Wagner Kunstlerschutz and Max Carl Toys Germany - Vintage Collectible Flocked Figures and Wind-Up Toys
Do you remember the little flocked animal figures you had as a child in the 1960s and 1970s? Likely they were made by Wagner Handwork Kunstlerschutz!
The Wagner Handwork Company got its start in Germany in the late 1940s when Fritz Wagner, a sculptor and mold designer began an arts and crafts workshop. The molds for the animals he created numbered in the hundreds based on the long-standing German tradition of creating animals from wood, plaster, clay and paper mache and then covering them with wool or other fibres (known as flocking) for Christmas nativity and village scenes known as "putz" scenes. Based on the German word "Putzen" which generally means to clean, it is also used to describe polishing, preening or decorating. Wagner shut down in 1998 when the last family members officially retired.
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| Wagner Kunstlerschutz Flocked Squirrel |
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| Wagner Handwork Label |
Wagner produced toys for Max Carl Toys from c1951 to c1965 under the paper label tag popularly called the "monkey head logo" showing MC Original with a monkey head. Max Carl began business in 1924 and shut down in 1992.
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| Max Carl Wind Up Chick by Wagner |
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| A later Max Carl logo label. |
Wagner produced under several different labels before and after their association with Max Carl, and their labels included the stylized "fw" intertwined logo with "West Germany" and "Kunstershultz", later just using "Wagner Handwork" and after the reunification of Germany just "Wagner Handwork Germany" until their closure in 1998. For the toys Wagner produced for Max Carl, only the Max Carl logo appears on the labels.
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| Deer by Wagner for Max Carl |
Deer figure by Wagner for Max Carl, in wool flocked plush.
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| Monkey Head Logo Label |
Deer shows the original paper label known as the "monkey head label" by Wagner for Max Carl.
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| Dog Pair on Leash by Wagner for Max Carl |
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| Dog by Wagner for Max Carl |
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| Original paper monkey head label |
The iconic label is present on each of the dogs, attached by a steel rivet to the red vinyl harness of the leash.
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| Max Carl Wind Up Rabbit |
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| Max Carl paper label |
This wind up rabbit, made with a more modern plush covering, holds a paper mache carrot he "eats" when the plastic key is wound. Cute mechanical animated toy, later in the Max Carl portfolio.
An early toy Wagner made for Max Carl Toys is the Monkey with cymbals, an animated wind up animal who moves and plays his cymbals. Made with a rayon synthetic covering over fibreboard/paper mache, and wire musculature, he has a velvet face with hand painted features and plastic eyes.
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| Wagner Wind Up Animated Monkey for Max Carl Toys Germany |
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| Wind Up Monkey Toy |
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| Original Paper Label on chest |
The monkey head label of Max Carl Original West Germany is on the monkey's chest. The winder key is metal and located on the back of the monkey.
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| Original Label also showing "10" |
Not much else is known about either company, but the flocked figures remain very popular and the later ones, produced just before Wagner's closure, can be found fairly easily. Be sure to check the label style to better determine a production period/date.
Many items shown here can be found at Mandicrafts! Click here to view.
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I have just bought 3 Max Carl monkeys, one playing cymbals, one playing drums & one with maracas, great article.
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