Schoenhut Circus
Reproductions
This article
examines reproductions of Schoenhut circus pieces, sets, and parts (elephant
trunk tips and tails).
Since the Schoenhut Company
stopped making the Humpty Dumpty circus in 1934, several other companies have
reproduced some of their circus characters. Notably, the Delavan Company of Seneca, New
York obtained the rights to use the Schoenhut and Humpty Dumpty Circus names and
did produce circus toys for two years around 1950. Also, a manufacturer in China has
made rather gaudy looking Schoenhut circus sets.
The Delavan circus and other
reproductions are
collectable in their own right. Often, however, they are
misrepresented as original ca 1930 A. Schoenhut circus pieces.
Other Schoenhut
Circus Reproductions
The Schoenhut band including
the wagon and the cage wagon has been beautifully reproduced by Keith Kaonis. I will gather a photo of
these
toys ASAP.
The later cage wagon was
reproduced in a very faithful manner. We don't have any distinguishing
characteristics to give you at this time.
Also, one gorilla has been
reproduced beautifully by Fred Keller. The bottom of one of the foot soles is stamped
"reproduction".
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The wild animal wagon and the
see-saw have been reproduced for the Schoenhut Collectors club. It is pictured
here with an original Schoenhut see-saw for comparison. The original
see-saw is about 21 inches long. The Schoenhut club's version is about 4
inches shorter.
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A Schoenhut -
like circus piece with a clown on a half ball was produced for the collectors
club by Charles Buysee. These were well done and popular among collectors. About 100
were made.
Shackman
The B. Shackman Company of New York, New York produced in 1976 a very nice
looking version of a Humpty Dumpty circus set. Theirs is not an exact copy - the
clown and elephants look quite different from the original. I don't know how
many different sets were produced, but one had a clown, two elephants, a chair,
and two ladders. On the cover of their box it states that this is "Our
Version of the Antique Original Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Toys". Their
sets were made in Taiwan.
Shackman Humpty
Dumpty Circus
Photo courtesy of E-bay seller Tammyso1@yahoo.com
Click on image to enlarge |
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Chinese Schoenhut
Circus
A Chinese manufacturer has reproduced the Schoenhut circus. I will try to obtain a photo of this toy and
present it to you here. Really horrible looking!
Elephant Trunk Tips
and Tails
Schoenhut circus elephant trunk tips
were made from a hard rubber compound. The regular sized trunk tip is curved and
the reduced tip is straight. Shown in the following photos are the original and
reproduced elephant trunk tips.
Click on
thumbnails to enlarge photo.
| Regular Tips |
|
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Original tips are hard rubber, usually have a surface
crust from age, and the section inside the tip opening is concave. |
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Replacement tips are soft rubber and the section inside
the tip opening is flat. Since these are not all that old, they do not
have a patina. |
| Reduced Tips |
|
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Reduced tips usually have a crust and are hard. There is a
single opening at the tip and a small v-notch. |
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Replacement tips are usually soft rubber and are smooth.
This one has two holes - may have been made from electrical wire. |
| Tails |
|
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Original elephant tails have a tightly twisted twine that
is painted the same gray color as the elephant body.. |
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Replacement tails are not usually painted. |
