Antique Japanese Pre-War American Flag Tin Hand-painted Battleship Gunboat Windup Toy

This is a pre-war tin lithographed gunboat complete with American flags and a clockwork windup mechanism. We are unsure of the exact manufacturer, but we believe it to be early Japanese around the Meiji era. We found similar boats such as the Battleship Shikishima as found in Tin Toy Museum: Tin Toys by Kyoto Shoin on page 23. It has as similar look and feel to it. This toy is very hard to find to nail down an exact toy manufacturer as happens with many pre-war Japanese tin toys due to anti-Japanese sentiments and metals being donated to the war effort. If anyone has any further information we would love to hear from you.

This sailboat has a built-in clockwork mechanism with a dedicated turnkey. When the key is turned its offset front wheel simulates wave action as it moves across the floor. Everything works as it should and it rolls nicely across the floor. There are no markings on this boat anywhere that we could see.

Our example of this hand-painted Japanese “American Gunboat” is in great original condition with no restorations, repairs, breaks or touch ups.  The paint is in good overall condition with the usual patina, scratches, fading, scuffs and chips that are seen with age and play. It is approximately 12” in length bow to stern. We encourage you to examine the photographs to get a better idea of condition and quality.