Bergen Toy and Novelty Company

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Bergen Toy and Novelty Company was a US firm that made toy soldiers and animals in plastic. Started in 1935 the company was making hard plastic animals by about 1938, the first company to do so in the US. The company is also known as Beton, an abbreviation of BErgen TOy and Novelty. Among collectors it's often referred to as Beton-Bergen. The animals are sorted here into three sections. Most animals were made in a hard brittle dark plastic of an acetate type called Tenite, in the later years of the company they used a soft plastic in bright colors. The company closed in 1958, with molds being sold to Banner Plastics.

Copyright dates are mentioned on the animal pages when known, but most were in production prior to that date. Product numbers are also mentioned, but many are not known at this time.

Beton hardgroup.jpg Beton softgroup.jpg
Example of hard plastic wild animals Example of soft plastic wild animals, typical colors

Wild Animals

Farm Animals

Horses

Most horses were used with riders as part of the toy soldier lines. These included civilian figures like hunt riders and policemen as well as cowboys and Indians and military figures.

Links

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