On YouTube, Mr. Jean Brun from France has made 5 beautiful videos about Fernand Martin toys and his successors.
The lyrics are in French but the video’s are still beautiful to look at.
These videos can be viewed below.

These 5 video’s together are almost 80 min, so take your time, to make them that must have been a lot of work and time.

These YouTube videos are also listed separately in my menu under: “FIND ARTICLE“, the search page for specific articles; chapter 6 – Movies, I have had these videos in my “FIND ARTICLE” menu page for several weeks now, but now I bring them to your attention so that you can see and enjoy them.

first production date : 1912
production number: 229
height: 20 cm / 7,87 inch produced by Georges Flersheim

I have never seen a box with a label myself, but in the book: Fernand Martin Toy Maker in Paris 1878-1912 by Lourens Bas and Arthur Verdoorn, a label is depicted on page 188

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 Petit Patineur” that looks very much like the Flersheim version.

The original inventor of this toy is Mr. Boucheron, 4, rue de l’Eglise, in Vitry-sur-Seine . Source picture : (Cnum – Digital Conservatory of Arts and Crafts – http://cnum.cnam.fr magazine La Nature 1911

Highlighted by the Phil & Joan Steel collection including Martins & Lehmanns, automatons, penny toys, lucxury autos & race cars from the Bill Gelles racing Collection, early table games, trains & airplanes, and more!

In this auction there are this time a lot of Martin, Flersheim and Bonnet toys and some are very rare but of course there are many more beautiful and interesting toys in this auction.

The Bertoia team is dedicated to offering our quality customer service, experience and support.
Do not hesitate to contact us for assistance with registration, bidding or any other questions.

For the complete overview, Auction terms & Info, Shipping & Payment look at this site: http://www.bertoiaauctions.com/

These result prices are in US $ and without Buyer’s Premium and subject to errors.
Always check the auction site for the results.

Regarding the objects described in this article, I do not make a statement about condition or value.
I advise interested collectors always do to research yourself, to view the object or to contact the seller / auction

Martin started in 1875 with his first attempts to make toys but in 1878 the first real toy was a real swimming fish with patent number 128445 from Jan-01-1879

This Fish is about 19 cm / 7,5 inc long.

In the early days Martin used a rubber band (elastic) as the drive.
By turning it on, the toy started to move.
The system consists mainly of a crank, a rubber band and a movement mechanism.
The drive mechanism was adjusted for each toy, such as up and down, right, left, spinning etc.

The first piece of Martin: the fish from 1878 Poisson Nageur and as you see Martin started with the product number 100

The crank is in the nose, inside the fish is the rubber band and the mechanism is on the tail.

In this demo model you can see clearly the mechanism in operation,
By turning the crank and hold the tail, the rubber band is tightened (twisted)
The other side of the rubber band is hooked onto the movement mechanism, the tail.
When you release the tail again, the tail swings from right to left so that the illusion of swimming is simulated.
Simple but effective.

The only drawback is that the rubber band can age and then break quickly.
If it breaks, the hook and mechanism will fall off and mostly get lost.

Martin sold the patent for a swimming fish with a rubber band engine to the Englisch company Cremer Dolls Toys Games 210 Regent street London and that was the beginning of his fortune, he started in 1880 his first factory.

Martin number: 189

First production in 1902

Dimensions: 13.5 X 15.5 cm / 5,3 inch 6,1 inch

A very nice toy with movement and music. After winding up, the pianist moves his hands from left to right over the keyboard and a piece of music sounds. Even our grandchildren can watch and listen with pleasure to this special piece of history.

This Le Petite Pianiste won a prize in 1901 during the first major Concours Lepine in Paris, during this competition Fernand Martin bought the rights from the inventor Mr. Bosquet, Martin then produced it himself and sales started in 1902. 

From the Le Petite  Pianiste are two versions that do not differ on the outside, the difference is in the melody, one for the French-speaking market and one for the English-speaking market.  

French song: J’ai du bon tabac

Englisch song: God save the King

There is also a very rare version known, the pianist is a woman, I have seen one on the internet, it was part of an collection of an American collector, and the second known was owned by a friend of mine and is currently on display in the toy museum in Germany in the city ​​of Soltau. Even if this version is not an original, it turned out very well.

We see Le petit pianiste with and without hair, it could be that in the later years the competition with the German toy import became too high and cutbacks had to be made, on many toys were cut backs like cheaper material, fewer handling in the production, fewer parts and presumably the wig disappeared from this pianist.

The cuts were not big, but you can also see that with the labels on the boxes, they became smaller, which is a very small cut, but given the very large production, it was ultimately a big cut. less storage, less paper and less glue.

Both pictures from: The English illustrated magazin dec. 1905

At the time, this pianist was already a lot more expensive than other Martin toys, this had to do with the very complex mechanism, which meant that not only the material costs, but especially the labor costs, were a lot higher. But when I see how many are left, he must have sold well.

This article was posted in 2019 but because of new facts, the article has now been edited.

In 1885, Fernand Martin made a bell ringer, Martin number 102, and calling him “Le Sonneur Endiable”, in older Fernand Martin books you see number 14 but that number is wrong and given without proof by the writers.

It is one of the first Martin toy with a lot fun.

But the Georges Flersheim factory took it more then almost 35 years later and re-released it with a few changes.

They renamed him “Je Sonne La Paix” and it got number 246
The “Je Sonne La Paix” is in English: “I ring [for] the peace“, in other words “I ring [to celebrate] the peace” referring the celebration of the end of the WW1 on November 11- 1918, in which Flersheim himself fought and died.

If you look quickly, you see almost no differences but they are indeed there.

Here the differences in detail:

-the Martin version (102) has the FM name stamped on top of the base plate in the Flersheim version (246) no text is stamped on top of this base, but there is a piece of fabric on the side with the name “Je Sonne La Paix” printed on it.

-If you look at both toys at the bottom, you see, under the male figure at the Martin (102) , an elongated piece of iron mounted as a weight and at the Flersheim (246) a solid plate is soldered and stamped the round FM logo on it.

-The Martin version (102) has a rubber band drive, that of Flersheim (246) a long spiral spring in the pole.

-At the top there is a French flag at the Flersheim (246), for this a hollow pipe has been placed in the roof for the iron flagpole with a fabric French flag.

-The bell has also been given a slightly slender shape by Georges Flersheim.

-The roof off number 102 is found with different reliefs, one just like the roof of the 246 in red with tiles and found with stipes in a yellow/gold paint.

It is currently the last piece that is still numbered in the Flersheim period.
It is certain that after the death of Georges Flersheim more, till now, unknown toys were produced, time will tell which and how much.

It is strange that the number 246 has been used twice.
Under this number by Victor Bonnet in 1919, his first produced toy is also numbered 246, it is the “Le Auto Transport” WHY???

The images / pictures used are with courtesy of Michael Bertoia, E.T. and from the own collection

IN DECEMBER 2022 I MADE A BLOG ABOUT THE VERSION OF MR BOUCERON, NOW AN EXTENSIVE INTRODUCTION TO THIS SPECIAL TOY

There are three versions of this toy made by the Fernand Martin factory.
When the key is wound, the cart will go “backward” and the boy’s legs will move as if he were pushing the cart backward himself.

Dimension: length 20 cm / 7.8 inches.
Martin production number 218

It started with the version made by Mr. Boucheron This invention was exhibited on the “Lepine Concours” in 1909 and on this show Martin bought the rights and started to make it a salable version and that resulted in this version:

Martin patented this toy in 1910

Not long after, Fernand Martin sold his factory to Georges Flersheim, who continued to produce some of the old toys, but often with some adjustments, other colors, etc.
Below the performance produced by Georges Flersheim.
The biggest difference is in the design of the closed wheels and the part with the fruit is not so well detailed anymore and of course also the Flersheim key.
Fernand Martin has released various colors of this toy and George Flersheim has also produced a number of color versions.

And then there is also a very special version with a case instead of the fruit, this version is very rare and it is not yet clear whether Martin or Flersheim produced it.
It is possible that this special version was produced on behalf of a customer, on this suitcase you can recognize a label of the large Parisian hotel “Grand Hotel”
This suitcase can also be seen on a special version of the Le Petit Livreur.

Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France

Fernand Martin’s toys were often sold by street vendors and vendors in market stalls on the Paris promenades at the end of the year at Christmas and New Years, but life was hard for these vendors and during the bad weather of that year, practically earned nothing. Read this newspaper article.

Magazine: La Fonde December 1901

Poor street vendors! how sadly they spent the Christmas night that had not turned out to be what they had been waiting for weeks. The long faces, the dull eyes, they watch the rain fall slowly on the asphalt of the sidewalks, driving away the few little walkers. He cries in my heart when it rains on the city, they could have repeated with “Verlaine” (a French poet). Sales were indeed not very fruitful, the day was desperately gloomy yesterday and the evening was hardly more lively. So much effort, energy, patience and ingenuity that these brave people put into this traditional sale for months.

The toy competition organized by Mr Lépine had given the small manufacturers some hope; the public seemed to be interested in these humble inventors, and there was every reason to think that Christmas Eve would be a happy one, bringing a little joy and well-being to the households of the cheap-clothed toymakers. The more than gloomy weather has spoiled all these beautiful hopes, and we must hear the grievances of these poor devils who have made great sacrifices of themselves to promote these people. Small barracks, ugly and clumsy, but part of the old Parisian traditions. “But you managed to make some profit the day before yesterday,” I said to a tall, pale woman, who cast a sad look at the gaudy colored dolls lined up on the edge of her sales bench. “No ma’am. Although the weather was beautiful, and a really big crowd on the boulevard earlier in the evening, it was not the day of shopping. – What do you mean? – I mean by this: The custom is that on Christmas Eve we buy our presents, the day before we will only look, we make our choice, we compare the prices of the toys, but then don’t buy it yet. And lady, the hour of the sale may have come, when the weather is as bad as tonight, you understand that customers are in no rush to visit our stores. “Oh shit, we always think we’re going to make some money and instead we go home with more debt.” It is very unfortunate that instead of this ugly sad rain we did not have a nice evening, cold but very dry. Everyone would have benefited from it: the rich in gaiety, the poor in large pennies. Perhaps the stalls on New Year’s Day had never been so stocked with new and varied trinkets. Several toys had been exhibited in previous toy competitions. But then most were just more or less rough-edged models, here they are fresh and finished in their beautiful bright colors. It is the Santos-Dumont that doubles the platforms of the Eiffel Tower, it is the fighting

Boer ( Le vaillant Boer Martin number 174-176 ? ) in question, who is so ingenious in its simplicity, the latest locomotive,

the automatic city police, ( Les agents Martin number 178).
It is the Englishman fighting an invisible enemy

(Le Gentleman Khaki Martin number 175)
That still others must be mentioned among the mechanical toys. The few shoppers are told what’s new, they ask about the toys seen in the competition; For example, last night an old lady insisted that a merchant tell her where “Le Singe a la marmite” the monkey in the pot, by Frémiet, was sold.

—”It’s for my grandson,” she said, “he will enjoy it very much.”  

— In vain, the shopkeeper offered her the most recent creations of articulated toys. The grandmother persisted. – No, no, it’s “the monkey in the pot” I want, I promised to bring it… “But I tell you I don’t have it,” replied the merchant angrily. Do you know that in order to produce this toy well it would have to be sold very dearly and then not for 2 fr. 95 which we could ask for like for all these dolls. And then, I don’t really want to say it, but this famous monkey is not that beautiful and to amuse children, there is still nothing like these old dolls… I had to smile at this naive joke which failed to convince the grandmother, for I saw her resume her pilgrimage in the rain past the little huts, dimly lit by the dim lights and quivering from the smoky oil lamps. I imitate her and continue my traditional visit to these varied displays, some of which are arranged with taste. Among the toys I find old acquaintances:

the goose that wobbles when he nods his head, ( L’oie Martin number 169)

the laundress who puts her arms in her bathtub,(La Blanchisseuse Martin number 171)

the mower that rhythmically shakes its small scythe (le Faucheur Martin number 170)

Street vendors who can’t afford to “stand on the boardwalk” send swarms of articulate beasts running down the muddy sidewalks: ladybugs, lizards, frogs, cockchafers, seals, it’s as if someone just knocked over Noah’s ark. There’s something for everyone, for all budgets, from the modest two-cent piece to the two-franc piece. Huddled under the porches or shrunk behind the canopies of the shops, the poor devils make a terrible noise to attract the attention of buyers, while looking out for the city police, the “police” as they call them in their own picturesque language. — Ask for the Christmas Angel — The latest novelty of the year. “What doesn’t this Christmas present have?” It’s deafening. And the raging wind violently shakes the huts and blows an icy rain in the faces of the few passers-by. Soon the boulevards are deserted and gloomy. The cafe terraces are empty and it is raining. It’s New Year’s Eve. Groups of night owls trying to be merry still roam as they sing choruses of café music, and as the gusts double their violence, a few revelers are still eating their dinner on New Year’s Eve. – We’re not eating now, I had to say to an old lady yesterday, we were bickering. “Oh! I should be ashamed, she moaned, if, despite my age, I had a stomach as weak as the one my daughter’s friends complain about. And in this connection I remembered the funny song “New Year’s Eve in two parts”, from Charles Monselet, – ( a French journalist, novelist, poet and playwright, nicknamed “the king of the gastronomes”) – But it doesn’t matter, it took hard vices to sustain this earthly lavishness.

MARIE-LOUISE NÉRON.

Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année
Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo
Boas Festas e um feliz Ano Novo
Kala Christougenna Ki’eftihismenos O Kenourios Chronos
God Jul och Gott Nytt År
Glædelig Jul og godt nytår
Geseende Kerfees en ’n gelukkige nuwe jaar
Hyvää joulua ja onnellista uutta vuotta

We all know that Martin was not the inventor of all his toys himself.
Many of his toys were invented by small toy makers who took their inventions to the annual “Concours de Lépine” a competition in Paris to present and hopefully sell their inventions.
One of these inventors was Mr Boucheron from whom Martin has bought several inventions.
One of these inventions was the L’Autopatte.
On the box and the catalogue page of this Martin toy you can see that it won a “Grand Prix” price on the “Concours Lépine”.
In the magazine “La Nature” from 1909 page 204 a small article of this invention was described the L’auto-pattes

The translated description is as follows:

A production by M. Boucheron that solves wishes.
The L’ Autopatte is a motor vehicle a african boy sits in front of the person falling to the ground that is propelled in circular long durations.
The mechanism is simple.
A lever that performs the functions of the femur is placed in the extended mechanism where it is received in an arc.
A cam enhances this lever to move up and down.
Finally, each leg carries a lever.
The knee joints are more than primary.
The legs hang at the end of the knees.
But when the toy is walking, the controlled bars go up one by one, and the legs take the vertical position by their own weight, and when they are lowered, the legs touch the ground.
As the toy rolls, these feet stay on the ground for a short time and lengthen to return vertically to the next move.
Because this steering is alternate, the feet land on the ground one by one and the africa boy feels in fact he is actually responsible for the propulsion of the vehicle with his feet in reverse. –

Mr. Boucheron lived on the rue Rachel, in Vitry-sur-Seine.

In January 2023 a blog with more about this nice toy

Three “different” versions of the “Le Cab” were made in the period between 1889 and 1919.

These vehicles were the means of transport in the city in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they were actually the first taxis

THE FIRST VERSION OF THE LE CAB FROM 1889 with number 110:

Fernand Martin launched his first version of the Le Cab in 1889, the differences with the later version from 1903 and 1912 can be recognized by the following points.

The 1889 version compared to the 1903 and 1912 models:
-The carriage had no passenger section. (it’s closed on the front)
-The wheels have 8 spokes, (the 1903 and 1912 versions have 10 spokes)
-Closed-side windows. (Only painted windows in red)
-Driven by a flywheel mechanism.
-This edition has 35 metal separate parts, (that is what you can count on the drawing), to build and complete the hole toy.
That did not include the rein so actually 36 parts in total.

This first version of the Le Cab is very very rare and hard to find, so far I only know a few copies :
–1 in the collection of the Parisian museum: Musée des arts et Métiers this one was part of the gift from Fernand Martin to the museum in 1908, that one has a brown horse.
–1 sold a few years ago at the French dealer l’Orangerie – François Binetruy, this one also came with an original box and a brown horse.
–1 in the Spielmuseum Soltau in Germany with a white horse.
–1 in the collection of a friend of mine with a white horse.
–1 in my own collection with a white horse.
But there will probably still be some other copies in museums or collections over the world.

Below you see an original box label and an image from the original catalog.
If you look very closely you will see differences between the box label and the catalog image.
1- The four corners of the box label are not richly decorated.
2- Below the triangle with number 138 are on the box label data of various gold medals that Martin has won.
3- the “instructions” are different in width and the number of lines is different, on the box label the lines are wider then on the catalog image.
4- Below the legs of the horse the text “Made In France” appears on the catalog image and not on the box label.
5- On the right and left of the FM logo are small decorations on the box label.

As already mentioned there is one known copy complete with box, so very rare and that one has a brown horse.

On the inside of the passenger seat there is the imprint of the Fernand Martin factory

SECOND VERSION WITH THE NUMBER 192 FROM 1903

In 1903 Martin released this same toy again in a slightly modified version, now with a passenger section and also open side windows, a clockwork drive and a complete new box label.
It got number 192.

The coach of this 1903 version came in the black / red color combination.
The drive was now a wind-up mechanism and with the recognizable Martin key.
This toy was marked on the inside of the passenger section and on the backsite above the key .

THE FLERSHEIM VERSION WITH THE NUMBER 192 FROM 1912

In the Flersheim period from 1912, the Le Cab was re-released, the version was almost the same as the Martin version from 1903 and the Martin number remained the same with 192.
This version is only marked on the roof with the well nown triangel marker. This version also had a wind-up mechanism but now with a Martin or Flersheim key.
It was sold in multiple colors.

I have come across this Flersheim version with the coach, so far, in the following colors
Lower part of the sides – Upper part of the sides – the top of the roof.
-Brown – brown – brown.
-Blue – black – black.
-Green – green – green.
-Blue – blue – black.

What is also striking in this version and recognizable as Flersheim is that with all Flersheim models I have seen, the fixing tabs for fixing the back, are facing backwards.
With the Martin version, these tabs are always facing inwards.

Yet another deviation is that for the toys of which the carriage is completely colored, (the green and light brown version) the colors appear to be “sprayed”, but that they were only sprayed after the carriage was already partially assembled.
If you look closely at the carriage, you will find color residues on the drive section, the rods to the horse, but only on the inside at the location of the wind-up mechanism, the key and also on the inside of the rear lower protruding ornament parts.

The same horse was used many years by Martin, Flersheim and Victor Bonnet for divers toys: from 1890 the Don Quichotte, the horse with a cover
number 110 Le Cab version with fly wheel made by Fernand Martin in 1889
number 122 Le Courrier Parisien made by Fernand Martin in 1892
number 192 Le Cab version with a wind-up mechanism made by Fernand Martin in 1903
number 192 Le Cab version with a wind-up mechanism made by George Flersheim in 1912
number 194 de La Voiture A Bitume made by Fernand Martin in 1906
number 203 de Le Laboureur made by Fernand Martin in 1906
number 255 La Charrette Paysanne made by Victor Bonnet in 1927

In the Martin books known to us, a few figures are included with, as it turns out, the wrong number.
Here are the adjustments, after these adjustments, there are still a few toys without a number.

This blog is made with help of Bruno Cirla and Christophe Feraud from Massilia Toys in Marseille, my big thanks for this

ADJUSTMENTS:

Number 174 and 176
The numbers 174 and 176 have probably been swapped because evidence has been found that the Le Balayeur has number 174:
174 old number Le Vaillant Boer must be new Le Balayeur
176 old number Le Balayeur must be new Le Vailant Boer

In the Martin literature and books number 180 is given to The Policemen but it turns out number 180 is for the toy: “Present arms” God save the king.

number 180 “Present arms”, God save the King is an sentinel (probably only for the English market including the, in that time, colony of Canada, on the catalog picture there is extra text that has a link to Londen, see below on the picture the text: C&E LONDON

We see that number 180 was been given to The Policemen, (Bobby) made for the Englisch market, but The Policemen must have number 181.

But in the Martin literature and the books number 181 has been given to the Garçon de cafè, what number the Garçon de cafè should now have is not yet clear.

In the Martin books number 182 is given to the postman: Le télégraphiste but it turns out that number 182 is for The Sentinel, what number the postman will get is not yet known.

number 182 The Sentinel (probably only for the English market including the, in that time, colony of Canada) see the picture of the figure with the bear hat below.

number 183 La Sentinelle (a series of presumably 3 soldier figures: French – Russian – and Italian) These 3 Sentinelles are mentioned in Martin’s gift to the Musée des arts et métiers Paris in 1908.

OVERVIEUW NEW NUMBERS

Changes in the book: FERNAND MARTIN toymaker in Paris 1878-1912

174 Le Balayeur.
176 Le Vaillant Boer.
180 “Present arms” God save the king.
181 The Policemen (Englisch market)
The waiter: Le Garçon de cafe NO NUMBER UNTIL NOW.
182 The Sentinel (Englisch market)
The Postman: Le télégraphiste NO NUMBER UNTIL NOW.
183 La Sentinelle 3 soldiers French- Russian and Italian

My question to the readers:

Now I am looking for other missing numbers
If there is someone who can give me one or more of these missing or the correct numbers, I would be very happy, and if you can help me, mail me: cor@vanschaijk.com .
It’s about:
The right number for the Soldat French – English – Belgian – Russian – Portuguese, These numbers are available: 235-236-239-242-243-244-245

The postman: Le télégraphiste, WHAT IS HIS NUMBER??

The waiter, Le Garçon de cafè, WHAT IS HIS NUMBER??

A few weeks ago I was able to add another rare Martin to my collection.
It is a Martin from the first period and is from the year 1889
Martin started in 1878 so this is a fairly early copy
He later released this model again in 1903 in a modified version and later after 1912 Flersheim also put this model on the market again.
This first 1889 version is the Le Cap with product number 110

So far I know the existence of 5 of these rare versions from 1889

In the book Fernand Martin Toymakers in Paris 1878-1912 by Lourens Bas he is depicted on pages 52 and 53 with the number 25 assigned by the authors, later research shows that the correct number must be 110.
Martin started with product number 100 see my blog : https://fernandmartintoys.nl/the-numbering-of-the-fernand-martin-first-period-who-can-help-me/
The aforementioned book contains two photographs from the collection of the Parisian museum: Musée des arts et Métiers.
One of these photos is an exploded version of the second version from 1903 and the photo on page 53 is the old version from 1889.

Soon I will publish an extensive blog about the various Le Cap versions with all their differences.

Don’t miss the November 2022 issue of the Antique Toy World Magazine

An overview of the contents of the new Antique Toy World Magazine November 2022 :

Antique Toy World is the leading publication for toy collectors worldwide.

Published since 1970.
Antique Toy World is a monthly magazine published in the USA by Dale Kelley, the magazine’s founder, editor and publisher.

To subscribe go to https://antiquetoyworld.com/about-atw/
Email: ads@antiquetoyworld.com

I also published this article in the: Antique Toy World issue September 2022

As a successor of Fernand Martin and George Flersheim, Victor Bonnet Factory started the production in 1919 in the old Fernand Martin factory, in 1933 they stopped the production and moved to another building in Paris.

In these 14 years Victor Bonnet has made a series of 5 beautiful trucks and tractors.  

246 Le Déverseur
248 Tracteur + 250 Le Remorque (sold together)
249 Camion : Le Roulant
254 Le Train Tortillard
261 Camion : Gros Camionnage

He named this family of vehicles: Les-Auto-Transports

At Victor Bonnet someone came up with a family of products with standard building blocks that could be reused within the “Les Auto-Transports” family, which can already be clearly seen on the fronts of the five various trucks and tractors.

All models had a plaque on the hood with the name: Les auto-transports
This plaque has undergone some changes over the years as can be seen in the collage.

These models are somewhat undervalued, they are all vehicles with a genius mechanism and these mechanisms are all basically the same. 

At the front of all five models is a handle with which you can drive the car in a straight line or in circles.

The first of the model Le Déverseur with number 246 produced from 1919 had the most extensive mechanism with lot of functions: start-stop, drive, standstill and a side-tilt function. The models after this one were a bit simpler.  

^{246 Le Déverseur}

Victor Bonnet was the first successor to Fernand Martin who started producing cars
He released a series of trucks and started with number 246
It was a “tip up truck”, the truck has an automatic tipping and driving mechanism.

This model was released in various colors, I have seen models in Yellow, green, gray, black and brown
The length is about 20 cm (7.9 Inches)

These models have a very advanced and ingenious engine, the start-stop part sits like a handle next to the driver’s steering wheel.
After winding, you can put the car on the ground and push the handle back a bit, then it will drive, after a short time, the car will stop and the bucket will slowly move to the side to drop its load, then the bucket will go back to the old position and the car starts moving again and everything repeats itself.

In the production years, the box has been changed a few times.
The first boxes only contain the production number No 246
Boxes are known to have a sticker added with the text Déverseur No 246
Later the label came with the text Déverseur No 246 printed as fixed on the label
And I found boxes with the text Le Déverseur No 246

The next two boxes has the same picture of the catalog site on the front, these catalog pictures usually had less information than the original box labels, are they original??
I’ve come across some of those boxes before.

On the inside on the bottom of the box an extra text sheet could have been applied to indicate the operation, this is found in two languages; in French and in English.
The text on the outside of the box is only found in French, also on the boxes with an English text sheet inside.

There are boxes contained with no text sheet inside but a separate manual with the (freely translated) text:
AUTO-LE DÉVERSEUR
OPERATION :
Reassembly… Put the Engine to Stop and turn; with the key to the right, making it make 10 half-turns.
Starting… Push forward the Crank which is to the left of the driver.
Stop… Bring the Crank to the rear which is to the left of the driver.
Direction … Bring, by pressure from top to bottom, the Joystick located at the front of the Hood, in one of the 3 notches. The walk in a circle is obtained by using the 2 notches on the left.

There are models without a text, models with a text on the side or back and models with a text in the inside of the loadig area, and when they have a text it was in French or in English
The various texts I found till now are:

The body has also been available in two variants, with an angular body and with a rounder body, the truck with the rounder body (I found them in de colors gray, black/gray and yellow), and has no texts on the body, only the brass plate on the bonnet.

From this version with the rounder body, I found another one with a different nose/bonnet in the color: red body with a bleu loading area. That one has the nose/bonnet from trucks from the production after 1933 and on top of this nose/bonnet there is no longer the well-known brass nameplate.

So you can see that over the years this truck has had many different varieties.
Many Fernand Martin, George Flersheim and Victor Bonnet toys have sometimes been produced for many many years and have received many small adjustments or other colors over the years.

248 Tracteur and 250 Le Remorque

These two Victor Bonnet creations of a tractor and a trailer, were sold together in one box, I have not found any proof anywhere that they were sold separately.

I have come across the tractor/truck in two colors so far, in green and in red, (green and red in various color gradations from dark to light, but presumably the influence of sunlight has also had an influence on the color), and there are two different rear wheel placement options, one in a short base and one in a long base.

What has been noticed is that there are two versions of the tractor, with and without a roof.
Presumably it was marketed in two versions with and without a roof, which is apparent from the fact that the tractor can be found with and without mounting holes for the roof, (see the photos).

Look at the two different trailers, sometimes the trailer has a bronze plate on the back with the text: Charge maximum 5000Kos and the back and front of the trailer has different plating, version with a 6 and with a 4 rectangular layout

249 Le Roulant

This model is very very rare.
I’ve only come across a few of them.

The colors I have found so far are green, orange/brown, yellow all with red wheels and a dark blue one with bleu wheels, the length is about 25 cm (10 Inches)

It is listed in the Victor Bonnet catalog with the name Camion 249 but in the truck you can see that the name is : Le Roulant

The characteristic of this model is that there is a print on the bottom of the cargo area with the name and product number.

A similar model was later released with number 261 with the same name Camion to, but on that truck you can see the name Gros Camionnage written on the fabric tarpaulin.
This Camion is an adapted form of the here presented “Le Roulant” number 249, the later model number 261 has a fabric tarpaulin, no longer had a print on the bottom of the transport section and no text plate on the back of the cabin.
This model 261 will be found even more.

The model 261 Gros Camionnage without the fabric tarpaulin is sometimes be sold as a: Le Roulant, but can therefore be easily recognized by a print on the bottom of the cargo area and on the back of the cabin a brass text plate with the text: Charge maximum load 5000 Kos of the original Le Roulant, so pay attention.

254 Le Train Tortillard

This tractor with four trailers has a total length of approximately 69 cm / 27,2 “.
On the accompanying photos you can see the differences between the four trailers.
The first trailer has a different, tin plate attachment than the other cars, which all have a bent iron wire as attachment.

I found till now the tractor in two colors in red and green, the trailers I found in the colors blue, green, brown/orange, gray and dark-gray. I have come across it quite often and sometimes even “mint” in the box but what strikes me is that very often the carts are not all the same color, maybe the carts have gotten mixed up over the years or they are just new delivered in the box with different color carts.

261 Camion: Gros Camionnage

The “Camion” (no. 261), it was the last truck from the series Les-Auto-Transports.  

It is an open truck with a fabric tarpaulin and the length is about 25 cm (10 Inches)

A text was printed on both sides of the fabric tarpaulin, the text is original: “Gros Camionnage” that you can find on the box, there are models with another name.

I have come across this truck in the colors BLEU, RED and YELLOW, the fabric hood in the colors GREEN, BLEU, BROWN and GREY

This truck was a modified version of truck number 249 with the same name Camion, (see “Le Roulant”).
In the base the “Le Roulant” with number 249 was given a fabric tarpaulin with text, the “brand” stamp on the bottom of the cargo area has disappeared, the text plate on the back of the cabin disappeared and it get a text on the fabric tarpaulin “Gros Camionnage”.

Versions of this truck are known with various advertising texts.

This truck was sold with text on the fabric tarpaulin on both sides.

The text is original: “Gros Camionnage” that you can find on the box labels and in the catalog

I found some models with a different text.

In 2021 I found in an auction in France of Maître Philippe CASAL another “Camion” model in a rare color scheme, and also with a different text “Chocolat Casino” on the fabric tarpaulin.

In February 2018 I found on Ebay another model, the nice thing about this Camion was not only the beautiful condition, but also the print on the fabric tarpaulin: “Goulet-Turpin”.
The Internet teaches us that this is the name of the Goulet-Turpin couple who founded a distribution company under this name in their wedding year 1874.

In the collection of the German “Spielmuseum Soltau” is another one to find with the text “Nouvelles Galeries”.

“Les Nouvelles Galeries” is the name of a chain of department stores created in 1897, the stores have changed to become Galeries Lafayette.

In total, I have now found four “Camions”with different prints, including the original.  

With one different overprint I can imagine that someone has done this privately, for whatever reason, but with several new different overprints I can imagine that this was originally produced by the Victor Bonnet factory and I have already found more “Camions” with these above shown texts, so they are not isolated objects.

The companies that orders these “Camions” may have sold these models or given them away to there big customers or suppliers.

Image references:
The various pictures are with permission from Bertoina Auctions, Antico Mondo Auctions, Spielmuseum Soltau Germany, Maître Philippe CASAL, my own collection and private collectors.
The pictures from Renault trucks are from the © Archives privées Renault (with permission of Laurent Dingli. http://louisrenault.com/ )
Picture: Les Camions Renault 1928 is from Wikimedia Commons and is in the public domain ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/public_domain )

Blog: WWW.FERNANDMARTINTOYS.NL
Mail: cor@vanschaijk.com

(update of an article from 2019)

This sled with horse is a special and very wanted toy.
It is a Fernand Martin from the first period, mentioned in the well-known books under number 40, according to the new discoveries it must be number 116 (see the catalog immage below) , produced from 1892
This toy is 20cm (7.87 inch) long and 10cm (3.94 inch) high
The sled contains a clockwork drive with a different key as we are used to, this is one of the “deviations” of the keys that we know.

It is probably made especially for the Russian market because the currently known boxes and the image in an original old catalog are provided with a Russian text.

The text on the box is partly in Russian, thanks to a Russian reader
I get the translation from this Russian text and that is: “The Russian Sledges. New Mechanical Automatic Toy”

In the first drawing you see the parts that are needed to make the sled, there are 44 pictured but I have to mention that in total only 33 parts are needed because the drawing contains various parts in the unprocessed and processed state.
As an example, part number 3 is the same as part 5, number 11 is the same as number 13 and there are a few more examples.
The only part that is not show is the reins.

On the second drawing you see the compleet toy and a section of the mechanism.

“Conquete du pole Nord“

Almost the same sled was used 17 years later in 1909 number 217 by Martin for the “Conquete du pole Nord” Discovery of the North Pole.
This toy was made by Martin in honor of the conquest of the North Pole by US Navy engineer Robert Peary, who claimed to have reached the Pole on April 6, 1909.
Martin takes another figure on the sled of the “le Traîneau Russe” and instead of the horse he used four dogs and added a pole.
The sled is connected to the pole by means of a string and, after winding, drive around the pole