TIN TOYS Is it any wonder our fascination with vintage tin toys? From the late 19th century German elaborate tin wind up automatons to the Japanese tin cars of the 1950's, and the strong American presence in between, there is a charm to tin. Perhaps it's the brightly colored lithographed tin surface.  Perhaps it's the contrast to mass produced plastics which fade over time.  Yet much of the tin toys were certainly mass produced.  And although they don't always fade they were subject to complete decomposition by way of rust.  So it wasn't just the metal alloy.  Maybe it was their attention to detail.  There was an amazing 1885 German Clown automaton with discs that were inserted into its base.  The discs were brass and had different cog like patterns on their edges.  These discs were installed in the base.   A clown was at an artist's easel.  A tiny 2 inch piece of paper was inserted between his writing instrument and the paper.  And when the toy was engaged, the clown would draw a picture on the paper!  And it was a lovely line drawing of  a rooster.  And the different discs with different cogs would create different drawings.  It was a wonder because there was no electricity, no battery and just  cogs, springs and tension.           These toys represent true innocence coupled with childlike imagination and wonder.  Surely it's a child's most fanciful imagination that his toys could  walk, talk or even draw.  And to see toys come to life is a confirmation of his imagination-that toys do in fact come to life and are magic.        And tin toys weren't made exclusively by a machine that spit them out by the billions from a mold (although many aspects were mass produced).  At one point someone in a factory in Japan had to carefully fit that wheel to the 1957 Chrysler New Yorker without scratching the delicate lithographed tin surface.  Every aspect of it was a perfect replica of the actual car.  This was in essence a man/woman with the heart of a child at play building and creating a thing of beauty.  Bandai  made toys "for children everywhere".        But lest we imagine that toys were all serious works of art let us not forget the tremendous impact of the United States to create amazing comical tin toys. "There is no reason for even the cheapest toys to be of poor quality." Louis Marx Louis Marx (Marx Toys NY) was called the King of Toys by Time Magazine in 1955 and placed on its cover.  Marx in his ingenuity had a knack for marketing quality toys at affordable prices.        He created toys around cartoon characters and popular entertainment figures: Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd in a classic Car or wind up Popeye, juggling Olive Oyl perched on a chair sitting atop his nose. These were whimsical creations and quality items but most certainly playful.       Starting in 1903 Julius Chein  created beautiful Ferris Wheels and Coney Island Rides entirely from tin and of very high quality.  The merry go round or rocket ride would entertain again and again long after leaving the amusement park.  And there are many others too many to list and whatever the reason for our love of old tin toys.  One thing is clear.  they bring a gleam to the eye, a gasp of wonder and the amazement of a child staring at the shining tinsel on the tree on a cold December morning.