Meccano Toys

As one of the toy industries most iconic brands, the name Meccano will provide nostalgic memories for generations of men. They grew up bolting those intricate metal plates together to make realistic models of ships, planes, vehicles or anything that their imagination could think of. Brass gear wheels, pulleys and chains were soon introduced by Meccano to make the models come to life. Invented by Frank Hornby in 1901, and first known as “Mechanics Made Easy”, the name Meccano is thought to have come from the words “Make and Know”.

Following financial difficulties, and several different owners of the name, the Meccano company is thriving, French-owned and manufactured mainly in China. Gone are the wonderful Meccano sets 1 to 10, with all the add on sets in between - these are now replaced with a mixture of numbered sets and boxes that will make specific model vehicles or buildings, but the basic system of assembly is as popular as ever.

Every little boy aspired to owning the massive No.10 Meccano set complete with its four drawer wooden cabinet, and these can now command huge sums of money at specialist auctions. In fact any of the original red and green Meccano pieces are still highly sought after.