Circus elephant, TY000596
A well-known maker of circus toys in the early 20th century was Alfred Schoenhut. Schoenhut had immigrated to America from Germany in the late 19th century. He made high-quality toys and his circus toy sets became internationally renowned. These sets included clowns, leopards, mules and elephants along with various circus props and a big top tent.
Although jointed dolls had been around for many years this style had seldom been applied to other toys such as animals. All Schoenhut circus toys had moveable limbs and the clowns had grooves in their hands and feet so they could be attached to the various circus props.