Category:Crescent Toys

Crescent Toys colour graphic of a mounted guardsman [image info]

Crescent Toys graphic: World War Two soldiers with tank [image info]

1956: Crescent Toys trade advert – Grand Prix racing cars, and "Unbreakable plastic models" [image info]

The Crescent Toy Company was founded in 1922 in North London, and later opened a factory is a high-unemployment area of South Wales. They bought the lead-figure moulds and stock from C W Baker (Reka) in 1932.

The majority of the subsequent early pieces were simply reissues of Reka designs (discontinuing any that were not felt worthwhile, either due to design or cost of production).

Repeating the cycle that a lot of toy companies had seen before/after World War One, Crescent originally focused most of their efforts into making military-themed figures (with the occasional farm set) but in the aftermath of the Second World War they found that interest in these had dropped, and began a transition to the production of more civilian-focused toys.

As with many other hollowcast figure manufacturers in the 1960's, the lead toys that initially made them popular were slowly phased out to be replaced with plastic versions.

Further reading:

• Norman Joplin, The Great Book of Hollow-Cast Figures. (New Cavendish Books, 1993) page 93

External links

• Crescent Toys (sordetmaco.com)
• Crescent Toys (planetdiecast.com)