Mulberry Bush sell loads of Bigjigs Rail wooden trains, train sets and accessories – and other brands too – but one question we are often asked is “Is it compatible with Brio?”. The simple answer is yes, and indeed so much has Bigjigs rail grown over the last few years – to the extent that they may well now be the market leader – that the question now ought to be “Is it compatible with Bigjigs Rail?” Another conversation we…
What are our best selling toys this Christmas? Some of the wooden toys we offer are best sellers year after year. In pride of place has to be the fantastic Mini Cakes and Stand which has been immensely popular for a couple of years now, and not surprisingly. The detail is incredible and with 12 mouth-watering wooden cakes plus wooden stand at £11.99 it’s incredible value too. Another best seller this year and a consistent favourite for 2 or 3…
When my wife and I started Mulberry Bush twelve years ago our aim was to build a collection of traditional toys and games that Grandparents would want to buy for their grandchildren. Lots of wooden toys, not too much plastic, nothing to do with computers, and none of those character or film related toys that are the “must have” one Christmas and gone the next. The only slight snag was that we weren’t grandparents ourselves, nor indeed did we have…
It’s a little known fact that dolls houses were in existence in Egypt over 5,000 years ago. These early examples were true miniature homes, made out of wood, with miniature furnishings, servants and livestock. However, these ancient Egyptian dolls houses were not toys as we know them today. Discovered in Egyptian tombs it is thought that these models were used for religious purposes. It wasn’t until the 16th century that dolls houses began to be used for amusement, but not…
Toy collecting, especially antique tin and wooden toys, as an investment is a relatively recent phenomenon. It started to get serious in the mid-’60s with prices and demand is driven largely by interest from the USA. By the mid-eighties, the market really took off. Toy prices in the USA and around the world started going through the roof. In 1988 the sale of the contents of Leon J Perelman’s Toy Museum generated over $5 million in just 24 hours for…
Parents and carers today want toys for their children that are not only entertaining and fun but also educational. Babies arrive in the world hungry for learning, and milk, so it falls to parents and carers to ensure that they are adequately stimulated, supported and challenged. Babies are like sponges. They absorb every aspect of their experiences via their five senses and these all contribute toward their cognitive, social and physical development. Educational toys for babies are often brightly coloured…
I’ve taken a close look at our recent sales statistics to compile this list of traditional wooden toys that continue to be immensely popular: Jacobs Ladder: This is a very popular traditional folk toy consisting of wooden blocks that are held together with ribbon. When the toy is held at one end the illusion of a block tumbling down the ladder is created. Fascinating fun. Junior Carpenter Set: This brilliant carpentry set continues to be extremely popular. It consists of…
There’s a nicely written piece about traditional games on Time Magazine’s website with the author describing how he and his primary schoolmates played marbles in the playground in the 1970s. No doubt he thinks that makes him sound old, but I could have written the same about my primary school in the 1950s and I reckon if I asked my father – now in his 80s – he could have done the same for the 1920s and ’30s. But in…
Apparently the makers of Monopoly in USA are “dropping Water Works and Electric Company in favour of Wind Energy and Solar Energy” according to globeandmail.com . They quote the games owner’s CEO as saying this is “a nod to the efforts of countries worldwide to increase the effectiveness and availability of renewable energy and resources.” A “nod to the efforts”? How patronising can a company get? But should we be surprised at the cynical attempts of one the world’s largest…
It’s no secret that a huge proportion of the world’s toy manufacturing has found its way to the Far East, particularly to China, in recent years. Very few of the wooden toys we sell now come from anywhere other than that part of the world. Don’t get me wrong – some of these people produce fantastic quality products. Have a look at this Fire Engine if you have a moment, made in Thailand in a state of the art factory….