Galt Wooden Tadpole fishing puzzle

A delightful find from last weeks car boot. A super 1960s wooden puzzle from Galt Toys. We think its designed by Fredun Shapur. We first encountered Shapurs Playsacks at the Bethnal Green toy museum in London. He produced lots of fabulous items for Galt including several other wooden puzzles. 

We found the puzzle board above without any pieces, but hunting through the sellers other detritus we were delighted to find nearly all the pieces.

As you can see, we are still missing the girls leg. Weve seen a similar puzzle by galt, but this appears to be a bit earlier. Below you can see the puzzle without the pieces in.

 You may be interested to know that a Fredun Shapur show is coming to London's Kemistry Gallery in October 2014, which should be very exciting. I understand Mr Shapur may even be there himself. Perhaps we'll be able to verify if this puzzle is actually by him. If you cant wait that long a 133 page booklet about Shapur was released a while back called playing with design, you can see it here.

Oh! and if you do happen to find the girls missing leg do drop me a line, and let me know!

Pull along Russian cat

Here's something a little bit visually different from what we usually post, but too nice not to share. This gem of a find came from a recent trip to London, on a horrible wet and drizzly Sunday. We were not optimistic that anything would be on given the weather, but we stumbled upon a car boot near Elstree. Amongst an interesting hoard of house clearance items we unearthed this little treasure. The cat itself is wooden, but has a painted jesso surface. The base is roughly 6 X 4", and in total she stands 8.5" tall.

She sits on a wooden base, with wheels that roll along. On the base is a rather ornate gold label in Russian, but sadly Ive no knowledge of Russian and  can make no headway with what it says. Below is a close up of the label in case anyone can unravel the cats history.

Interestingly the stick (looks like a ice cream stick) on the base appears to move what looks like bellows, that sit under the base.  Whether the cat had some kind of musical movement at some point is  a mystery.

Savoy Youth Theatre

Ive been walking past this sign for a number of years now, always with the intention of photographing it. More recently I've been getting slightly worried it will have been replaced with something new, not nearly as nice, or so interesting. However last month I bit the bullet, picked up the camera and got the shot!

The sign,made with vinyl lettering, on wooden board, has peeled over time. As legibility decreases, the intrigue grows.

Wooden russian sledge couple

Another holiday souvenir saved from car boot oblivion. This time from Moscow!

So many people go abroad, and want to bring something back as a memento, but overtime memories of the holiday fade and the objects loose their meaning. Sadder still, people die and family and friends have no knowledge of the objects significance.

This delightful couple are dated on the bottom, 1972. Theres a whole load more written on the base, but sadly I cant read russian or decipher cyrillic ! However on the off chance, theres some clever soul out there who can, Ive posted the label below!

Young Penguin seeks new friends!

Hot on the heels of the two lovely rabbits that turned up a while back, are these three little delightful wooden birds, with dainty wire legs.

I cant tell you a thing about them, except the stork and the red bird dont seem to be too enamoured, with their young penguin friend! It looks as if hes asked a question and they're not prepared to give him an answer. Oh dear! I wonder what the question was?

Häschenschule wooden Rabbits from East Germany

These rather fetching, wooden rabbits turned up at the car boot, a while back, but despite having their bases stamped, I knew nothing about them except they were East German.

However after stumbling across Spielzeugladen, a toy shop in Freiburg, South West Germany, I'm a little bit wiser. It appears the characters, Hans & Gretchen, come from the classic German tale, Die Häschenschule. The Rabbit School was written by Albert Sixtus, and first published in 1924.

Fisher Price Jolly Jalopy

I just couldnt resist this pull along toy from Fisher Price. Apparently made between 1966 and 1978. He has a wooden base and a plastic grill. As he goes on his way his sprung head wobbles, and the wheels makes a great "putt-putt" sound

Sad Wooden Donkey

A sad wooden donkey, who is in desperate need of a restring. Hence his weird posture! Hes beautifully made & is around 12" in length. There is no makers mark, but he could be Galt or Brio. His rubbed edges hint as his history and just add to his charm.

Brio Pull along Daschund

Two wooden dogs. One with tail, and one without.
Brio are still making the popular, black Daschund. The red one is so similar, that I presume it must have been made by them too.

badly drawn Canadian Puzzle

Id like to be able to tell you more about this rather odd wooden eight piece puzzle, that I picked up recently. Its naivety makes me think of David Shrigley. Printed on wood, and with its limited palette, Its hard to resist.

Galt Alphabet Plaques

Another great game from Galt. Beautifully printed on ply, each card can be arranged in pairs or groups, and eventually form one long frieze.





















Belows a detail from a couple of my favourites.

Monkey Noggin

As a child I know I had many a Viking Noggin, and Im sure I loved them dearly, but they were very Seventies. Like much of the era, they were consigned to the dustbin, and it wasnt until a visit to Camden market in the early Nineties that I considered Noggins again.

Back then Mark Pawson ran a little stall, full of rubber stamps, mail art and other plastic kitsch. Whether at that point he had already released his Noggins book, Im not sure, but he could well have been selling the actual figures.

The monkey, above, turned up last week, and Ive got to say we baulked at the £1.99 price tag. Since first seeing Pawsons book, we began picking them up, if the price was right (20p or less!), but more as a joke than anything. The problem with collecting as I think Ive written before, is that once you have one, youre always on the look out for the next.

I do like this chap, theres something very Yeti about him.

Perpetual School Calendar

I couldnt have put it better myself! These wooden school flashcards are part of a much bigger set, that allowed the teacher to display the date and the days climatic conditions. How very British! It reminds me of the hymn number display in a church. Each ply wood board is 4mm deep, and 43mm high. I do hope tomorrows a bit brighter!

Three Wooden Promotional items

Wooden zoo animals

More joy ! this time from a Jumble sale in South Wales! Under the table, amongst some Fisher Price Little People, these fantastic wooden zoo animals. Its been a while since Ive been to a jumble sale, and I have to say it was all a bit frantic!

There are no stamps or markings, on the animals so I cant tell you much more about them. Although the Hippo reminds me of Roger Duvoisins character, Veronica.












They all looked very pleased about something. I hope its about finding a new home!

Marching Mexican Mariachi band

Recent purchase that turned up on our summer travels . I thought they were a Mariachi band , but it turns out they may be Jarochos! They dress and play in the Veracruz style. The big difference being their traditional white shirts, trousers and hats!

Wooden GALT transport puzzle

I think I promised more by Galt, a while back. So here you go.

Galt made loads of beautifully designed toys, that won many a Design Council award. This very tasteful wooden puzzle is worthy of a mention! On removing the vehicle from the scene, you can see the interior, inside. Plain, simple and also very charming!

nesting penguins

I do like the simplicity of these three penguins from the 1950s. The largest wooden penguin is 70mm high and splits along the middle like a russian doll. The two smaller ones sit inside.