1940's-50's MARX Toys Junior Dial Typewriter

Vintage 1940's-50's MARX Toys Junior Dial Typewriter ~ Tin Metal Toy

Junior dial typewriter from the 1950's. Made in the USA by MAR Toys. Turn the dial to select letter/number and press the bar. Good working condition with minimal paint loss.

Size 29 x 19 x 18 cm

Founded in August 1919 in New York City by Louis Marx and his brother David, the company's basic aim was to "give the customer more toy for less money," and stressed that "quality is not negotiable" – two values that made the company highly successful. Initially, after working for Ferdinand Strauss, Marx, born in 1894, was a distributor with no manufacturing capacity. All product production would have to be contracted out for the first few years. Marx raised money as a middle man, studying available products, finding ways to make them cheaper, and then closing sales.

Marx listed six qualities he believed were needed for a successful toy: familiarity, surprise, skill, play value, comprehensibility and sturdiness. By 1922, both Louis and David Marx were millionaires. Initially, Marx reevaluated and produced a few original toys by predicting the hits and manufacturing them less expensively than the competition. The yo-yo is an example: although Marx is sometimes wrongly credited with inventing the toy, the company was quick to market its own version. During the 1920s, about 100 million Marx yo-yos were sold.