first production date : 1912
production number: 227
height: 19 cm / 7,5 inch produced by Georges Flersheim
After winding, his head moves and his right hand goes spinning over the chestnuts, his left hand moves with the lid of the kettle.
Roasted sweet chestnuts were already sold in Rome in the sixteenth century. In Paris they were roasted and sold on the spot on the street, nowadays there are still many European places where they are offered on the street.
This street scene is of course also seen by toy manufacturers and like so many street scenes there was an ingenious inventor who designed a toy out of it.
I found an article in the magazine La Nature from 1911 with a description and picture of a “Le Marchand de Marrons” that looks very much like the Flersheim version.
The original inventor of this toy is Mr. Raoul Maurin from Paris. Source picture : (Cnum – Digital Conservatory of Arts and Crafts – http://cnum.cnam.fr magazine La Nature 1911
As is well known, Fernand Martin has bought many inventions from the small inventors in his career, this toy came from the old Martin portfolios, Martin had bought the design of this toy at the Concours Lepine in 1911 and Flersheim patented them under his name. Note:
Flersheim acquired with the company all Martin’s patents and this one is one of them.
Released with different logos and texts and the winding key at the bottom.