects for the imagination, the physical things children manipulate in the real world as their minds race with fantastic scenarios and secret adventures. Toys don’t have to be complicated in design or made of expensive materials. Indeed, the best toys are often the simplest, used way past their breaking points, which makes collecting vintage toys in good condition a challenge.

One of the most popular categories of vintage toys encompasses toys that move. Pull toys on wheels are powered by the user, while wind-up toys, which are sometimes called clockwork toys for their internal similarity to the movements in clocks, walk, crawl, or roll along a floor or flat surface when cranked or wound with a special key. Friction toys are propelled forward when a spring in the toy is wound backwards, while battery-operated toys are powered by cylindrical cells that are, as every parent knows, usually not included with the toy when it’s purchased.

There then are doll-like toys, but please don’t call them dolls. We’re talking action figures here, from G.I. Joes to “Star Wars” figures and playsets. Other examples of figural ...

Building toys such as Lincoln Logs, Erector sets, and LEGOs have long been popular with kids, as have toys targeted to toddlers, and even infants, from companies such as Fisher-Price, Playmobil, and Playskool.

Then there are toys that give a child’s imagination a kickstart, most notably the playsets made by Marx and other toy manufacturers. At the other end of the play spectrum are toys that are positively elegant in their simplicity yet require a certain amount of dexterity and skill to enjoy, the yo-yos being a good example of this type of toy.

About our sources | Got something to add?

▼ Expand to read the full article ▼

Show & Tell

Boys Tricycle with Revolving Bell - Toysby killergreens
in Toys
Fun With Blocks - Toysby stefdes…
in Toys
Anyone seen one of these befor?  - Christmasby Aerin305
in Christmas
See all toys posts

Interviews & Articles

Love at First Kite: How Pizza and Pente Led to One Oklahoman's High-Flying Obsession

Vintage kites from all over the world hang from the ceiling and walls of Richard Dermer’s popular Hideaway Pizza restaurant in Sti… [more]

Toys That Were Made to Be Broken

Remember the shoddy toys you begged your parents to buy while waiting in the supermarket checkout line, then promptly lost interes… [more]

Cowboys vs. Spacemen: How the Toy Chest Was Won

The lone frontiersman, the rebellious explorer: These archetypal characters appear as frequently in the far reaches of outer-space… [more]

How Science Made Your Dino Toys Extinct

Remember when you were a kid how dinosaurs were the coolest ever? In particular, the stories of Big Three—the brontosaurus, the tr… [more]

Cyanide, Uranium, and Ammonium Nitrate: When Kids Really Had Fun With Science

Here we are, in 2011, a.k.a. "The Future." We've made leaps and bounds in science that we couldn't even imagine 50 years ago. You'… [more]

Yakity-Yak: 60 Years of Teeth That Talk Back

There's something to be said for being easily amused. In the 1940s, toy inventor Eddie Goldfarb saw an ad for a false-teeth holder… [more]

Attack of the Vintage Toy Robots! Justin Pinchot on Japan’s Coolest Postwar Export

Everyone is always looking for the next big thing. In the 1960s, it was going into space. In the '40s and '50s, the frontier was t… [more]

▼ Expand this section

Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)

Museum of Childhood

Museum of Childhood

Embrace your inner child on this website from the Victoria and Albert Museum, filled with high-quality images and i… [read review or visit site]

Gallery of Monster Toys

Gallery of Monster Toys

Raymond Castile's homage to vintage monster toys from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Browsable by decade and m… [read review or visit site]



Clubs & Associations

Top eBay Auctions

Showing 60. See all 1,062 by  highest bidmost watchedcompleted
German Toy Boat, D R P 66476. UebelackerVintage 1950's Complete Hartland Western Gunfighter Set Of 10Marusan Kosuge Japan 1951 Grey Tin Cadillac Friction Car !! Nice!!Vintage 1922 German Fontaine Fox Toonerville Trolley Near Mint With BoxVintage 1960 Marx Toys Hootin Hollow Haunted House Rare In This ConditionRare Meccano Constructor No:2 Motorcar, England Circa 1930. Marx Air Force Missile Center Set 2686 UnassembledVintage Tin Friction Race Car, Aqajanian, E. T. Co, Parts Or RestorePopeye Heavy Hitter 1932 King Features Syndicate Chein Windup Tin Toy For RepairAntique Rare Vindex Toys Belvidere Green Car Packard Club Sedan Toy Cast Iron Nr Vintage Three Stooges Finger Puppets Sealed Pack By Wilkening 1959Batmobile ''''''''' Batman Car '''''''''' Friction JapanAntique Kestner German Bisque Head Mechanical Squeeze Box Sailor Boy Doll 103 1American Tin Horse Drawn Hand Painted Peddler WagonAndres & Dworsky Miniature Gold Derringer Toy 2 Cap Gun Set Made In AustriaRare Soft Body 1960s Vintage Seltaeb Early Beatles Remco Dolls Nr1930s Vintage Marx Tin Litho Windup Let The Drummer Boy Play - Complete & WorksMarx Sears Civil War Blue And Gray Heritage Play Set Vintage 1960's W Orig Box1950's Cragstan Mr. Robot - Near Mint With Box!Old Tin Marx Ring-a-ling Circus *vintage Wind-up Toy1940s Marx Linemar Popeye On Roller Skates In Original Box1930's Louis Marx Co. G-man Pursuit Car Vintage Wind Up Tin ToyKenton Cast Iron Train Big 5 Piece Passenger Car Set AntiqueVery Rare Toy Cap Pistol / Gun - Animated "best Butter" Billy GoatsGama German Tin Friction 1954 Cadillac Series 62 Sedan 12" Good Condition1930's Vintage Orkin Craft Speedster 23" Collectable Toy Boat! Must See!Hubley 4 Cylinder Indian Motorcycle 1930s Cast Iron Hubley Traffic Car Motorcycle 1930s Cast Iron 9 1/2 "Marklin German Tin Windup Toy Train Clockwork CarsRare Ives Punch And Judy Japanned Finish Cast Iron Toy Cap Gun Original Ko Yoshiya Sparky Robot W/box 1950s Japan1930s Lionel Mickey Mouse Hand Car,lionel Track Handcar, Ex. CondFrankenstein Tin Walking Robot 1960's By Marx Cragstan Yonezawa Tin Dc-7c Airplane AirlinerRare Antique Trick Pony Mechanical Bank Pat 1885 Cast IronDumbo The Acrobatic Elephant - Marx / Disney - Vintage Wind-up ToyAntique Vintage Steiff Bear Dog On Iron Wheels Pre-war EraCko Kellermann 358 Cabrio Convertible CarEarly 20thc Automobile + Driver Tin Lithograph Mechanical Penny Toy 3"Rare! 18" Antique Authentic "van Rozen" French Character Face Bisque Head DollVintage 1929 King Features Popeye The Sailor Cast Iron Figure Statue Doorstop VxCast Iron Frog On Round Base Mechanical Bank Original Toy By J & E Stevens C1872Nichols Model 61 Cap Gun In Blue Steel FinishGamma. Gama Tank Tin Litho Wind Up Tank, 1930's Pre War Antique Battleship Oregon Cast Iron Bank J.e. Stevens Vintage Original ConditionAntique Strauss Leaping Lena/dizzy Lizzy Tin Litho Wind Up Toy Car* No~reserve*Antique Toys Cast Iron Fire Ladder Truck Horse Drawn Hubley ? Fire DepartmentVintage 1950's Hubley Atomic Disintegrator Space Toy Cap Gun1955 Robot St1 By Strenco Germany With Box - Original Vintage Wind-up Tin ToyPaladin Mileco Have Gun Will Travel Cap Gun Holster Rare Canadian Box IssueJohnny Eagle Magumba Rifle W/bullets,box,68Vintage Saddle Mates Spring Rider Chicken Aluminum Toy Ride With Spring & BaseVintage Saddle Mates Spring Rider Tucan Aluminum Toy Ride With Spring & Base1970 Planet Of The Apes VillageMarx Us Army Tin Command Car Siren Flashing Light Original Box Friction 1957 Antique Cast Iron Child's Cook Stove - Ca. 1860 Buck And Wright, St. Louis Mo.Wilkins-harris New Orleans Side Wheel River Boat 10 1/2" Circa 1890's $199.99Marx Lone Ranger Ranch Playset #3969 1957 Most Pieces No BoxMarusan Japan Uss Nautilus Ssn 571 Submarine Vintage Clockwork Tin Toy Boat 50s