Never have too many

The number 2 bus in Stockholm took me to the door of the Transport Museum there. At the back of the Transport Museum was the Toy Museum. A funny old set up, it’s true. But when it comes to museums, often it is a case of the funnier the better.

In air redolent of motor oil, the Toy Museum was case after case crammed with toys. Accompanied by quite a few hand written labels. Robots. Dolls. Tinplate pretties. Bears. Toy soldiers. A goodly selection of toy dioramas. And a toy train corner manned by two gentleman train obsessives – making, mending and keeping things moving. And trying not to catch the eye of the visitors.

Shelf Appeal loves a nicely displayed toy, beautifully lit. Very often on show in Paris. But Shelf Appeal also appreciates those mad displays of collections as far as the eye can see. The ‘lets put it all in a case until we can cram in no more’ school of curating. Shelf Appeal is of the opinion that any museum, however haphazard, is better than no museum at all.

Some cases in the Toy Museum were too full for the toys to need propping properly. Another had children’s drawings as a backdrop to toy helicopters slipping on their cotton strings. Many smaller toys, in many cases, had fallen over. Some cases had lost their toys at some point but the empty stands were still there.

The display of doll pieces pictured here was laid out in a basic, utilitarian way – almost willy-nilly – on an old bit of scrim. In a funny old glass case. Good enough for me.

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