Tipp & Co.

1912 - 1970

The long history of Tipp & Co. of Nuremberg (1912-1971) ranks among the most illuminating of all 20th century toy stories.
Founded in 1912 by a Miss Tipp and a Mr Carstens, under the ownership of the Ullman family, the firm grew quickly to join Carette, Bing, Hess, Lehmann and Märklin among the great German toy makers.

But Philip Ullmann was Jewish. In 1933 amidst increasing Nazi persecution and restrictions he fled to England where, holed up with colleague Arthur Katz in workshop space offered by Bassett-Lowke in Northampton, he began manufacturing toys to raise funds for other Jewish refugees. He called the company Mettoy, later better known as Corgi.

Meanwhile, in Nuremberg his company had been seized and, under the aegis of Ernst Horn, the former director at Bing (who had gone into receivership in 1932), production changed from civilian motorcycles and London buses to toys celebrating the rebuilding of the German military. Considered a morale booster, production of Tipp & Co. tinplate staff cars, troop transporters, anti-aircraft guns and tanks continued well into 1942. Although they ranked among the finest clockwork tin toys of their day, much of Tipp's output was destroyed after the War and once popular models, such as the large and imposing Mercedes 'Fuehrer wagon', are seldom seen.

As something of a footnote to the Tipp & Co story, in 1948 Ullmann regained control of the firm he helped create and with his son Henry managed two Anglo-German toy firms (taken from antiquestradegazette.com).

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