The Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company

According to Samuel Levinson's son, Dr. Joseph E. Levinson, no Anchor Buggy and Carriage materials had been saved after his father's passing in 1964. Some vital information was found in his obituary. I've also relied on what was known by his son, Joseph, the Balterman family, from Anchor packaging, collectors and items found on the Internet.
– Lizabeth West

An old city directory lists Stuart and Samuel Levinson at 9 E. Third Street from approximately 1948 to 1954.* Levinson sold Stuart to Dexter Balterman in 1952-53. (See the Stuart History page.) When Balterman moved Stuart to 337 Fifth Street in 1958 due to increased western toy sales, Levinson retired from Stuart and stayed at 215 W. Fourth Street to start another company – The Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company, for creating exact plastic carriage toy models, based on carriages and buggies made by the original Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company. Samuel Levinson had acquired permission from the original Company in 1935 to use the name. He remembered the prancing horses and carriages of his youth that once populated the streets of Cincinnati.

Levinson found a carriage maker in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, to make reduced scale carriage models. Molds were made from these and Levinson's company started production. The carriage model parts were made by Seneca Plastic Company in Cambridge, Ohio. They were assembled and packaged in Cincinnati. In May 2000, I was in contact with employee, Steve Bluhm, who worked at the plastic molding company in Columbus, Indiana, that had previously done the western toy molding for Stuart. In 1946 the company was Columbus Molded Plastics Corporation but changed the name in 1951.* Bluhm found a handwritten record of an 8-part mold - "Horse", for Sam Levinson.

Anchor made colorful plastic carriage parts which snapped together for easy assembly. They could be purchased assembled or as a kit. The detachable rubbery harnesses in black or brown were made for Anchor solid-bodied prancing horses. These models were sold in toy stores, department stores and hobby shops. Anchor pranching polyethylene horses are almost four inches tall. Known Anchor horse colors are white (most common), black, silver, and the not as common solid gray and marbled gray.

The known sets listed from the ABC closed box sheet inserts are: Two Horse Sleigh (popular in 1885). Some sleigh sets came with 2 blue jingle bells attached to a front chain of the horse harness but were not advertised on the model sheet insert; Runabout (first vehicle of the early West with steel springs); Buckboard (used in the Western frontier); Surrey (1800s canopy-top family vehicle); Sulky (used as a racer); Landau (built for President Grant); Phaeton (six-passenger carriage popular up to the days of the motor vehicle); Victoria Carriage (built for Queen Victoria); Lincoln Carriage (built for President Lincoln); Convertible; and Buggy.

Anchor also sold a Welcome Santa Clause sleigh set with 4 hollow, hard plastic reindeer, a sleigh, buggy whip, soft plastic harnesses, 2 blue bells, and an ornament-like Santa (see below). A Champions set, consisting of 3 white Anchor buggy horses was also made by Anchor.

According to Samuel Levinson's son, Joseph E. Levinson, Anchor models were especially popular in the Pennsylvania and Ohio Mennonite areas. There was some interest in marketing his model carriages in Europe. Anchor 1/72 scale models were made in Hong Kong. Samuel Levinson retired from his company in 1963 and passed away in 1964. The photos on this page show known variations in Anchor sets and packaging.

*Please note: Some of my original Stuart research at this website has been omitted or altered due to a 2019 publishing copyright. (See the bottom of the Stuart History page for information concerning content on this website.