In 1985, the tin toy enthusiast Teruhisa Kitahara opened the first “Toys Club” museum in Yokohama. Further museums sprang up across Japan; today, with the opening of the “Antique Toy World Museum,” these museums total seven. The fame of his exhibits has spread far beyond the boundaries of Japan. In the past few years, exhibitions in Los Angeles and San Francisco on the history of tin toys, as well as photographic books on the subject, have helped introduce this unique collection to a wider public. A commercial in which 10,000 tin toys from Kitahara’s collection suddenly come alive at night and have a party even won a Bronze Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Postcard Cadillac, Tin Toys 1996
1,20 €
Back in the 1960s, tin toys made up approximately 60% of Japan’s export merchandise. Once the protagonists of countless children’s dreams and fantasies, the only imagination they now ignite is that of the collector. Although the toys were industrially mass-produced, they were finished by hand in batches of up to 200. The tin toys featured in this postcard series all belong to the Japanese tin toy enthusiast Teruhisa Kitahara, who has been collecting for over 25 years.
Some cards may contain slight ink smears on the backside due to the printing process.
Publisher: Taschen Verlag, Köln 1996
Format: 11,3 x 16,2 cm
Availability: 1 in stock