Maker record
Adolf Schuhmann
Adolf Schuhmann was a German maker of tinplate toys based in Nuremberg. Its products included clockwork model railways and accessories, with a documented 00-gauge set dating to 1928. In 1938 the business operation was sold to Ottmar Beckh, who initially continued much of Schuhmann’s railway range.
- Founded
- 1905
- Final year
- 1938
- Countries
- Germany
- Locations
- Nuremberg, Germany
- Founders
- Adolf Schuhmann
The story of Adolf Schuhmann
The Adolf Schuhmann firm was established in Nuremberg in 1905. Its owners were Adolf Schuhmann and his nephew Alfred Gottlieb. In 1938, under Nazi persecution of Jewish business owners, they sold the operating business, including its machinery, tools, inventory and stock, to Ottmar Beckh. The factory and office premises were rented by Beckh rather than included in the sale. Adolf Schuhmann died in 1939; his widow, children and Gottlieb later emigrated to the United States.
Schuhmann’s 1938 range included clockwork railways, chiefly in 0 gauge, and accessories. The first Beckh range largely continued the last Schuhmann assortment, including a military train developed by Schuhmann. Beckh’s postwar catalogue still included reissued prewar trains. In the 1950s Beckh expanded and modernised the range, then developed electric H0 trains, introduced in 1960. The continuing manufacture of Schuhmann-derived designs under Beckh means the 1938 sale marks a transfer of the business, not a demonstrated end date for the toys.
