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Merkur - Eighty Years a Household Name

It all began in 1920 when Mr Jaroslav Vancl founded the company Inventor, Ltd., in Police nad Metuji. (NOTE: this is actually the name of a town, not law enforcement agency) It first manufactured a construction kit called Inventor, a predecessor to Merkur. In 1925, Mr Vancl came up with the idea to manufacture Merkur as we know it today.

The first version was hard to assemble because instead of screws and nuts, it used a system of hooks - the same mechanism is used to this day with some types of scaffolding. The metal beams had hooks at the ends, which you connected to holes.

Difficult assembly is one of the reasons why, in 1925 Mr Vancl opted for screws, nuts and bolts, giving birth to Merkur."
"We will probably never know to what extent Jaroslav Vancl was inspired by similar toys already marketed in the West, but abandoning the old Inventor version paid off." says Radko Kriz, current owner.

It proved a fortunate step because Merkur provided great versatility and a great variety of combinations. That's one the reasons why there is still such a demand for Merkur. In the beginning, Mr Vancl produced a very simple set, with only 30 parts but in a few years' time he came up with new kits, new packaging, new construction possibilities. Merkur kept on improving, even in the communist era. Nowadays Merkur consists of around 250 different parts.

The company prospered in the 1930s, after adding new parts including simple electrical appliances. Electric toy trains were added to the line also. But WWII seriously affected Merkur. Production was reduced because there was a general lack of metals. With Stalin's takover in Eastern Europe, the company was absorbed by Kovopodnik, a state owned operation. Mr Vancl was still allowed to work there. No one knows what ultimately happened to him, however.

"It is a paradox that the most difficult times for Merkur came after the fall of communism.", says Radko Kriz.

"The most critical period came after 1989. The factory was not returned to the heirs of Mr Vancl but privatised. The company that acquired it soon went bankrupt. Production was interrupted for some two years. That was the worst time for Merkur. Two contenders appeared then: my father who had been involved in the metal business and a rival company, Meccano, which wanted to buy Merkur to get rid of competition in Eastern Europe. But they did not succeed and Merkur is now successfully developing."

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