Lead cartwheels from the wreck of the Fiji

These lead based toys were recovered from the wreck of the FijiMetal toys became very popular by the mid-nineteenth century, and German toy-makers also produced toy soldiers, cannons, boats and trains. Nuremberg was the centre of the metal toy industry in Germany.
These lead wheels may have come from a toy set that included vehicles, such as carts or trains, or may have come from a military set, that contained toy cannons. Military toys were produced in great numbers in Germany at the end of the C19th, as the German empire sought to grow, and boost enthusiasm for its military efforts through toys and play