The Pratt brothers and William Letchworth formed the Buffalo Malleable Iron Works in 1836. Their iron formula produced durable products for carriages, saddlery, farm equipment and later railroad steam engine wheels and running gear. In 1889 they hired George Crosby to design cast iron toys to promote their malleable iron's flexibility. Now they are most remembered for the finely detailed and painted "malleable iron" indestructible horse drawn toys that are at top of toy collectors' lists. From the complete fireman sets with all the apparatus and even an operating burning building to save a fair maiden, their iron formula greatly reduced the brittleness of cast iron that was a problem for the broken legs on horses and firemen's arms on Christmas Day.

This is the first job my friend Peggy and I did in the 60's, in Montreal, Canada. We were also 10 yrs old and on a good day we could make 2$ between us. Peter must have had better patter in order to loosen those purse strings.