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Klein Paris in Soltau
Fernand Martin in Klein Paris After our recent visit to ‘Klein Paris’ in the special and unique Spielmuseum Soltau (www.spielmuseum-soltau.de), we would like to share our enthusiasm about the collection with you. On the other side of the main location of the museum, a ‘branch’ has been set up, called ‘Arthurs World’. Several years of […]
Missing Martin Found at Auction Osenat Fontainebleau!
On 14 October 2018, the Louis-Roland Neil collection was auctioned at the French auction house Osenat Fontainebleau. Thanks to a tip from an attentive collector, I studied the catalog more closely. And indeed it was offered under lot 377: ” Fernand MARTIN “La SENTINELLE ANGLAISE de la GARDE ROYALE ”. Who is in possession of […]
Again a Martin Surprise!
A week ago, an American collector from Martin Toys sent me a picture of a toy. It is a figure of a man with a metal ball in both hands. His looks show the pointed nose and the luxuriant head of hair! The waistcoat and tie are similar to the barber made by Fernand Martin. […]
Rare Camion of Victor Bonnet
After Victor Bonnet took over the toy business from Flersheim in 1919 he makes, among other things, ‘Camion’ (no. 249). This is an open truck from the ‘Les Auto-Transports’ series. A fellow collector drew my attention to a different ‘camion’ on Ebay and at the moment I looked at the photo the auction was immediately terminated. The […]
Jeu de Pêche a la Grenouille Sauteuse
Osenat Fontainebleau (Paris, France) In November 2017 a toy auction was held in France at auction house Osenat Fontainebleau. With seven lots of toys made by Fernand Martin, including a rare game that is known in our book without a photo: number 206 ‘Jeu de Pêche a la Grenouille Sauteuse’. A fishing game with frogs […]
Spring 2017: latest news.
This spring there is plenty to do for Fernand Martin enthusiasts! Several international auction houses are having toys made by him in their catalogs. Some prices are very reasonable, and other prices were very high! Fernand Martin still lives among collectors as we experience from the questions sent to us regularly. Your questions and messages […]
A Bargain for Martin Collectors
On January 10, 2017 on Ebay USA an unusual lot was sold. It was a toy of Fernand Martin, named ‘L’ Eminent Avocat’. In our book “Fernand Martin Toymaker in Paris’ is it, with several variations, shown on p. 146-147. The description of the seller was: “Fernand Martin, the advocate, wind-up tin toy, circa 1905, […]
‘Le Jeu de Massacre’
Two years after our publication of ‘Fernand Martin, toymaker in Paris’ we, Arthur Verdoorn and Lourens Bas, were very happy and surprised to read an article in The Antique Toy World of December 2016. Renaud Fournier described the discovering of ‘Le Jeu de Massacre’. It is marked in the lower right as well as the […]
L’Autopatte by Flersheim
Recently I saw on Ebay a perfect L’Autopatte for sale. This one was not made by Fernand Martin but by Georges Flersheim, one of his successors after 1912. The box is exactly the same as the box Martin made and even has the ‘FM’-mark on it but the toy for sure is made by Flersheim. […]
Picture of a French street vendor selling Martin-toys
This picture shows ‘La vendeuse de jouet’ a French lady selling toys of Martin in the open air, around 1900. From left to right you see: Le Pochard, Le Chinois, La Blanchisseuse, Le Faucheur, Ma Portiere, Le Gai Violoniste, L’Homme de Corvée, Le Balayeur and L’Oie. The whole picture is showed in the book at […]
