Anchor Building Blocks- Schoharie, NY
Anchor / Anker building blocks were a product of the Anker company in Germany. The blocks were excavated at the Schoharie Creek II site in New York from a middle class household. Anchor building blocks were available in the US from 1895 until the company's dissolution in 1963.
“Richters Anker Steinbaukasten” (trans: Richters Anchor Stone Building Set) is the oldest modular construction toy system in the world and the model for creative play in the 20th century. Inspired by Friedrich Fröbels “play-systems” of wooden blocks, Otto and Gustav Lilienthal pressed their blocks out of fine quartz sand, chalk, pigments and an oil binder. The blocks had regular and specialized shapes, allowing for precise fit and interlocking architectural patterns.
The blurring between play, skill and creativity with ‘toys that teach’ was in line with pedagogic values popularized by J.H. Pestalozzi and Friedrich Fröbel in the late 19th century. Both educators stressed intuitive agency in childhood development and had pioneered learning toys in their classrooms. Despite their initial release in 1877, Anchor Blocks were not a popular learning toy until the 1880s. Under businessman Friedrich Adolf Richter, the company developed a variety of playsets, kits and puzzles that appealed to both children and adults.
