#643 REAMSA - BABY TOILET SET (JUEGO DE ASEO PARA BEBÉS) (Around 1952)

This is not a toy, although it may actually look like one. It appears in this blog because it is made by Reamsa, the famous Spanish toy soldier manufacturer. If you are a toy soldier fan, you will surely have heard about them. REAMSA comes from REsinas Artificales Moldeadas, S.A. and was an important figure manufacturer from Barcelona. The company seems to have released it first figure, which was a Mounted Police from Canada, in 1952. It was actually a copy of a figure made by Beton Toys, and it would finally become the logo of the company.

During the first years, figures were 5 cm high, but then they changed the size to 7 cm. Some people argue that the first figures were actually derived from tin soldiers, which are usually this size.

Until 1955 figures were made of soft plastic, and from that year on, figures were made in polyethylene. The figures were hand painted and looked really great, but after many years, most figures have lost much paint.

This set I am showing today is from that same year 1952 or even a few years earlier. It was not intended as a toy, to play with baby dolls, but it was a real set for real babies.

The set comprises:

• a washbowl
• a bottle for talcum powder (3 pieces including cover and piece of cork)
• a soap box
• a comb
• a brush
• a piece of cloth (cannot assure it's original) 

It was made in a soft plastic, maybe some kind of butyrate (like the first Scalextric models) or bakelite, and it seems today to be really fragile. The soap box has a small crack at one side, but it is not broken. I think this set was never used, even the comb still has all its teeth. It is interesting that all pieces have similar drawings, but they are all different in size and details. They are hand painted, at the 50s, the handwork was still affordable for companies in Spain, today it would be unthinkable.

Several pieces are marked on the base REAMSA 653. I guess the set was also available in blue for baby boys and it was maybe decorated with other motives.

A very curious set I am pretty sure you have never seen before! I doubt there are any of these sets complete out there. This one must be the last remaining set in Spain and the rest ofthe world.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BABY TOILET SET (JUEGO DE ASEO PARA BEBÉS)
• Year: Around 1952
• Company: Reamsa (Spain)