During the 19th century, as with everything, the higher up the income ladder, the more impressive the posessions. In particular, the large country and town houses of this time would all have a nursery for the children, complete with a nanny, and sometimes a tutor for the older children.
The nursery would be filled with all manner of elaborate toys and games, the majoity of them being miniature versions of items their parents would have owned. The young girls would have dinner and tea services, along with a dolls house and china headed dolls complete with accessories.
For the boys it would be a vast army of wooden and lead soldiers, small metal swords and imitation rifles.
 
This would be very different situation for the children of poorer homes, where they would have rudimentory toys, often made from scraps of wood and cloth and would be simply carved into charming dolls and animals, much prized by the children.
 
This is an extensive toy dinner service and is astonishing that it is still intact given the nature of it, and the fact that it has probably been through several generations, obviously of well behaved gentle children. It was made in Staffordshire by Ridgways, and has a registration diamond for 26th July 1881. The Service comprises of: 11 dinner plates, 6 soup bowls, 6 salad plates, 7 graduated serving plates, 1 large turren, 2 medium turrens (one with a missing lid) and 2 small tureens.
 
It is in very good condition only one chip to the inside of one small tureen.
 
Dimensions: dinner plate 11.5cm, salad plate 9cm, large turren 16cm x 9cm, largest serving plate 22cm x 17cm