Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Seal and Tub Toy. Seal has glass eyes and leather flippers. Red, white, and blue paint on tub. 

Seal size: 8 X 2 1/2 X 5 in. 

#8566 . 

Tub size: 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 X 2 3/4 in. 

#8573 . 

Born in 1848, Albert Schoenhut came from a toy-making family in Wurttemberg, Germany. He came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1866 to repair toy pianos for the John Wanamaker department store. By 1872 he had started his own company which made musical instruments, circus figures, doll houses, push and pull toys, and more. By 1907 the factory expanded to enclose five and a half acres of floor space, and employed 400 workers. One of Schoenhut’s most popular toys was the Humpty Dumpty Circus set, sold from 1903 until 1935. The hand-painted toys were of acrobats, clowns and performing animals, and the earliest ones had glass eyes and real hair. All the figures were jointed and strung together with elastic bands, allowing them to be placed in a variety of positions. A complete circus of thirty-seven animals, ten performers (plus a band), accessories and a circus tent was one of the most prized possessions children could acquire during the 1920s. Schoenhut passed away in 1912, with his three sons carrying on the company, and a small division of it still exists today known as Schoenhut Toy Piano.