Moko (toys)

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Moko Spielwaren was a toy company founded by Moses Kohnstam in Fürth in 1865, which not only manufactured its own mechanical toys, but also sold other toys as a wholesaler.

history

The company was entered in the Fürth commercial register on January 3, 1865. Before the company building, built in 1898 at Nürnberger Strasse 56 and 58, was completed, the company's headquarters were initially at Friedrichstrasse 14. In 1900, a branch was established in London, which was managed by Julius Kohnstam, a son of the company's founder. This company was expropriated during the First World War . Kohnstam also sold toys from other smaller manufacturers such as Johann Philipp Meier under his name and logo.

After the First World War, Julius Kohnstam founded Julius Kohnstam Limited in London .

The Fürth company was already affected by the global economic crisis in the late 1920s and "Aryanized" in the 1930s. The company went out in 1933/34, the company building was auctioned by Gustav Schickedanz in 1938 below the standard value. Some members of the Kohnstam family managed to escape and emigrate. However, two of the company's founder's daughters died in the Holocaust. Today there are still descendants of the family living in the USA, with grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Julius who also live in the UK.

After the Second World War , a descendant of Moses Kohnstam discovered the Lesney company , which was later called Matchbox . There he became the company's specialist in financing, logistics, storage and packaging and designed the first boxes for Lesney based on the model of a Czech matchbox from the Norvic Matches brand . That is why the first seven models of the Matchbox A series also have the Moko logo .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Moko on alemannia-judaica.de, accessed on April 11, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b Kohnstam company history , accessed on April 11, 2017.
  3. ↑ About Johann Philipp Meier onammlung-sammler.de, accessed on April 11, 2017.
  4. ^ Pieter Kohnstam: A Chance to Live. Bardolf & Company, 2006, ISBN 0-9778199-1-4 .
  5. ↑ List of packaging with illustrations, accessed on April 11, 2017.