Carl Loebner, located in

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies first met near ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, is a German

toy store A toy store or toy shop is a type of retail business specializing in selling toys; usually ones marketed towards children. History The first toy store was founded in 1760 by William Hamley in London, under the name of "Noah's Ark", later re ...

. The first documented mention of the workshop in the history of Torgau goes back to the year 1685. The company has always been passed down from father to son and is currently run by the twelfth generation.

History

At the end of 1685, after his marriage in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, master wood turner Christoph Loebner opened his master workshop in turning craft in Torgau and made wooden toys. Company names were first officially recorded in the time of his grandson Carl Loebner, giving the company the name it still uses today. In 1780 guild master Johann-George Loebner acquired the house on Bäckerstraße on Torgau's market square, which is still used today as a shop, and continued to manufacture his wooden toys there, which he first sold on the markets in the area and at the

Leipzig Trade Fair The Leipzig Trade Fair () is a major trade fair, which traces its roots back for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, Leipzig fell within the territory of East Germany, whereupon the Leipzig Trade Fair became one of the most importan ...

sold. His initial products were wooden dolls, drumsticks, spinning tops, skittles, whistles and billiard balls. Starting with the sixth generation, the Loebners became toy merchants only, and ceased toy production.

Frommer's Frommer's () is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the com ...

travel guide includes the shop on its list of 10 tourist-friendly businesses open 275 years or longer, describing it as an emporium featuring its own range of wooden toys as well as leading international toy brands.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loebner, Spielwaren Carl Companies established in 1685 Toy retailers