Tin toy
A tin toy, or tin lithograph toy, is a mechanical toy made of tinplate and coloured by lithographic printing to look like a character or a vehicle. After the Second World War, Japan became one of the great makers of them.
Definition
Tinplate is thin sheet steel plated with tin, which is where the name comes from. The sheet is printed flat, then cut, pressed and joined with folded tabs, and fitted with a mechanism: clockwork wound with a key, friction drive, or later a battery motor.
Origin
Tinplate was used for toys from the mid-nineteenth century, and spring-driven tin toys originated in Germany in the 1850s. From the late 1880s offset lithography was used to print designs on the sheet. Germany was the major producer in the early twentieth century, led by makers such as Ernst Paul Lehmann; after the First World War American firms gained ground, and Louis Marx and Company was the largest from the 1920s to the 1960s. Production stopped during the Second World War, when raw materials went to the war effort. After the war, under the Occupation, Japanese manufacturers were allowed to resume production, and Japan became a tin toy manufacturing force by the end of the 1950s. In the 1960s, cheaper plastic and new safety regulations ended the reign of tin toys. Tin toy robots in particular are collected today, and examples such as Robby the Robot from the film Forbidden Planet can sell for several thousand dollars.
The Japanese makers' marks we see most often in the house are Masudaya, Yonezawa, Nomura and, from the character boom, Bullmark, whose tinplate kaiju and heroes come from the tokusatsu years. Marusan, known for tin toys in the 1950s, released its first soft vinyl kaiju in 1966.
In our reading, the Japanese tin toy is a record of its decade. Postwar cars and motorcycles were followed by space toys and robots, then by the heroes and monsters of television, and the printed tin shows each change in style and subject more vividly than any catalogue. A toy that kept its box and its mechanism carries that record almost whole.
Key facts
| Material | Tin-plated sheet steel, printed by lithography |
|---|---|
| Mechanisms | Clockwork wind-up, friction, battery |
| Printing on tin | Offset lithography from the late 1880s |
| Japan | A leading maker by the end of the 1950s |
| Decline | 1960s, with plastic and new safety rules |
How to identify it
- The print. Lithographed tin shows printed colour, not paint; in our handling, wear shows as worn print on edges and high points.
- The joints. Tin toys are assembled with folded tabs; bent or re-bent tabs suggest the toy has been opened.
- The mark. Japanese makers usually stamped a mark and Made in Japan on the toy or box.
- The mechanism. Read whether the clockwork, friction or motor still works, and say so plainly; we do.
- Rust and box. Rust spots and the condition of the original box weigh heavily in condition.
Where it appears in the collection
The house holds Japanese tinplate from the postwar years to the character boom: a Yonezawa tin motorcycle and sidecar, a Billiken Shokai Ultraseven tinplate wind-up, boxed, a Nomura Tetsujin 28 tin robot with wired remote, and a Bullmark Mirrorman tinplate wind-up, boxed. The field is read in our guide to Showa tinplate and soft vinyl and our guide to Tetsujin 28 tin robots, and the toys sit on our Japanese toys shelf.
Related entries
- Sofubi: the soft vinyl that followed tin.
- Condition ranks: how we grade wear and rust.
- A 1953 IY Metal Toys motorcycle: one tin toy read closely.
- The Star Wars collection: including the Tin Age wind-up figures.
Sources
- Tin toy, encyclopaedia entry. wikipedia.org
- Sofubi, encyclopaedia entry, for Marusan. wikipedia.org
Last reviewed 14 November 2026. The Japonista Curation and Concierge Team, Tokyo, Japan.