Rivollet,Simon,et,Rivollet,

 

Simon et Rivollet, S.R. Paris. France, This is the Simon et Rivollet collection of the Leonard family .. these amazing tiny Simon et Rivollet  lead antimony Edwardian penny toy marvels. Most of which are no more than 2 inches long … 

They where manufactured in Paris from the 1890s to the 1920s. The heyday was most definitely 1895 to 1914… 

The collection took 50 years to collect and runs into the many 100s of pieces, from the rarest to the most common.   Each will be explained dated and rated in terms of collecting today in a grade of rarity.

These penny toys where sold by street vendors working from the kerbside .

Early penny toy whistle from 1903-10 Simon et Rivollet not uncommon 

Another view of the penny toy whistle car.

Beautiful Simon et Rivollet battleship c.1905-07 the detail is amazing 

The most rare Simon et Rivollet motor fire engine has a steering wheel upgrade, you can see the casting variations from the horse drawn version below to make penny toy current the model dates from around 1905.

The Simon et Rivollet horse drawn fire engine is fairly rare but they do turn up from time to time made from the mid 1890s …. Stunning detail.

Love this model it’s a Simon et Rivollet Paris water cart for cleaning the streets dates in manufacture from 1895 to the 1st world war.. very rare item to find, let alone a complete example…

Simon et Rivollet Paris ice cream seller about 1900.

Simon et Rivollet rocking horse with rider about 1900 on date very rare.

Simon et Rivollet three wheeled child’s hobby horse c1900-1905 very rare

One of five variants all from the same period.

Another variation with casting alterations from the one above.

   

                           Very rare ox plough Simon et Rivollet made up to the 1st world war.

Only example ever found  with tube rollers for wheels making it a steam driven road roller.c1900-10

I still can’t work out how this two and a half inch example has survived it is so fragile in its design an Edwardian male cyclist dressed in period clothing even down to the fine detail of moleskin, brecks, blazer moustache and tasseled socks. The fine wicker detail of the trailer is incredible… 

Simon et Rivollet, penny toy train whistle even the attention to the boiler rivets, the fancy boiler banding and pressure dome…. The best detail is the addition of a ring so a gentleman could hang from a watch fob.

Such an ephemeral Edwardian novelty… just over an inch in length fairly rare complete.

Simon et Rivollet, Edwardian carriage car is one of the rarest survivors of these little penny toys it dates from 1903-05.  The detail and incredible, attention to the coach work stuns me, the wicker panelling of the door, even down to the loop pull door handle.

The bracket holding on the front running boards, to the sprung chassis is amazing…. The best bit is the drivers perch above the carriage body… the real car must have been a near one off at the time with its amazing coach work body. So for a toy maker, to make the model at the time, it is a snap shot of the amazing changes and innovation of the Edwardian era…

A fantastic small carousel with central hand spinner with three creatures of a horse a boar a lion. This is 1890 -1910 in date the only one in 50 years ever found.

This is the only one ever found of the hobby horse trike, but this example has a female rider, in hunting garb. Very rare dates anywhere from 1890- 1910.

This group of three photos display the incredible  ingenuity of this little French toy maker. This is the amazing observation of everyday French life and made little carriages as penny toys, copying the transport of late Victorian life. The handsom carriages are very special…. The middle example is very rare…all date from c1890-1900

The thing that has amazed me looking at these toys is that I believe they are truly underrated, and are as rare as tinplate  penny toys …...my late father started collecting these in the late 1970s in France, finding them on the markets around Paris. I as a small child to my teens spending  hundreds of weekends wandering the Paris street markets at least two weekends a month every month, hunting out these tiny toys with my parents.

He became fascinated by the large number of variations on a theme, the intricate casting skills of those pioneering tool makers of the unknown Paris maker Simon et Rivollet or S.R.. the more pieces  he found the more avid the seaking of rarer and rarer pieces… with the help of other collectors around the world, more of these interesting and intriguing items continued to arrive in the post on a daily basis…to a point some weeks they just flooded in. The heyday of this company seems to be from 1895 to the First World War… when war toys became more important which will be explained later.

So the start of S.R. Seems to be these lovely little carriages, which are from the wealthy gentleman’s town carriages to the wonderful array of working carts… dog carts, goat carts, etc ….they are from the 1890s to early 1900s fazed out in preference to the advent of the motor car….

Type of landau carriage with a proud horse pulling…. Not un common always damaged 

Another example with a proud prancing horse….

The two examples show the incredible casting detail and effort to design fab detail even down to each carriage having a horse specifically made for the piece….the bottom photo is extremely rare and very fine.

These two examples are working wagons both have individual horse designs again fantastic detail.

Hose cart with single seat quite crude in this example  and painted with original heavy lead paints of the time. Dates 1900 fairly rare.

One of the more mad designs a Roman Gladiator chariot pulled by no less than a lion… rare only one ever seen.. bought Paris 1981.

Strange one only one of this found.

Only example found complete.

Very rare with the trotting horse.

The four pictures above are these wicker sided carriages the attention to detail is so incredible given they are less than two inches long… 

Very rare.

This is a very rare item it’s a sulky, with a unique casting very fine with wire cast traces as part of the carts strength, the horse is deigned for this piece . It slides down the traces … dates from 1900. 

Single horse plough fairly common always broken..

Dog milk cart  painted original grey and has its original milk cans … this is a very common item as the cart… always has the milk cans gone.gates from 1900-1920. Often painted ox blood red cart yellow wheels.

One of the many common versions of the donkey cart, but this one has a rare variation in the way the donkey is fixed to the traces with a swaged  Rivit ..

I think this was made for a very long time, given the number that turn up.

Don’t know what this trade cart is for but it’s the only s.r penny toy with a trotting horse .. as the main clearly demonstrates. This piece dates around 1900… only one ever found very rare

Donkey cart with a trotting donkey….painted original brown …. oddly common 

This is the only complete example of this work cart we ever found … I think this. is a coal wagon with display banners on spindley bits of lead fab-ultimate example … how this ever survived, it must have gone into someone’s curiosity cabinet… in 1900 and remained undisturbed… dated from the 1890s… super rare

Moderate rare

Fairly rare 

Rare

Various working carts all 1890-

The advent of motor cars made an extremely interesting time with Simon et Rivollet with many new mad fangled road machines 

This is one of my favourite of all the Edwardian cars. The carriage body was adapted from a much earlier handsome carriage… the attention to detail is incredible…very rare only complete example.

Another fabulous example of the amazing toolmaking at SR. Very rare only one found

This is a bit of an iconic Simon et Rivollet lead penny toy.  It is the ill fated Edwardian Renault racing car.

This is the 1903 Renault from the Paris-Madrid race..in which Marcel Renault was killed driving that car.

These were probably sold at races up to this event….they may not have been sold after, as a matter of respect…Which is why they maybe so rare… 

There are fairly hard to find so reasonably rare.

One of my favourite Simon et Rivollet lead penny toys a New York taxi with a separate sliding cast metal roof.. these are hard to find complete and in this condition… probably made for export to the U.S. found this in Miami.

This is one of these amazing things you find now and again an original painted example, some of the bigger farm carts, the same size as William Britains farm carts come  painted in these colours.

Simon et Rivollet alcohol made miniature cars that would have been Christmas cracker toys or small gaming pieces. Thea see are rare survivors at less than 1cm in length.

Various period Simon et Rivollet Edwardian cars.

One of the most important and common, iconic, Simon et Rivollet, penny toys, is the Paris single deck bus.

These must have been sold every where in France given the number that have turned up over the years. 

In the collection these are in the 10s in number. The funny thing to note is that they have been collected for a purpose. Each one is ever so slightly different. The reason is due to moulds wearing out and being re-tooled. Which also explains the number found, to explain the number manufactured. It must have been an Edwardian tourist item. Simon et Rivollet did also produce, many very interesting tourist items, from church relics, crosses etc, to models of the Eiffel Tower..and other Paris land marks. Particularly famous for inkwells all will be later explained and discussed displayed.

The larger Paris bus with driver is still the only one we ever found.

The London general double deck bus is another of Simon et Rivollets’ iconic tourist penny toys is this item. Given the number that have turned up suggests they made many thousands at the time of 1905-14.

Again the novelty value of these lovely Edwardian motor cars. It is like they produced a new car every week each time a new mad fangled motoring monster appeared….

This has a small loop on the front, so that a gentleman may attach It to his Albert and watch fob as a novelty at the time. This wicker sided car dates pre 1905.

A lovely Edwardian car with superb wicker cane coach work. Again simon et Rivollet penny toy made around 1903-5 … rare example 

This is a fun one, if you look a little further back in the photos you will see the same coach body on one of the carriages Simon et Rivollet tool makers did exactly the same thing as the real car makers at the time did they used the bodies of carriages to make early cars..

Again superb attention to detail with the hand break and the accelerator leaver… the double leaf springs at the back the same as the carriage.

Fairly rare model 1905-10.

More wonderful examples of  Edwardian motor vehicles.

An interesting detail about collecting Simon et Rivollet penny toys is the history of the world at the time. Wagons,lorries that are not horse drawn are rare and only a very few examples exist. It’s not that they are rare in terms of turning up as penny toy examples. It’s the fact most haulage in France would have been very much by horse power. It would have started to change around the first war. Even if you think of the incredible numbers of horses that went to the front line in the First World War, they ran into the millions. Lorries would have been a rarity, very expensive to buy and own… not many places would have been available to even buy fuel at the time to run a lorry, except for short regular routes. Particularly out of Paris  petrol would have been very scarce… plus the lorries would have used gallons of fuel per mile..

it’s a bit like the advent of the rebirth of electric cars today trying to find an electric charge point in a big city is hard enough today, let alone when out in the country side. This is 2022 and if the world keeps down the electric car route by 2026 electric charge points could be everywhere..

These are the only two examples that have turned up for  each type of lorry,  the top photo is the only example of this one I have ever seen. The other lorry turns up at collectors fairs every so often..

The age of these two S.R. Lorries is from the time period of  1908- 1920.   

SIMON ET RIVOLLET DOLLS HOUSE.

One of the most amazing areas of Simon et Rivollet production is the incredible dolls house furniture and pieces. These are fairly big in scale by comparison with the penny toy production.

The intricacies and fine trellis detailing is incredible very few good examples survived.

Most of the best items are from 1890 to 1910 the heyday of the wealthy home nursery dolls house..

The first pieces shown are for children to play with the small clothed miniature bisque dolls..

Dolls house crib about 3 inches high by 3inches wide manufactured 1890 -1910 or thereabouts 

Large folding pram made in the 1890s amazing how any of these survived they are so fine and intricate..

One can only guess they would have been kept in collection cabinets with small dolls… so so fragile.

Simon et Rivollet large pram very very rare from 1890.

The small baby grand  is not uncommon several different designs more often than not missing one or more legs.. common .

Simon et Rivollet folding high chair. Produced around 1890. Very sought after by doll and dolls house collectors. Rarely found complete or with a working mechanism.so they stay standing in the upright position.

Simon et Rivollet dolls house tables come in a few different designs. The rarest is the one with a tripod base. These tables come in a variety of finishes so the young girl at the time in 1890 could choose a colour for her dolls house rooms.

Simon et Rivollet Roman style chair only one ever found about 3 inches high incredible detail.

Simon et Rivollet penny toy sewing machine with moving treadle and wheel for added realistic detail must have been amazing to a young girl in 1890.

Simon et Rivollet penny toy cooks range circa 1890-1910

Various designs of small dolls house chairs for tables parlour chairs..

Simon et Rivollet dolls house chaise lounges these are about 4 inches made about 1890 and very rare.

Simon et Rivollet dressing table very rare and very intricate detail .

Only one of these found a beautiful miniature coal scuttle c.1900.

Large Simon et Rivollet rockers or rocking chairs c1890. Two different designs both are fab.

Two large different design side chairs.beautiful detail these are four inches long. Fairly rare in good condition.

Pair of  Simon et Rivollet penny toy dolls house candelabra amazing detail…. These date from 1890 -1910 and are amazing.

Simon et Rivollet beds come in in several different designs as with all things Simon et Rivollet dolls house beds come with beautiful attention to detail the bendy bed is fantastic… and the only one ever found.. as with all these toys they are late Victorian early Edwardian.

SIMON ET RIVOLLET PENNY TOY CANNONS

These are probably the best best known and most common items from Simon et Rivollet they turn up everywhere. Even though most people don’t realise they are made by this French toy maker.