| Toys such as this one were popular in the early 1900s and possibly earlier. This was a toy my father, Bernard Smith, had when he was a youngster. He was born in 1919 in the country. Toys like these were whittled and sold by itinerant pedlars. As the image below shows, each part is the same, and they all fit together into a chain that could be shaken and shaped. They were called puzzle toys because if they were taken apart, they became a puzzle to fit back together. |
