We collect unusual toys, and with a collection of over 20,000 (and rising!) that have been bought over the last 30 years, there is a wide variety of amazing things to share with you!
We don’t do dolls! Our toys might have a fun or unusual mechanism, can be used to amaze or puzzle people, are a bit magical or maybe a bit scientific. Whatever the angle, they have to have something a bit ‘special’ about them.
Nearly all the toys you see here are from Tim’s Toy Collection, and are no longer available in the shops. Many were bought 20 or even 30 years ago!
However we do have a small range of items that can be bought on-line. You can visit the Grand Illusions Toy Shop, www.grand-illusions.com
Hendrik Ball
www.grand-illusions.com
From Grand Illusions. Sign up for the free Grand Illusions newsletter, at http://conta.cc/3dplns1 _______________________________________________________________________ Tim’s elastic lobster, or is it a crayfish? Either way it has 6 legs. A folk toy dating from 1991 – like all the other toys on the table today – you pull a string which winds up a little spindle…
From Grand Illusions. Visit Tim’s Toy Shop, at https://www.grand-illusions.com/ ________________________________________________________ Tim loves playing cards, and he has many designs and sizes of cards in his collection. Today however is looking at things you can make out of playing cards… Cards with a fold at each end can be used to construct a box. Tim shows…
From Grand Illusions. Sign up for the free Grand Illusions newsletter, at http://conta.cc/3dplns1 _______________________________________________________________________ Strange erasers… Tim has quite a collection! One that looks like false teeth, erasers that are shape changers from a lozenge to a heart, and pieces that fit together to make a pyramid. Erasers that fit together as a puzzle, a…
From Grand Illusions. Visit Tim’s Toy Shop, at https://www.grand-illusions.com/ ________________________________________________________ A wooden carving, showing the famous detective Sherlock Holmes in profile. However turn it through 90 degrees and now the carving shows… a violin! Of course, Sherlock Holmes played the violin. But what a clever carving! A chicken or cockerel turns into a donkey… a…