Gebrüder Bing ca. 1902 Tin Lithographed Shoe Shiner German Steam Toy Hirschberg Collection *SOLD*

Gebrüder Bing ca. 1902 Tin Lithographed Shoe Shiner #8743/5 German Steam Toy Hirschberg Collection

This is a great ca. 1902 tin lithographed Shoe Shiner #8743/5 steam toy accessory made by Gebrüder Bing of Nuremberg, Germany. This is one in a series of 12 lithographed scenes. This was purchased from the Morton A. Hirschberg collection. This steam toy ca. 1902 can be found in Morton A. Hirschberg’s Steam Toys: A Symphony in Motion on pg. 49 

This is a highly detailed steam accessory with a realistic scene of a shoe shiner whose arm moves up and down shining the shoe in his other hand when the crank is turned. This wonderful steam toy works smoothly when cranked. 

This Bing Shoe Shiner steam accessory is in excellent all original condition with no breaks, restorations, repairs, or touch ups. The lithos are excellent overall with the usual patina, dust, chips, scuffs, surface rust, scratches, and wear that are to be expected from age and display The whole toy is approximately 4 ½” L x 3 ¾” x 4 ½” H. We encourage you to examine the photographs to further determine condition and quality. 

A brief history of Bing Corp./Gebrüder Bing 

Bing Corp. New York City, New York 

Operated between 1924 – 1935 

Founded by: John Bing 

Bing Corp. was a spin-off of their German firm, Gebrüder Bing. The mainly served as jobber for their parent firm with mechanical boats, zeppelins, and steam engines. 

Gebrüder Bing Nuremberg, Germany 

Operated between 1866 – 1933 

Founded by: Brothers Ignatius and Adolph Bing 

Gebrüder Bing specialized in a wide-range of spring-driven toys, cars, buses, boats. Perhaps its biggest coup was a line of trains initiated in 1882. Bing went under during the crash of 1929; Karl Bub acquired the toy trains division and Fleischmann the toy boats.