Steam toy
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
Metal
Measurements
147 mm (length); 105 mm (width); 128 mm (height)
Place of origin
Germany
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 660286
Summary
A metal mechanical bread oven with a baker. It appears to have been driven by belts but these are missing. The base is rectangular, painted yellow, with sloping edges, painted red, and rounded corners. Standing on one end of the base is the oven, shaped like a tall rectangular chimney with an open top and its walls moulded to represent bricks. At one side is a large cog and a flanged wheel with a handle. Attached to the cog, on the inside, is an axle with a flanged wheel almost in the centre. Attached to this, joining on to the base, slightly to one side of centre, is the other main piece of the model. This is horizontal, mostly long and rectangular but with a curved end. Stuck to this curved end is a paper label printed in red and black on green which reads 'DC/ MADE IN GERMANY'. Almost at the point where this piece curves, a flat, sloping piece is attached which joins on to the 'chimney' piece. At the lower end of this is a silver-coloured metal flanged wheel set into a rectangular hole. All of these main pieces of the oven are painted pale yellow, with a pale blue line along the rim of the horizontal main piece. Fixed flat to the 'chimney', just above the point where the slope joins on is a flat, rectangular piece of silver-coloured metal, with its top corners curved, mostly painted black with white dials. Attached by a hinge to the lower edge of this is a black-painted metal flap which swings out. The baker figure is standing at the side of the horizontal piece of the oven. He is moulded but quite flat, has white-painted clothes, a pink face, brown hair and black facial features, including a curling moustache. His arms are jointed at the shoulder and elbow, and his hands are attached to a metal bar which enters the 'chimney' through a slit, the edges of which protrude for approximately 5mm. The paintwork is badly chipped, some of the bare metal has rusted, and the object is generally quite dirty.
Marks and inscriptions
On label on base: V.M.