J. Chein & Company was a toy company founded in 1903 by Julius Chein in 1903 in a loft in New York City. Their first toys were premiums made for Cracker Jack and even through a series of ups and downs, managed to stay in businesss as a toy making company until 1979 when toy making ceased entirely. Today, after decades of changing hands, the corporate heir to the rights is the U.S. Can Company who continues to make stamped metal products.
After WWII, Chein's major retail outlet was F.W. Woolworths's and today on Toys & Stuff we feature a nifty little tin-litho bank that perhaps some mother bought for their child back in Woolworth's heyday as a means to teach thriftiness. While Chein toys are highly collectible and often times command high prices, and are but another example of how bigger doesn't always mean better. Enjoy!
Here's another use for toy buildings - as backdrops. A photo of the building is enlraged and printed out on adhesive-backed photo paper. Then it is cut out and applied to the backdrop board.
The photo backdrop of the church is about three times the size of the original
Here's one portion of backdrop on my 3-rail O-gauge train layout, the Marxvile and Plateau (MaP)
