Tomi Ungerer's Toy Collection

“Everyone tells me I'm crazy to give away a collection like this." says Tomi Ungerer. "They say it's worth a fortune. […] But at least I know it has some use. I'll be able to come along on a Sunday afternoon and see the kids going into fits of laughter – and that's when the collection will come to life. A collection that has no life in it doesn't deserve to exist."
Tomi Ungerer began his first collection as a child with stones brought back from his walks in the Vosges. Starting in New York in the 1960s, he assembled a collection of 6000 toys, 1500 of which he donated to the Museum.
Some, such as the U.S.S. Oregon Battleship (Märklin, c. 1890), are rare and valuable. Others are more run-of-the-mill. There are steam engines, trains, cars, old boats, but also little pink pigs, "masters of the universe", water pistols and the like.
Above all, Tomi likes "played-with" toys, ones that have been made use of, weathered by time and the hands of children.
These are the ones that inspired some of his drawings and that appear in many of his stories for young people.
The collection brings together a number of mechanical toys. Automata, especially those produced by the French firm Martin, occupy an important place. They illustrate Ungerer's interest in mechanisms and watchmaking that are in the family tradition. He even had fun tinkering with the "drawing monkey", a toy which has become the symbol of his collection.