Matthias Hess

The company Matthias Hess was a toy company founded in Nuremberg in 1826 , the factory brand of the company was brand Hess with an ornate h .

The company was one of the first to make toys and toy trains from pressed steel. This toy is now known as a tin toy.

In 1886 the founder's son, John Leonard Hess, took over the management of the company, which he inherited in 1906. His initials JLH can be found on the factory mark . Production was stopped around 1930.

Toys from the founding years are rare today, but we do know that rail-less railroads were built in the mid-19th century. The first were simple pull-type models, but over time they were fitted with a flywheel or clockwork. The decorations on the toys were always good despite different techniques. The best known were probably the flywheel drive Heßautos. Before the First World War, battleships and submarines were built, initially only as sliding models, later with clockwork.

source

• The Universal Toy Catalog 1924/26