Anders - Toy Anker Bouwdozen - 1900-1910 - Germany

The Anker construction sets have become world-famous German toys with miniature bricks. These boxes were developed at the end of the nineteenth century by the German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal and his brother Gustav, who was an architect. Gustav was active as a social and pedagogical reformer in addition to his work as an architect.

The construction sets are filled with real miniature bricks and come with a meticulous instruction drawing. With them, houses, churches and palaces can be reconstructed. The different bricks are numbered for this purpose. By the way, some boxes also include metal components with which bridges can be built. The existing building examples are mainly inspired by the neo-styles from the late nineteenth century, such as Neo-Gothic and Neoclassicism, further Jugendstil and Rococo.

The two brothers—both pursued by money worries—sold the patent for their construction sets in 1892 to the Richter company in Rudolstadt. There the sets were subsequently put into production. The Anker construction sets would survive two world wars. In 1963 production came to a stop.

This lot consists of two original antique construction sets:
1/ Anker-Bruggendoos No. 8 (dimensions 35x25x9 cm, weight: 5.845 kg)
2/ Anker-Steenbouwdoos No. 8A (dimensions 35x25x9 cm, weight: 7.322 kg)

Both boxes are complete and in good condition, with all manuals included. The construction sets with numbers 8 and 8A are rarely encountered.