Antique Figural Tape Measure, Cat Playing Drum, Heyde, Germany, 1800's, nodder

Description

This auction is for a very rare hollow cast metal hand painted figural tape measure made in Germany by the Heyde company. Heyde started in the 1870's and was a major producer of metal toy soldier sets, figural inkwells and match holders and desk sets, banks, and many other items. They did not make it through WW2. In my 20 years of collecting Heyde I've never seen a tape measure from them. This tape measure is in the form of an anthropomorphic cat, playing a drum. The cat has a nodding head (head is attached to a metal band that is anchored in the body). He came in a large collection of Heyde Cat nodders. The tape measure pull is in the front of the drum. Strong recoil on it. He measures about 2.75" to the top of his ear. In the second to the last picture I show the tape pulled out a little bit - I had to anchor it for the picture, and I used one of the other Heyde Cat nodders that came in this collection (I think she's a British Salvation Army musician) -- she is not included in this auction and is just there as an anchor. In the last picture I show a group shot of most of the Heyde nodders that came in this collection.   For good reference material on Heyde look for the three out of print books that cover Heyde's work:
Mit Heyde Figuren um Die Welt
,
Heyde Hunters
, and
Old German Toy Soldiers
(military, civilian, zoo figure sets). There is also an excellent essay on Heyde by Gisbert Freber (as well as good overall coverage of the maker) in the book, "
The History of Toy Soldiers
"
Please see my other auctions and my eBay store for vintage German and other metal animals, figural desk items by Heyde and other makers, vintage toy soldiers, tin and windup toys, Marklin cannon, and vintage and out of print books on old toys.
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Shipping
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: Returns are accepted. I use a loupe to examine the toys while I'm listing them and I try and mention the significant condition issues I see. I value my eBay reputation and I'm not knowingly going to put out false or misleading info on a toy. I leave feedback so please do the same. If there is any problem with the item contact me first before leaving feedback, and we’ll work it out.