The end of Civil War in the 1860’s brought the creation of toy cap guns, but they didn’t become nationally popular until the 1940’s. The 1940, 50s and 60’s were the “Golden Age” for toy cap guns. Movie and especially television Western heroes featured in the Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Hopalong Cassidy, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, Maverick, Gunsmoke and many others less memorable, brought outlaws and villains to justice with their six-shooters and lever action rifles. After World War Two, toy military rifles and pistols became popular when kids added Allied Forces versus Axis to their imaginative play, supplementing the familiar neighborhood Western and “cops and robbers” themed mock battles. These childhood cap gun fights that ranged across American backyards and city lots, often little morality plays as good as any Hollywood every dreamed up, give us a glimpse of what kids aspired to.
Today, the American cap gun toy makers of the Golden Age are mostly gone. Companies like Nichols, Hubley, Kenton, Kilgore, Wyandotte, Classy, Actoy, Esquire, George Schmidt, and J & E Stevens were names as familiar to kids as car brands are to adults. Mattel, who also made toy cap guns in the 1950’s, now only makes dart guns or “blasters”. Most of the famous cap gun makers overseas are gone too, like Lone Star Toys in England and Edison Giocatolli in Italy.
The only metal cap gun maker still in the business is Gonher S.A. from Spain. Gonher was incorporated on January 29, 1958, as González Hermanos, SL, by the brothers Antonio and Carlos González Gisbert. Their initial production focused on two lines, Cowboy and Police themed toys. Over the years they added four more themed lines: Pirate (18th Century flintlocks), Command (military), Hunter and Gangster.
Gonher, S.A. is still a family owned business, managed by both 2nd and 3rd generation family members. While they now have several newer all-plastic and majority-plastic toys, they still make the same metal toy cap guns as they did in the 50’s in addition to many more high quality, durable, metal models made in the traditional manner using cast zinc alloys with plated or painted finishes. We frequently hear comments from grown kids of the Golden Age of cap guns that they wish they’d had toys as nice as Gonher’s. These are the novelty / collectible toys that our company has made available to the nostalgic niche toy market.
