Pistol:Handcrafted Wooden Toy Pistol

Before the mass-production of toys in the late 19th and 20th centuries, American and European children were lucky if they had a relative trained in woodworking and carpentry. After skilled fathers had built the necessary cabinets or cupboards, they might use a few scraps of wood to fashion toys for their children--perhaps a wooden boat or pull toy for the son and a dollhouse or a cradle for a cloth doll for the daughter. Such toys were rare, simple, and cherished. Toys like this wooden pistol may have come from a father's work bench.