Construction set:Richter's Popular Comet Blocks

In 1876 entrepreneur Friedrich Ad. Richter opened his first East Germany factory complex and made his fortune producing chemical-pharmaceutical products. Four years later, Richter met brothers Otto and Gustav Lilienthal, who had developed a method for manufacturing well-shaped, stable building blocks using quartz sand, powdered chalk, and linseed oil. Richter bought the brothers' design for the so-called Anchor Blocks and immediately established a factory dedicated to the production of the building block sets. The first sets appeared in stores in 1882, and by 1895 Richter had established branch offices in Vienna, St. Petersburg, London, and New York City. When Richter died in 1910, he left behind a toy-making empire with a reputation for its high quality, well-loved toys. Anchor Blocks remain in production in the 21st century.