By Jim Sova
We might need to start with a quick aside – Meccano is a kit with a wide variety of steel pieces, nuts, bolts, pulleys, gears, even motors and gear boxes that can be used to assemble any of the examples provided in the instruction manuals like a bridge or a working crane or a car that moves under its own power, or what ever a child can imagine. Things like this:
I scan newspapers on microfilm to create files we can post on the internet. I try to not read the newspapers as it really slows the process, but every now and then, something catches my eye. This time it was a Christmas toy ad in a 1928 newspaper that listed Meccano sets from $1.00 to $45.00. That $45.00 ($850.00 in current dollars) seemed like a very expensive toy. For comparison, mechanical toys were 15 cents to 75 cents. The most expensive teddy bear was $4.95, and $6.95 bought you an Eatonia wagon big enough for a teenager to ride in with steering, rubber tires and brakes. At first, I thought it was a misprint – maybe up to $4.50?
In the Eaton catalogue of the day, for that $45.00, you could by a gold watch or have your selection of most of the wood stoves they sold. For its day, that was one expensive toy.
At that time, there were a number of different construction toys like Meccano, Erector, Tinkertoy, Lincoln Logs and Bilt-E-Z. Also popular were model trains and working models of steam engines.
A bit more research and $45.00 was the price for a Meccano No. 6 set in a wooden cabinet. The kit contained almost 1200 individual parts. There was even a No.7 set that added a lot more parts including an electric motor priced at $170.00.
The price shocked me. Then it brought back childhood memories.
I grew up in the 60’s and my family had a Meccano set. I remember spending hours building whatever I could imagine and then modifying the design to make it work or just taking it apart and making something different. Maybe that time spent tinkering led to my current ability to repair most items around the house like vaccums or door locks. They are just slightly more complicated versions of the Meccano models I made, and being able to tinker with the Meccano model to make it work leads to being able to figure out how the door lock works- and what may be making it not work now.
Sources
“Santa is Coming” image from November 27, 1928 Napanee Express newspaper, Lennox and Addington Archive collection.
“Meccano No. 6” image from https://my-meccano.blogspot.com/2014/10/pre-war-no6-set.html
“Block Setting Crane” image from https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Meccano_Giant_Block-Setting_Crane_%28Meccano_Super_Models_No_4%29
“Watch” and “woodstoves” images are clips from Eatons Catalogue 1925 – 1926 Fall/ Winter held by Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/eatonscatalogue1925teat/page/n379/mode/2up watch is from catalogue page number 370 and stoves from page number 438 and 439
