By 1905, a tinsmith family from the town of Ibi (Alicante, Spain) called
"Payá" started to manufacture little craft tin toys.
Very soon, they created one of the most strong toy enterprises of Spain.
It had more than 500 workers by 1930.
In the first years of their performance, the Payá brothers acquired
a great number of Spanish and foreigner toys. They used them to know the
trends of the market and to research how to improve the quality of their
products. During his travels into foreign countries, Raimundo Payá
brought two samples of each of the best toys he saw. He took two pieces
of them to know its mechanism; the other one was conserved as a sample.
Eventually, the enterprise became the owner of a valuable collection,
especially of tin toys.
After the conversion into co-operative (1984), the new PAYA S.C.V.L. granted
these funds, like a initial contribution, to the town hall of Ibi, which
asked to the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo and the Valencian
Government for help to create "The Valencian Toys Museum of Ibi"
and placed it in the "Casa Gran" in 1990. It is in the first
floor of the "Casa Gran" where it is properly exhibited the
Valencian Toys Museum, a magic project of interior design that includes
a wide sample of 444 toys, placed in accordance with the figurative environments
that the proper toys represent.
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