Kids Furniture

The Hobby Horse, though out of favor today, was once a very popular toy. No self respecting young boy would be without one in the age before the automobile. When horses were the mode of travel young boys imitated the adults by riding their hobby horses. With a wooden gun and their wooden horse he could be a Cowboy, add a spear and he could the Indian or with a wooden sword, he was a Knight of the Round Table. 

So in former times, children played at riding a wooden hobby-horse made of a straight stick with a small horse’s head (of wood or stuffed fabric), and perhaps reins, attached to one end. The bottom end of the stick sometimes had a small wheel or wheels attached. This toy was also sometimes known as a cock horse (as in the nursery rhyme Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross.

Although the hobby horse has gone by the wayside, it has left us with a pleasant legacy; it’s name. A major pastime of Henry VIII (1491–1547) was that of horse racing. In those days, horses were known as hobbies. The term “hobby” then became to be associated with any pastime. From “hobby horse” came the expression “to ride one’s hobby-horse”, meaning “to follow a favourite pastime”, and in turn, the modern sense of the term HOBBY.

Toy collecting is no joke—at least not to toy enthusiasts. For many collecting toys is more than a fun hobby, it’s an investment. A lot of older toys are hard to find, especially in good condition. Collectors prefer toys that are in good condition and many are willing to pay top dollar for them. Toys that are still in their original packaging are also of high value. Often toys are handed down from generation to generation. In some cases the recipient of the toy admires it so much they start their own collection.

Toys saved from childhood can result in big pays offs later. One woman who saved her original 1959 Barbie Doll fetched $26,000 for it at auction. Many Barbies will sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars. In recent years avid collectors have began to amass Happy Meal toys. Some will spend up to $5 or $10 on certain Happy Meal toys and toys from the 70s and 80s will sell for far more.

While some collectors build shelves, or even have entire rooms slated for showcasing their toy collections, others go as far as to keep them all in toy chests. Keeping toys in chests may seem like waste to some, but collectors would say it’s a more authentic way to store toys.