Toy Farm (retired)

[thanx2mj]

Released in 1998 for $16, retired in 2001.

Josefina fell in love with a fascinating American toy she saw at the Santa Fe plaza—a tiny wooden farm. It looked so different from the low, flat-roofed adobe farms of New Mexico! Your toy farm includes a house, a chimney, front steps, a barn, two trees, two fences, a horse, a cow, a goat, a pig, and a wagon loaded with lumber. Store it all away in a wooden box for safe keeping.


This set consists of:

wooden box with slider lid

several wooden hand painted figures:

a house
a barn
a wagon with leather harness
a load of wood for the wagon
two trees
two sets of white picket fence
a set of stairs for the house
a chimney
a horse
a goat
a pig
a cow

I've had this set for years; I think I purchased it as a clearance item around 2001. The set is very nice and very fun to put together and I would imagine that it has a lot of play potential for a little girl. For a collector it has the possiblity of making a nice centerpiece. I really like this set and haven't had any problems with it really, except for the fact that the slider lid is prone to warping and I had to return it back in 2001 a few times because I kept getting sets with warped lids. My set currently has a slightly warped lid, but its not too bad. The lid is really this set's only drawback.

grade: A-

[indy22]

I just recently acquired this little farm set and I am a bit disappointed in the quality. The little barn house is very thin wood that is not very sturdy, as is the horse cart. The animals are cute, but overall, I would not think it would hold up too well if a child of 8 wanted to play with it. The slider lid on mine is warped as well, which seems the norm for this set. I would give this set a B.

[American Girl Rescue]

Toy Farm JAAS
$16

"Josefina fell in love with a fascinating American toy she saw at the Santa Fe plaza—a tiny wooden farm. It looked so different from the low, flat-roofed adobe farms of New Mexico! Your toy farm includes a house, a chimney, front steps, a barn, two trees, two fences, a horse, a cow, a goat, a pig, and a wagon loaded with lumber. Store it all away in a wooden box for safe keeping."

This is the most precious set I've ever seen! The tiny animals are so cute and just the right size for Josefina to play with. Since the first poster already mentioned what is included, I'll just post some pictures.

Josefina and her toy farm (size comparison)

The tiny farm pieces are very well made

The wooden storage box

Over all, everything is wonderful. Lots of play value and durability. Grade A.

[JeanieD]

I am almost embarrassed at having paid eBay price for mine, but I am so happy to have it! I just love this set (as I love Felicity's Noah's Ark) - the little animals and accessories are beyond cute. A+

[green chile supergirl]

Well, it's a good thing I've saved so much at MCM on Josefina's furniture, because I did pay too much for this set. Not too much, but definitely at least twice over retail. I regret paying that much, but overall, it finished out my Josefina collection so it was worth it.



The set is really cute. In fact, my father had a very similar set as a child in France, though his pieces were much bigger. I love that this set is for Josefina to play with and enjoy, instead of working, which most her collection is.



My reservation about the set is the size of the wooden box. Put it next to Sombrita and it looks enormous! Why would Josefina have a giant box? Rather, I think Sombrita is too little and the toy farm box is too big.

For the retail price, it's a deal. Now that it's going for around $80 on ebay, I'd pass. It's cute, but not that cute!
Grade: A

[maggiedoll]

Toy Farm
Item# JAAS $16
Retired

Josefina fell in love with a fascinating American toy she saw at the Santa Fe plaza—a tiny wooden farm. It looked so different from the low, flat-roofed adobe farms of New Mexico! Your toy farm includes a house, a chimney, front steps, a barn, two trees, two fences, a horse, a cow, a goat, a pig, and a wagon loaded with lumber. Store it all away in a wooden box for safe keeping.

[*Mod edit to remove dead image links throughout review.]

Josefina's Toy Farm is everything that Peasant Company was proud of, it an important part of the story, well made and (I assume) history accurate. It is also very PC tiny, fragile and expensive on the secondary market. If you pull up American Sales page on the Way Back Machine to around 2001 you will find these little suckers on clearance for about $8. Yeah, I was not that lucky.

Every little thing fits into Josefina's hand and is painted wood.

The house is very detailed. Yeah someone good with a thing paintbrush could recreated this set but the devil in these details is a great devil.
I don't let the steps and never used them, it seems like a silly little piece.
Random fact, the house is hollow. It helps in storage in the box and makes the house more fragile and light. Also a random place to keep a house.

The barn looks like the house, except with a wide open space enough for the cow to look out.

The two fences are really key into creating new scene.

If something is destined to be lost, broken or missing from a set I would place money on the cart and the tiny piece of wood. It is accidently step or drop on it fragile, but accidently putting too much pressure between the thumb and finger fragile. The animals are of more study type, roughly the same size of Felicity's ark.

The tiny pig is the reason why Josefina fell in love with this set, his a cute little pig.

In the what...the side of the set, the box. I mean, a nine year old should be able to carry her toy farm box, not to be able to store her goat.

I have a soft spot for Josefina and her well detailed collection. I really wish that this makes a Beforever return, and hope it would be a more study sort. For its cuteness, playability (but for careful fingers!) and craftsmanship. A

[Wickfield]

I've finally started acquiring some of Josefina's rarest sets in an effort to complete my collection, and my most recent score has been the coveted toy farm! I agree with the others, the quality does not at all warrant the high Ebay prices, but the rarity does, since it was only available for a few years. Plus this was such a pivotal item in her stories (it was even mentioned in her latest mystery of all things) that I totally had to have it.

It feels very fragile, made of thin wood, glue, and paint that seems easily cracked - I'm terrified I will drop a piece! I honestly wish it was made of the sturdier wood of some of the earlier Mattel accessory sets (like the difference between Kirsten's PM and Mattel tine). I think I could breathe a little easier handling it. It is so cute though, Josefina looks almost happy when she's playing with it!

I'd give it a B+.

[keeperofthepast]

This set is cute although I don't have it. I love that Josefina has a sweet toy.