Early toys were miniature copies of real-life aircraft

Antiques & Collecting
  • Unlike Easter eggs, these Victorian peep eggs aren’t filled with chocolate. The treat inside is a photographic view enhanced by the light passing through the alabaster shell. Photo Credit: Austin Auction Gallery (c) 2026 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
    Unlike Easter eggs, these Victorian peep eggs aren’t filled with chocolate. The treat inside is a photographic view enhanced by the light passing through the alabaster shell. Photo Credit: Austin Auction Gallery (c) 2026 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
  • It didn’t take long after Louis Bleriot’s groundbreaking flight across the English Channel for toymakers to take inspiration from his plane. This wind-up version was made by Gunthermann. Photo Credit: Bertoia Auctions (c) 2026 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
    It didn’t take long after Louis Bleriot’s groundbreaking flight across the English Channel for toymakers to take inspiration from his plane. This wind-up version was made by Gunthermann. Photo Credit: Bertoia Auctions (c) 2026 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
  • Early toys were miniature copies of real-life aircraft
    Early toys were miniature copies of real-life aircraft
    Today’s toy companies might be fueled by flights of fancy, but, in the early days of flight, real- life aircraft were imaginative enough. Many toy airplanes of the early 1900s were miniature copies of existing airplanes, like a windup Bleriot airplane by Gunthermann that sold for $1,080 at Bertoia Auctions.It was modeled after the Bleriot XI, which, in 1909, became the first airplane t...

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