Charles Martin Crandall of Montrose, PA was an early American toy maker and produced some quite singular, and quite fabulous toys, especially notable for their use of a tongue and groove system for joining pieces. This Acrobats set, patented in 1867 and produced throughout the 1870s, makes exuberant and inventive use of that tongue and groove system, with a million different possibilities for configuring them, as every head or torso, arm or leg, can slot anywhere into another. With hand-painted arms and legs and paper lithograph for the faces and outfits, different on each side. In their original box, with several different bases/stands featuring the same slatting so as to be used and incorporated in a variety of ways. Endless fun--I could have continued configuring and photographing these all day!
Box measures 9 7/8" x 6 1/4" x 2. There is a little loss to the lid of the box, such that it does not slide in tightly but rather just sets. (There is one piece of that lid found with the set that could be reglued, but would still not make it quite whole.) Losses here and there along the edges of the figures but pretty much everywhere is a usable slat to be joined with another piece. One wants to be a bit gentle with them; they're old!
