We know that in the early days, toys used to be sold for many years in a row without significant changes or modifications.
I took the time to look in old shop catalogs before 1940 to see how long some Fernand Martin, Georges Flersheim and Victor Bonnet models were still for sale after their first production date.
After 1933, Bonnet continued to produce toys in his factory at the Rue des Tourelles number 8 Paris. They have restarted the numbering probably when the production was moved from the 88 Bd de Ménilmontant to 8 rue des Tourelles. They started with number 01. In his new numbering are relatively few toys from the early production periods to the end of 1933, some exemples are the L’Ours blanc – Le motocycliste – Le petit livreur and the famous Le ramier (the pigeon).
I found the following toys, which certainly does not mean that other toys were no longer sold.
Poisson Nageur number 100 first date of production: 1878
But it is strange to find a toy with an age of more than 50 years in a catalogue from 1931.
-the name is the same.
-the original is also colored in orange/red
-it has the same winding mechanism as the old one, so with a “rubber band”, see the winding lever at its nose
-at the back near the tail is the same transmission as the original.
Le violoniste production number 160 first date of production: 1897 and found in a magazine from J. Paturel & Cie from 1931 (No image but mentioned with an advertisement of the bear)
Le pochard production number 172 first date of production: 1899 and found in a magazine from J. Paturel & Cie from 1931 (No image but mentioned with an advertisement of the bear)
Marchande d’oranges production number 184 first date of production: 1901 and found in a magazine from Desmarest from 1933
Le Pompier a l’échelle production number 197 first date of production 1904 and found in a magazine from Au Printemp from 1932
L’Ours blanc production number 193 first date of production 1909 and found in a magazine from Galeries Lafayette from 1933 (the picture from this magazine is very bad so used a picture from a magazine from 1931) and in the Bonnet catalogue from 1937 with n° 6
Le petit culbuteur production number 213 first date of production: 1908 and found in a magazine from Galereis Lafayette from 1928-1929
L’Autopatte production number 218 first date of production 1910 and found in J. a magazine from Paturel & Cie from 1931 and in the Bonnet catalogue from 1937 with n° 10
Le petit livreur production number 224 first date of production: 1911 and found in a the Magazine au Louvre from 1933 and in the Bonnet catalogue from 1937 with n° 7
Le motocycliste production number 231 first date of production: 1912 and found in a magazine from Marcel Liger from 1932
La casseuse d’assiettes production number 233 first date of production: 1913 found in a magazine from la samaritaine from 1932
Le ramier production number 251 first date of production: 1919 in the Bonnet catalogue from 1939/1940 with n° 3
