The Art of Play: Toy Silver Saucepan, Tea Set and Cover, 1720-1750

Toy Saucepan, Tea Set and Cover
Silver, Wooden Handles, Fabric
1720-1750
The Victoria & Albert Museum

For as long as there have been children, there have been toys. Children have always liked to play with miniature versions of the objects that they see their parents use every day. So, it was only natural that a child in the early Eighteenth Century would have a miniature saucepan and silver tea set to play with.


Crafted of silver and wood, this set features small versions of a traditional tea set in addition to a cozy, a saucepan and, oddly, a silver swan. Curiously, this set of objects was intended to be buried with their owner who passed away as a small child. It was taken from her casket before burial.

The Art of Play: A Rare Antique Sand Toy, 1850-1870

Sand Toy
French, 1850-1870
Gerard Camagni
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This unusual and exceptionally beautiful toy dates between 1850 and 1870 and comes from France. Sand toys are particularly rare—prone to damage from wet weather and their fragile natures.


Sand toys function by the power of falling sand which is distributed through a complicated system of hoppers and paddle wheels which served to “animate” a paper figure within a glass case. Given the nature of the mechanism, sand toys didn’t function very well except in extremely dry weather. They were very often broken from the shaking of frustrated children who wanted to mechanism to work in all conditions.

This exquisite toy of glass, paper and wood is intricately decorated and features a figure of a woman in Eighteenth Century dress. Upon the release of the sand, she dances within her glass case.

Remarkably undamaged, this beautiful antique is part of the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The Art of Play: The Stuff of Nightmares

Mechanical toy cat, German 1900-1910,
and mechanical toy monkey, probably Schuco, 1920s
The Museum of Childhood
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Until February, 2012, The Museum of Childhood at the Victoria & Albert Museum, welcomes you to a magical and somewhat sinister world of unusual toys in their recently transformed Front Room Gallery.


Celebrated artists worked with school children to create this interesting installation which shows the innocence of a child’s playthings against a backdrop of fairytale mystery. Among the items on display are these mechanical German toys—a cat and a monkey respectively—which date between 1900 and 1920. The stuff of nightmares, indeed. But, an opportunity to find the innocence in superficial fear.