Wooden shape
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
Stained wood and paper
Measurements
82 mm (Sq Largest shape); 2 mm (thickness); 37 mm (Sq Smallest shape)
Collection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 672379.2
Summary
Nine different size stained handmade coloured square shapes and one square paper instruction sheet with holes in their centre, contents of a game called 'Tower of Hanoi Game'. The game consists of a wooden base with three wooden dowels (pegs) standing upright at set distance apart from each other. Nine different size coloured square shapes one green, one blue, one red, one yellow, two brown, one orange, one purple, one black and one square paper instruction sheet. The object of the game is to transfer the pyramid of square shapes from peg 1 to peg 3, moving only one piece at a time and without placing a large piece on a small one.
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.