Category: Historical Articles

Interesting articles on Marklin collecting, operating, and the general history of Marklin.

Josef Danilowatz: Painting Märklin by Lid and Cover

What do Marklin players see first?  Young enthusiasts might first see Marklin at a friend’s house running around the tracks.  Displays in store windows present a colorful moving orchestra of windup and electric toys working in harmony.  The bright lights and realistic sounds would draw in those walking by.  If you were lucky, your dealer might give you a catalog to bring home and look

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History of the Faller Company

Shortly after the war, two brothers, Edwin and Hermann Faller, started making plans for the future; they wanted to make wooden toys. In 1946 in Stuttgart the brothers founded the ‘Hermann Faller company’. Soon after, the brothers relocated their company to their hometown, Gütenbach, in the Black Forest (‘Schwarzwald’).  They renamed their company to ‘Faller Brothers’ (‘Gebrüder Faller’) and began making

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Collaboration in the Early Years, 1891 – 1935: RAYLO, Meccano, and Liliput

Frank Hornby of Liverpool, England began tinkering with tin toys in his home workshop and made toys for his sons starting in the 1899. Already by September of 1907, Hornby registered the brand “Meccano” and produced small construction sets with tin parts that could be use to construct various metal sculptures. The initial success of Meccano and the large demand

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MÄRKLIN – Fabrik feiner Metallspielwaren: A historical review

THE BEGINNING, 1859 The founder of Märklin (also “Marklin” and “Maerklin” more commonly in the US) was Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm Märklin (1817-1866), a master tinsmith. He moved to the small southern German town of Göppingen with his second wife Caroline (his first wife had died) in 1856, where he purchased the “Resident-rights” from the city and was henceforth registered officially

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