Ko Verzuu ( 1901-1971) had a technical background and with this background he designed and developed wooden toys from 1925-1962 for ADO. These toys were produced in the workshops from the Berg and Bosch hospital and were influenced by ” de Stijl” which Gerrit Rietveld promoted in those days. Primary colors in relation to clear and straight lines and these characteristics found their way into the ADO toys. The wooden bank is such an example. …..Blue and Yellow in a small designed wooden bank,which could be an element of the Rietveld Schroder Huis in Utrecht.
Verzuu designed these toys with their playability in mind and tested them with his own 11 children to be sure that these were the ultimate wooden toys
The BESTELDIENST in this blog comes from a limited edition of only 250 copies. All with certificate. This was a “prestige” project by ADO from some 15 years ago in which they showed their history and expertise in wooden toys. Made and painted by hand , all numbered this was made in two editions/ A yellow one , which was specially made for the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in an edition of only 50 copies and….. the one in the picture made in an edition of 250 copies. It was about 12 years ago that SWZ stopped production of all ADO school furniture and other ADO products and this ended all other ADO projects to be made in the future. The remainder of the banks, beetles ( yes, another special product to be discussed in the near future) and the BESTELDIENST were bought by FTN and were sold on special occasions and on eBay. Now the stock comes to an end and the only place that these will be sold is at www.ftn-books.com.
These last copies ( all mint, numbered with certificate and original ADO box ) can still be picked up at a fair price.
The quality is superb and these pieces are highly collectable.
wilfried
