Maker record
Cragstan
Cragstan, a vintage toy brand renowned for its line of innovative and highly collectible toys. From battery-operated robots to friction-powered vehicles and many more. Rooted in the arena of mechanical playthings, Cragstan toys are admired for their ingenious function and design. Cragstan popularized battery-operated toys, breaking barriers and expanding imagination in the pages of toy history.
- Founded
- 1940
- Locations
- Unknown
- Founders
- Unknown
The story of Cragstan
Cragstan was a New York trading firm that entered the toy business after Frank Stanton sold Japanese toys in the United States. The firm sourced toys from Japan and Hong Kong from the early 1950s, and its name appeared on products made by other companies. During the 1950s it also imported toys from West Germany, including mechanical toys and robots. The Antique Toy Collectors of America notes that Cragstan sometimes used the Linemar name.
In the 1960s, Cragstan developed a major relationship with Hong Kong manufacturer Vanda Industrial Development Corporation. Vanda produced its Wacky series of mechanical toys for Cragstan, which became popular during that decade. Cragstan and Vanda formed N.G.S. (Hong Kong) Limited in 1966; the company was renamed Playfun in 1968. Cragstan also marketed battery-powered tinplate toys made in Japan, including Mr Robot, manufactured by Yonezawa in the 1960s. The Antique Toy Collectors of America places the end of Cragstan’s toy distribution in the mid-1960s, while a history of Vanda describes a slowdown in Cragstan’s toy business by 1968.
