Wonderful 1850 Sand Toy~ A Diamond in the Rough.............

I am so excited about this little toy I just had to share it with you all! Above, you can see my little Diamond in the Rough that I found on eBay. Seller didn't know what it was, I kinda knew what it was....meaning that I could remember seeing something similar, but at that time couldn't remember just where.... Seller had said there was sand leaking from the box, which I found very intriguing so I bought it anyway, it was so utterly charming!

When my little prize came in the post, poor girl was a MESS. She was just taken, box and all~ loose cover glass and platform glass, and put in a zip lock bag. geeze. Its a miracle she made it to me with just a broken arm. Amazing. After staring at her a bit, I remembered where I had seen one of these now~ the Mary Merritt Museum sale catalogue! Yep, lot 132 was a wonderful little sand toy! Little hand colored paper doll was on a wire, and me being a curious sort, I found the weakest area of her box, pryed it out a bit, and voi-la! Side popped open and I could clearly see the workings. The entire time I keep saying to myself~ 'wow~this is SO neat~ really amazing!'

One thing I could tell for certain, was that the box had never been opened before. Everything was original, except for a single piece of black electrical tape on the back, which was doing absolutely nothing, so it came off first thing! I was very careful to just sit with a flashlight and examine what was inside...there was a funnel shape cone at one end, I could see the wire that dollye was hooked to, a little pin hole at the bottom of the cone~ that's where the sand must pour out from...and nothing else but a neat paddle wheel made out of paper with a metal pin going thru the center.....well~ I am not rocket scientist, but I could tell the little wheel had been bumped and come out of the little socket it was resting in so it wouldn't turn......got my trusty needle nose pliers, placed it carefully back on its axis, and that was it!

Here you can clearly see the German print on the back of some of the lacquered paper the box was sealed with.

Once I was sure she was dancing to her little hearts content, I carefully glued the side of the box back in place

Mended her broken arm, and refit the little paper covered glass platform she dances on. This really makes a difference in her movements~ she is much more springy now than in the video~ she really hops and bops! Her feet, each suspended individually on their own little wire, bounce off of it and get her grooving. She is also jointed at the waist by means of wire

So I could leave the bottom of this area open, but the originals I have studied have a paper here~ hers would have originally had the green plaid paper continue down to the bottom of the box. It didn't look right to me leaving it empty, so I made my own little secret compartment here~ inside I wrote on a paper the date, and what I did to the box to get her working again, and sealed it inside I like the looks of it, and it is the ONLY part that I have added to this box~ everything else is original. I just happened to have a partial scrap of an 1849 Grahams book, with a hand marbled endpapers in just her colors~ now how is that for providence! Paper from the same period as when she was made, prolly why it looks so fitting....

As I went carefully around and re-glued all the separating papers, the top revealed a little secret. Under the thick paper, towards the back, was a hole about the size of half a quarter, that was open and directly above the sand funnel~ so obviously these were fully assembled, then filled with sand and the last bit of heavily lacquered paper was glued over the opening to seal it. NEAT!
Her cover glass horribly dirty.

But upon close inspection, I could see the remains of the original 'passe partout' embossed gold paper that trimmed the border of the glass front. really neat! All of the original ones I have seen, have a tissue paper border, usually scalloped, at the inside top of the glass, to which mine has just a minuscule amount left~ I decided to leave it as original & charming as it is~ showing its age of nearly 160 years.

* above photo copyright Victoria and ALbert Museum, London

I scoured the Internet trying to find out more information on my little sand toy~ and golly it wasn't easy! I found out from the Victoria & Albert Museum, that these are indeed very rare...so rare that they have only 3. The above picture is one they acquired from a NY Collection in 1999. Made in both France & Germany, the sand technology goes back to the ancient Egyptians. These toys were first made around 1800, and are extremely fragile and were easily broken and discarded. They also were not made in great numbers, so all this adds to their rarity. The Museum of London is said to have one, and the Castle Museum in York has one. I know from the catalogue that the Mary Merritt Doll & Toy Museum had one, but I don't know who won it or where it ended up.



Here is my girl, all ready to perform again. It really is a wonder how she survived all this time~ these are SO very fragile! They weren't kidding at the V& A when they said 'they don't travel well'.... If you ever see one, snatch it up in a heartbeat~ once you hold one, and see and feel and hear it working, you will be mesmerized by its charms just as I have been!