From Wikipedia:
A hobby horse (or hobby-horse) is a child's toy horse. Children played at riding a wooden hobby horse made of a straight stick with a small horse's head (of wood or stuffed fabric), and perhaps reins, attached to one end. The bottom end of the stick sometimes had a small wheel or wheels attached. This toy was also sometimes known as a cock horse (as in the nursery rhyme Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross) or stick horse.
William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for a variant of Ride a cock horse, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose.
A hobby horse (or hobby-horse) is a child's toy horse. Children played at riding a wooden hobby horse made of a straight stick with a small horse's head (of wood or stuffed fabric), and perhaps reins, attached to one end. The bottom end of the stick sometimes had a small wheel or wheels attached. This toy was also sometimes known as a cock horse (as in the nursery rhyme Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross) or stick horse.
William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for a variant of Ride a cock horse, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose.
Bestoys Hobby Horses - c1957-1985
A wooden stick with a horse’s head at one end has been the centre of a child’s imagination and play for many, many decades-centuries. And while there doesn’t appear to be one in Nazzareno Bonaretti’s range in the 1948 photograph of his market stall in northern Italy, it certainly was one of the range of wooden toys and nursery furniture he offered in the S. Hoffnung catalogue of c1958, and continued to offer in various forms until 1985.
This page shows how Bestoys changed the simple, old-time plaything to keep up with the times using the latest materials and techniques as they evolved.
This page shows how Bestoys changed the simple, old-time plaything to keep up with the times using the latest materials and techniques as they evolved.
c1957-1964
From the first days of Bestoys until 1964, the catalogues depicted two types:
The head, a 1" thick panel of dressed radiata pine, was shaped on a bandsaw, sanded smooth on both the belt- and disc-sanders then undercoated. After spackling any knots, it was hand-sanded smooth and finished in a coat of white, semi-gloss, lead-free lacquer. Once dry, each side of the head was spray-decorated in two colours to depict the horse's head using tin stencils. A length of colourful vinyl strapping was attached to either side of the head using domed chrome-pins
The dowel stick was undercoated, hand-sanded and finished in yellow, lead-free, semi-gloss lacquer.
The wheel axle, a piece of 1" x 3" dressed radiata pine was treated as above and finished in red, semi-gloss, lead-free lacquer.
The 2-part 3" tin wheels were attached to the axle using 3" long, bright steel flat head nails ensuring the wheels spun freely.
The only assembly required by the retailer was to attach the axle to the dowel and fix it in place with the domed chrome pin provided. "Gi Gi" Hobby Horse required the retailer to join the two parts of dowel using the length of aluminium tube provided.
- HOBBY HORSE - one-piece dowel "stick" and
- "GI GI" HOBBY HORSE - two-piece dowel "stick"
The head, a 1" thick panel of dressed radiata pine, was shaped on a bandsaw, sanded smooth on both the belt- and disc-sanders then undercoated. After spackling any knots, it was hand-sanded smooth and finished in a coat of white, semi-gloss, lead-free lacquer. Once dry, each side of the head was spray-decorated in two colours to depict the horse's head using tin stencils. A length of colourful vinyl strapping was attached to either side of the head using domed chrome-pins
The dowel stick was undercoated, hand-sanded and finished in yellow, lead-free, semi-gloss lacquer.
The wheel axle, a piece of 1" x 3" dressed radiata pine was treated as above and finished in red, semi-gloss, lead-free lacquer.
The 2-part 3" tin wheels were attached to the axle using 3" long, bright steel flat head nails ensuring the wheels spun freely.
The only assembly required by the retailer was to attach the axle to the dowel and fix it in place with the domed chrome pin provided. "Gi Gi" Hobby Horse required the retailer to join the two parts of dowel using the length of aluminium tube provided.
- HOBBY HORSE was packed 12 per carton - 36" x 7" x 7"
- "GI GI" HOBBY HORSE was packed 12 per carton - 24" x 10" x 12" - the jointed dowel meant a saving on transportation and storage costs.
1965 |
1967 |
1968-c1972 |
1973-1982 |
By 1968, the standard wooden-headed Hobby Horse had been dropped from the range, leaving only the now re-named HOBBY HORSE with a ¼” hardboard Corinite head in the catalogue. Minor changes were also made, which, in effect, meant that this model was the same as the Hobby Horse in the 1957 catalogue but with a Corinite head. This item was packed 12 per carton and came in a wide variety of woodgrain colours.
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During this time, the (Corinite) Hobby Horse was packed 15 per carton
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1983-1985
After the discontinuance of the exclusive distributorship with George Wills & Co Ltd NSW, Jim Bonaretti revamped his range of wooden toys and nursery furniture and around 1982, introduced two new models in the Hobby Horse range:
- "GI GI" HOBBY HORSE - redesigned, and
- "PRINCE" HOBBY CART
While giving a nod to the "Gi Gi" of 1957, this item differed considerably from its namesake.
The head was made of ⅝” particle board and silk-screened in 2 colours; the 'stick' was 1" dressed radiata pine and the wheels were plastic and fitted to the stick by a steel rod axle and held in place with dome caps. |
The "PRINCE" (sic) HOBY CART - (should have read "HOBBY") was a new concept for Bestoys, combining a hobby horse with a pull along cart.
The fancy show horse was made of ¼” hardboard, undercoated then finished in white, lead-free lacquer. It was double-sided and silk-screened in two colours with a wooden dowel handle. The stick was 1" dressed radiata pine and the cart made of painted particle board with a hardboard base. The plastic wheels were fitted to the cart by a steel rod axle and held in place with dome caps. |