# When did the occupation of "toymaker" start? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689 "2018-01-01T14:45:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/1 "2018-01-01T14:45:31Z")
Sometimes you read stories of old times where you see a person called a “toymaker”. Was there ever really a person who could make a living making say toy trucks and dolls? The way I look at it toys, were an afterthought. Maybe a woodcarver made some tops or wooden dolls or say a tinsmith would make little figures that moved. But was it ever a full time career for someone say back in the 1600’s? Maybe Cecil would know. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/2 "2018-01-01T15:55:25Z")
Mass market, probably not. But for as long as there have been rich, powerful people with disposable income, there have been people making a living amusing those rich, powerful people. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/3 "2018-01-01T16:04:56Z")
Tin soldiers were mass-produced in the 1700s, and apparently production employed quite a number of people. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/4 "2018-01-01T16:13:17Z")
‘Toy-shops’ certainly existed by the late seventeenth century, although the word ‘toy-maker’ isn’t recorded until the mid-nineteenth century. The complication however is that ‘toys’ weren’t quite what we would think of them as being. They were instead trinkets and knick-knacks in general. The shift to toy shops being specifically for children was gradual and is sometimes difficult to pinpoint. The classic toyshop was more the result of industrialisation and changing shopping habits in the nineteenth century. In the 1600s the manufacture of children’s toys was mostly still very small-scale (pun not intended), usually literally cottage industries. Doubtless, as you assume, some were produced by craftsmen as minor side-lines. But by then Nuremberg was already known as the major manufacturing centre for children’s playthings and there some producers probably were already able to specialise. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/5 "2018-01-01T16:30:28Z")
Toys were found in Pompeii, many small carved animals, spinning tops and small wheeled toys. It seems likely the larger cities of Rome had toy-makers/shops. The large population and concentration of disposable income makes it pretty likely. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/6 "2018-01-01T16:46:33Z")
The guy who made a rock that spins. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/7 "2018-01-01T18:09:24Z")
Some Neolithic sites have had miniature tools & weapons in them, that were probably toys. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/8 "2018-01-02T00:32:31Z")
Yes, toys are ancient. But **Urbanredneck** is looking for a time when there was someone who made their living exclusively (or at least primarily) by making toys, as opposed (say) to a farm parent who makes their kid a doll or model tool in between sharpening the scythe and milking the cows. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/9 "2018-01-02T16:46:02Z")
> [@APB](#): > > ‘Toy-shops’ certainly existed by the late seventeenth century, although the word ‘toy-maker’ isn’t recorded until the mid-nineteenth century. The complication however is that ‘toys’ weren’t quite what we would think of them as being. They were instead trinkets and knick-knacks in general. The shift to toy shops being specifically for children was gradual and is sometimes difficult to pinpoint. The classic toyshop was more the result of industrialisation and changing shopping habits in the nineteenth century. > > In the 1600s the manufacture of children’s toys was mostly still very small-scale (pun not intended), usually literally cottage industries. Doubtless, as you assume, some were produced by craftsmen as minor side-lines. But by then Nuremberg was already known as the major manufacturing centre for children’s playthings and there some producers probably were already able to specialise. Thanks for the information. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-occupation-of-toymaker-start/805689/10 "2018-01-03T14:16:36Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Some Neolithic sites have had miniature tools & weapons in them, that were probably toys. I think one of the boy pharoahs tombs also had some toys.