Richter's Anchor Stone Building Sets

Richters Anker Steinbaukasten

Richter's Anchor Stone Building Sets (Richters Anker Steinbaukasten) were the most popular construction toy in the world from the early 1880s through W.W.I.  These building stones were made in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany, (and at the company's branches in Vienna, New York and, possibly, St. Petersburg, Russia).  Starting in 1880, Richter's Anchor building stones were covered by international patents and trademarks.

Today, there are many collectors and builders of Anchor Stone Building Sets.  A number of them are members of the international Club of Anchor Friends (Club van Ankervrienden), a Dutch club with members from the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the USA.

Over 500 different Anchor Stone Building Sets were produced in a number of series.  In addition Richter offered other "stone" products such as puzzles and laying games.  Information on these building set series is provided.  People who would like to know more about a specific set, including value, or are only interested in additional general information are urged to contact George Hardy by e-mail.  All e-mail questions will be answered, to the extent of my knowledge.

This month's picture is the opposite side of the same castle shown in this position last month.  This building was not known in color until the discovery of this advertisement in 1995.  Note that the headline shows the change from "Patent" to "Anchor" Stone Building Sets; the paste-over is peeling.  Using this picture, and the one presented last month, I intend to build this castle this winter.  Due to limitations of my collection, especially roof stones of specific colors, I will have to make a few changes.  I know that this building is tall, over six feet, so I may have to start on a special table only a few feet off of the floor.

Please note that this home page is under constant revision.  The graphics have been changed from GIF to JPEG, which improves quality while reducing download time to 1/3 of what had been needed.  In some cases I have used the improved graphics format to enlarge the pictures.  New graphics, and additional text, are uploaded once a month, as close to the first as possible.  So please plan to drop by monthly to see the new pictures.  In the restricted (1.4M) space of my home page, I can provide only a limited view of the wonderful world of Richter's Anchor stones.

Other web sites with Anchor pictures and information:
         Lego on Long Island
         Kindergarten (in German).
         Architectural Toys.

For the month of November, 1996.

Anchor exhibitions being held in the next few months.