One of the surprises at Peter Wilson’s April 26- 27 sale (also see story above) was a tinplate clockwork pram pushed by a woman stamped Burnett Limited, London, Made in England.
The firm was set up in London in 1914 – at a time when the huge dominance of German-made tinplate toys was obviously going to disappear – and appears to have sub-contracted the actual manufacturing of its designs to a Mansfield company. Having started at the beginning of one world war, Burnett went out of business at the start of the second – Chad Valley taking over its operation in 1939.