August 2025 safari - doorway building toy

Last weekend went to a few thrift-stores not visited before, even though relatively nearby. Expectations for finding typewriters are low, but; new stores - new chances. 

One store did have a group of machines huddled together.

Surrounded by sewing machines (some quite old/nice machines) and joined by a few adding machines. All the adding machines were 10-key specimens of probably the late 1950s, by Walther, Monroe and Addo (i.e. Facit). A mangle and portable record-player in there as well - plus a few electric heaters. (Hadn't seen that before in thrift-stores; seem hazardous things - unless you're only going to be using them for display?)

The Olivetti machines may have been donated by/from the same source - both have the period-typical drab green-grey and still very solid. The Lexikon has glass-topped keys, oddly contrasting with its sleek mid-century modern lines.

Another thrift-store had one typewriter - a very beige plastic Scheidegger machine in an equally plasticky case. Probably 1976 or thereabouts.

It was on a table next to an equally beige cat-carrier :-)

All machines were left where they were. 

Something completely different was however picked-up; a very small set of wooden building-blocks.

With a mystifying array of numbers on the lid-label and some examples of what could be built (at least, that was the assumption). In the store it was all a bit jumbled, but puzzling all the parts into the box at home, the set actually looks complete.

The aeroplane on the smallest arch-block is also shown on one of the lid-label constructions - these are almost certainly the correct, original blocks. This also means that the lid-label is very misleading; all the pictured constructions have three long bars, and the set only will hold the one - this may have baffled and frustrated some child 90 years or so ago.

With such a small set, you can only really construct tiny facades - or doorways! It's a doorway portal construction set :-) 

Definitely giving its 1 Euro's worth - it still is a small box of fun!

(And still wondering about that coded message on the lid; it's probably in cypher :-)

Update: extra information from a knowleadgable collector of these sets; sets this small were often made as promotional gifts; so give-aways from stores. A manufacturer would have a dedicated catalogue for such advertising/promotional sets - the numbers should be the catalogue-items that this label is suitable for. The large amount of numbers suggest there were a great many different packings for the label's box-size. The label is however pasted on a 5x6, i.e. 30-unit box - incorrectly, because you need at least two 4-unit blocks extra to build the illustrations. Production would've been not too strict; if the factory ran out of correct 30-unit labels, then they'd use the closest they did have. In any case, this tiny set was almost certainly manufactured in Blumenau, Germany around 1930 and probably as a promotional gift-item.