Maker record
Rico
Rico was a Spanish toy maker based in Ibi, Alicante. Its products included tinplate toys, among them a Hispano-Suiza car made in 1934, and later miniature vehicles such as a Mercedes model. Rico developed from the Ibi firm Verdú y CÃa, founded in 1910 by former Payá workers. Santiago Rico joined the business in 1919 and the Rico S.A. name followed in 1922. Rico was one of the companies that helped establish Ibi as a centre of Spanish toy production.
- Founded
- 1949
- Countries
- Spain
- Locations
- Ibi, Alicinde, Spain
- Founders
- Ricardo Rico Gmez · Emilio Rico Gmez
The story of Rico
Rico developed from Verdú y CÃa, a toy company founded in Ibi in 1910 by former workers of Payá. Santiago Rico Molina, a doll manufacturer from Onil, joined the business in 1919. It later took the name Rico S.A.; a specialist account dates that change to 1922. This chronology separates the founding of the original firm from the later adoption of the Rico name.
Rico became one of Ibi’s established toy makers during the first half of the twentieth century. The Museo del Juguete documents a Rico Hispano-Suiza tinplate car made in 1934, and also identifies a Mercedes toy by the company. Specialist histories associate Rico with a broad range of miniature vehicles, including cars, vans, trucks and buses. Rico operated alongside Payá and other manufacturers in Ibi, where toy production grew substantially from the 1950s as plastics entered the industry. The available readable accounts establish Rico’s early company development and vehicle production, but do not provide a complete chronology of its later manufacturing or a verified end date.
