Wilkins Cast Iron Prancing Horse Team *SOLD*

Wilkins Cast Iron Prancing Horse Team

Our team of horses is quite a difficult toy to find.  It is early Wilkins ca. 1900 and the toy company that later traces to Kingsbury.

Kingsbury and Wilkins were always know for intricate designs in both steel and cast iron, and from Keene, New Hampshire.  This toy is folded steel with a cast iron carriage and then cast iron horses with driver.

Our set is the Trotting Team 191, and cataloged at about 11 1/2″ in length.  The later 1900’s catalogs do not show this set.  We have found this toy cataloged in the 1895 annual of The Wilkins Toy Co.

The driver is a period Wilkins driver but likely a replacement.   Otherwise the toy is all proper and original with play wear.

The horses prance up and down on the cam as a kid rolls the toy.  Cool!

 

 

A brief history of Wilkins Toy Co. of Keene, New Hampshire:

1890 – 1919 (see also Kingsbury)
Founder: James S. Wilkins
Specialty: One of the earliest manufacturers to produce toy automobiles, circa 1895. Another Keene, New Hampshire, firm, headed by Henry T. Kingsbury, bought out Wilkins that same year, but the toy line carried the Wilkins name and trademark until 1919.

 

 

A brief history of Kingsbury Mfg. Co. (also see Wilkins Toy Co.) of Keene, New Hampshire:

Active: 1919 – 1942
Wilkins Toy Co.
Founder: Harry T. Kingsbury
Specialty: In 1895 Harry T. Kingsbury bought Wilkins and combined it with the Clipper Machine Works, which specialized in farm equipment. In the early 1900s, toy automobiles were introduced to the company line. The Wilkins line was dropped following WWI in favor of Kingsbury, which was by know an established name in the field. Kingsbury specialized in copying famous models of aircraft and assembly-line, trucks, and buses. WWII saw Kingsbury shifting to war contracts and never returning again to toy production. All production equipment was sold to Keystone in Boston. The company still exists, but as Kingsbury Machine Tool Division, a subcontractor for such giants as IBM, General Motors, and GE.