Germany

A postcard from 1912 shows the Anker factory complex as well as the Richter Villa at top right. Anker Steinbaukasten has a long history in Rudolstadt Germany, started there during the 1880s by F. Ad. Richter. The Anker Steinbaukasten business, along with other Richter ventures grew to include a sprawling...

Ankerstein Baukasten (Anchor Stone building sets) exhibited at the Nuremberg Spielewarenmesse (Toy Fair) again this year with a booth in the "Made in Germany" section of Hall 3A. For Anchor Stone, production continues in the same city where the company started in the 1880s - Rudolstadt, Germany. For the 2019 Fair, the new Gropius set was featured in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus movement. And some children's sets are now packaged in wooden boxes.

The exhibition "Experience Industrial Culture - Innovative Thuringia since 1800" in Pößneck, Germany includes Anchor Stone building sets (Anker Steinbaukasten) that were first developed in Rudolstadt in the 1880s and are the first building toy system in the world. As part of the program, the famous Dresden church, Frauenkirche, was built from Anchor Stone blocks using more than 2000 stones.