Toy boat
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
Stained wood
Measurements
114 mm (Height); 6 mm (Diameter)
Collection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 672284.7
Summary
Part of a construction toy (tug) boat consisting of eight wooden pieces. It has two levels of deck, three extra pieces on the top deck and three pieces of dowel holding all the pieces together and forming two masts and a funnel. These are the masts, made from a thin pieces of dowel, stained grey. Each piece passes through one of the small holes at the ends of the boat - one through the piece catalogued as 672284.3, the other through the piece catalogued as 672284.4 - then both pass through the upper deck, catalogued as 672284.2 to hold parts of the boat together.
Provenance
Part of a large collection of handmade toys and puzzles donated to the Museum of Childhood in 2019 by Nigel Briggs. They were made by John Doble, father of the donor's wife Hanne. He had worked with Nancy Catford (of the Nursery Schools Association), the designer of the toys, during the Second World War. Together they produced paper patterns that people could use at home as templates for thin ply patterns which could in turn be used to make their own wooden toys. Other toys were made from dowels and empty cotton reels.