Toy barn with animals and tools

Toy barn on a rectangular wooden board with various carved animals and (probably machine-made) wooden tools. The walls are “plastered” in white with textured paint, the back wall is closed off using a hardboard panel.

The left-hand side of the building consists of an open barn with a fenced-in area for the animals to move around in. The barn itself contains a trough with a brown cow beside it, and three more brown cows are out in the run area next to a water fountain. A spotted dog is sitting beside the fence. All animal figurines are glued onto the bottom board; the only loose item is a barrow, a type of two-wheeled handcart.

The right-hand side of the building contains a garage with a gate that can be opened and a tractor inside it that is not glued down. The roof is rather flat and is covered with wooden shingles; beneath it there is a hayloft with two doors that can be opened. Attached to the building on the right-hand side is a shed without a door. It contains a unattached sled and the area in front is fenced off. In front of the shed is a chopping block with an axe stuck in it and a bundle of logs beside it, as well as an unattached wooden block with a saw glued onto it to make it look like it is leaning against it.

The person who made this barn was a baker and confectioner living in Unterägeri called Albert Guler (1912–1996). Having initially been interested in making train sets, he later made several different types of toy barn with a lot of attention to detail. The donor of the barn spotted it at an exhibition of Guler’s works at the library of Unterägeri and requested it as a 50th Birthday present. Her mother was happy to oblige and bought the barn for her.