A Curiosity in Itself By Ken Foust

THE THIRTY-YEAR RUN of the Schoenhut Circus (1903–1933) and the huge sets of parade wagons Hubley produced in the 1920s (in three sizes no less) attest to the demand for circus toys in the early Twentieth Century. Similar evidence from the Nineteenth is harder to find. In painted tin, there’s a George Brown cage wagon and a small bandwagon. Iron was chosen for a mechanical cage wagon from Kyser & Rex and a magnificent Ives bandwagon. Charles M. Crandall made at least three different wooden cage wagons beginning in the 1870s. And then there’s Reed’s Living Curiosities’ wagon, which is something of a curiosity itself.

On July 24, 1877, Whitney S. Reed received a patent for toys designed to hold all of the small parts inside one large one. A battleship, for example, could be sold ‘knocked down’ with the smokestacks, masts and sailors packed inside the hull. That allowed the toy to be shipped more safely and in a smaller box. Reed’s ‘Living Curiosities’ was designed in a similar way in that the wheels, roof rails, six animals and three performers all fit inside a wooden box that acted as the wagon body.

Explore more collector stories, vintage toy highlights, and market insights in the Antique Toy World Magazine – August 2026

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