Zina and Jezreel playing with my old stone toys

It has been a bit of a madhouse this morning with everyone having a bit of a late start. When I came downstairs I found that Zina and Jezreel had been playing again with the old stone building bricks which Helena brought out for them yesterday. I was so pleased that I asked them if I could take a picture.

These were favourite toys of my sister and I when we were kids more than fifty years ago and somehow I have managed to keep them despite the countless moves in my life. But when we first had them as children we were living in Germany and they were already fifty years old when we had them.

There is a large wooden box which has four of these trays set inside it, with accompanying booklets showing sample architectural designs that the bricks would make. I don't remember doing anything other than our own creations, as I was never one for following the normal path. They are called 'Richter's anchor model stone blocks', made in Germany and were first sold in the late 1880s. The box we have dates from 1900 and all the instructions are in German with a few English words for their export market.

I have just had a look and there seem to be some smaller kits being sold on eBay for several hundred dollars, and I think they would be worth it! They are the real thing and kids as we can see love them! Perhaps I should start to play with them again too.