RARE Chein Tin Lithographed Windup Train Toy for Sale

RARE Chein Tin Lithographed Windup Train Toy

This is a tough to to find in great condition!  It is a humble Chein Toy, likely from the mid 1920’s and quite colorful.

The windup works well and it is all original.   The lithograph is still quite bright.

This is an early and primitive Chein ca 1920, so it puts the condition in perspective– It turned 100!

We have enjoyed it in our shop for quite some time, & it is time to adopt it out!

A brief history of J. Chein and Company of Harrison/Burlington, New Jersey: 

1903-1979 (toy producing years)

Founder: Julius Chein

Specialty: J. Chein & Co. was founded in a loft in New York City, New York by Julius Chein. They produced toys from 1903 until about 1979. Chein specialized in tin mechanical toys, banks, drums, and tea sets. The company’s tin toys were mostly lithographed. Chein’s line of comic and circus tin toys received wide acceptance in the 1930s and leading up to World War II.

In 1907, Chein moved its full production plant to Harrison, New Jersey. In the 1920s and early 1930s, Chein produced a popular line of toys under the “Hercules name, rather than their own name. In the 1940s as the war came to a close Chein moved to a larger factory in Burlington, New Jersey to become more competitive with Japanese manufacturers.

In the 1970’s Chen became known as Chen Industries, Inc., and in 1979, toy manufacturing was phased out entirely.

Then in the late 1980s, Chein Industries, Inc. was sold to the Atlantic Can Company, which then changed its name to Atlantic Cheinco Corporation. The company was beset with problems with manufacturing resulting from environmental issues. Due to their issues, in 1992 they filed for bankruptcy protection. Atlantic Cheinco Corporation’s assets were then purchased by Ellisco, In. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which was a division of CSS Industries, Inc. In 1994, CSS then sold Ellisco to the U.S. Can Company of Baltimore, Maryland, who continues to produce stamped metal products.