410 - Schuco "Acrobates" "Vater und Sohn", acrobat pair, wind-up figures with clockwork and felt clothing

Schuco "Acrobates" "Vater und Sohn", acrobat pair, wind-up figures with clockwork and felt clothing Metal, plastic and felt, mechanical figure group by Schuco, "Acrobates" "Vater und Sohn", acrobat pair, the father holds the son in his hands by metal struts. Father bald, head with mould seam over the crown, black painted moustache and bushy eyebrows, red bow tie, black jacket, beige trousers, cream sleeves with flesh-coloured hands, marked on the foot, head of plastic; son of plastic with black painted hair, red jacket with white collar, black trousers and black shoes. Clockwork with silver-coloured wing key in the father's back, key not original. Played-with condition commensurate with age, felt clothing with signs of use. H. 12 cm. Name and figure type of the pair probably correspond to the picture stories "Vater und Sohn" by e.o.plauen, which the cartoonist Erich Ohser (1903 to 1944) published weekly in the Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung from December 1934 to 1937: the portly, bald father with moustache and the tousle-haired son experience their adventures in 157 wordless picture stories. The pair soon served as an advertising figure and as a mascot of the 1936 Olympic Games, appeared as porcelain figures and on cups, and the collected volumes reached print runs in the hundreds of thousands. The Schuco brand was run by the Nuremberg firm Schreyer & Co., founded in 1912 by Heinrich Müller together with Heinrich Schreyer; almost all designs and patents came from Müller, and production was initially limited to felt and plush goods. Schuco also made dancing figures as a pair, in which the large figure lifts and lowers the small one after winding; of the "Vater und Sohn" pair there was also a version with a drumming father. After 1945 Schuco was at first only allowed to export its toys to America; in 1976 the company had to file for bankruptcy.