Anchor Stone Blocks
Encyclopedia
Dimension stone
Dimension stone is natural stone or rock that has been selected and fabricated to specific sizes or shapes. Color, texture and pattern, and surface finish of the stone are also normal requirements...
building blocks
Construction set
A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. The pieces avoid the lead time of manufacturing custom pieces, and of requiring special training or design time to construct complex systems...
made in Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt is a town in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, close to the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. They are so precisely cut and polished that they fit together perfectly. They are made in three colors in imitation of the red brick, tan limestone, and blue slate of European buildings. They are not recommended for play by children under 3 years of age because of their small size.
Origin of the Anchor Stone
Anchor stones originated with the wooden building blocks were designed by Friedrich Fröbel, the creator of the kindergartenKindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
system. He observed how children enjoyed playing with geometric shapes blocks.
Beginnings of the Anchor Stone
The first Anchor Stone was produced when Otto LilienthalOtto Lilienthal
Otto Lilienthal was a German pioneer of human aviation who became known as the Glider King. He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful gliding flights. He followed an experimental approach established earlier by Sir George Cayley...
and his brother Gustav
Gustav Lilienthal
Gustav Lilienthal was a German social reformer, a pioneer in building and construction technology , inventor of different Construction sets and involved in the pioneering work of his brother, Otto Lilienthal in aviation.-External links:* on the website of Otto-Lilienthal-Museum...
decided that to make a model of a stone building, the blocks themselves must be stone. To this end, they started production of a limited number of blocks, made of a mixture of quartz sand, chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
, and linseed oil
Linseed oil
Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil, is a clear to yellowish oil obtained from the dried ripe seeds of the flax plant . The oil is obtained by cold pressing, sometimes followed by solvent extraction...
. Unfortunately, the Lilienthals, though brilliant inventors, had limited commercial success. The stone blocks saw little popularity until 1880, when Friedrich A. Richter, a wealthy businessman who had build a small empire in Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt is a town in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, close to the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north....
, purchased the rights to the stone for a 1000 marks (about €510)"profit", plus paying about 4800 marks (including 800 marks still owing) for the tooling and machines being used to produce them. He quickly developed a series of sets, individually packaged stones. In 1895, the "Anchor" design was trademarked as Richter's Anchor Stone Building Sets (Richters Anker-Steinbaukästen), and a unique (for the time) advertising campaign helped to sell 40,000 sets, of which there were now over 400 with thousands of elements. In 1910 Richter died, heralding the end of an era for Anchor Stones.
End and rebirth
Although Anchor Stones survived World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, they were included within Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
East Germany
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
when the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
divided Europe. In 1953 the company was reorganized as VEB Anker-Steinbaukasten, a state-owned company. In 1963, the production of the blocks was stopped. The trademark Anker was used by various toy companies in East Germany; none of them were related to the stone building set factory.
Anchor Stones, however, remained very popular within the international community, so much so that in 1979 the "Club of Anchor Friends" was founded in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, with over 180 members. The Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
fell in 1989, hastening the decline of communism. With the support of the Club of Anchor Friends, Dr. Georg Plenge was able to restore the company as Anker Steinbaukasten GmbH. Production at the factory in Rudolstadt restarted 15 September 1995.
Anchor today
Anchor Stones are currently sold in 15 sets, with hopes to make more if they sell successfully. They are known to be sold in the KaDeWe department store in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. They tend to be expensive, but high-quality; antique sets are just as playable now as when they were being produced. Also, antique sets are made to precisely the same specifications as the ones being produced today, meaning they can be easily integrated.
Miscellaneous
Anchor stones have been displayed in the LouvreLouvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
and Deutsches Museum
Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of technology and science, with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. The museum was founded on June 28, 1903, at a meeting of the Association...
. They appear in a fairly major role in Jan Švankmajer
Jan Švankmajer
Jan Švankmajer is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, the Brothers Quay, and many others.- Life and career :Jan...
's Neco z Alenky as, among other things, the home of the White Rabbit. They also support a plot sequence in The Diamond in the Window, by Jane Langton.