Talk:Birmingham toy industry

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West Midlands

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Dominated?[edit]

Matthew Boulton was certainly an important figure in the Birmingham toy industry, but I doubt that he 'dominated' it. That is too strong a word. There were other toy manufacturers; indeed the Birmingham jewellery industry is its lineal descendant. Peterkingiron 21:58, 10 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Following recent additions, which some one else trimmed as WP:COATRACK material, I have pruned off more statements about Matthew Boulton. He was clearly a very important figure in the Birmingham toy industry, but there were many other manufacturers, of whom we know much less, some of whom became rich. Furthermore, Wolverhampton was also involved in the toy industry. Peterkingiron (talk) 22:51, 18 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm "some one else". Your edit looks good to me :) -Verdatum (talk) 17:01, 19 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Toy steam engines[edit]

This articelis about the Birmingham industry that produced ornamental metal objects. This is soemthing quite different from the modern sense of "toy", that is a child's (or adult's) plaything. There is no reason why the article should not be expanded to cover them, unless dealt with elsewhere in WP. However, until it is, are the photos of Mamod steam engines an appropriate link for this article? Comments please. Peterkingiron 21:48, 20 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Based on the article, certainly not. Steam engines are complex machines and appear to be outside the scope of this industry. So ya, I removed the link. -Verdatum (talk) 17:01, 19 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Materials used[edit]

It is worth noting that the 'Birmingham Toy' actually describes any small item manufactured in any material. To quote Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham ... any article in any metal, leather, glass, or other materials, having the common characteristic that the patterns changed with even greater frequency than in buttons. Additionally, Sketchley's Directory of 1767 lists 100 firms in Birmingham involved with the manufacture of toys. GlassyEye (talk) 17:18, 13 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Possible rename[edit]

The 18th century use of the term "toy" is rather different from the current one. I wonder whehter this article needs to be renamed "Birmingham toy industry", since the article is entirely about the 18th century Birmingham industry, rahter than the production of what we call toys today. Toymaking and toy both redirect here, but we ought to have an article on the things children (and adults) play with: or di we under a diffenret title? Peterkingiron (talk) 19:42, 20 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Having had no repsonse to the above I have boldly renamed the article. However this will not eserve as the main article for Category:Toy industry; it never could have without great expansion, which no one has thougth fit to undertake. Peterkingiron (talk) 15:37, 26 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]