It was a time of colorful simplicity. Toys didn’t need batteries, flashing lights, electronics or a wall outlet to grab a child’s attention.

Instead, they relied on graphics, color, design, engineering and imagination.

The Roaring ’20s brought kiddies the delight of items considered classics: Raggedy Ann, Teddy bears, Crayola crayons, chemistry sets, toy planes, trucks, tractors, buses, trains, circus toys, pedal cars, mini golf, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, yo-yo and Tiddlywinks, to name a few.

Advances in technology, entertainment and mass communication were taking hold, and toys reflected the spirit of the times.

Many unique examples are on display inside the Tamaqua Historical Society Museum and its large storefront display windows.

For example, the 1925-27 Sturditoy American Railway Express pressed steel toy truck featured working steering linkage. It had decals on the grille, dashboard, and sides of truck. Rubber tires boasted “Made Expressly for Sturditoy Trucks” and “Firestone” on the sidewalls. Some of the best examples sell for $1,500.

It seems dollhouses have been popular forever. Children played with these miniature dwellings since the early 1900s, but the houses date back 400 years to baby house displays popular in Europe.

Back then, dollhouses were handmade. After the Industrial Revolution, they became mass produced.

Dollhouse collecting, including furniture, is now a favorite hobby among adults.

Prices can range from less than $50 or $100 to museum examples priced in the millions.

An elaborate model, “House of All Seasons” by artist Bonnie Broel, featured elaborately furnished rooms and was available on eBay in December for $149,000.

The Buffalo Toys Hy-Lo Ferris wheel was a tin lithograph and painted model patented Jan. 20, 1925. It was modeled after the original Ferris wheel for Columbian Expo of 1893 in Chicago, which sported enclosed cars to protect riders. A push and rod mechanism allowed the toy to turn on a central axis. The six gondola cars show what it was like to ride an old Ferris wheel. These toys can sell for $300 or higher, depending on condition.

Board games became increasingly popular in the 1920s. The 1922 Spe-Dem Auto Race included sets of cars, wood letter dice and two dice shakers. It’s a highly collectible board game of a century ago and can sell in the $175 range.

One of the hottest items for a young girl was a small wicker baby buggy, or stroller, called a pram in England, short for perambulator.

Parents could order their child’s toy buggy from Sears and Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalogs and have it delivered. In fact, they were so popular that Sears distributed a catalog containing only baby carriages. Today’s well-preserved versions are highly sought after. Models sell anywhere from $50 to $3,000.

Teddy bears remain one of the most popular toys of all time, named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt.

According to legend, he refused to shoot a bear during a Mississippi hunting trip in November 1902. At the time, he declined the opportunity to shoot a bear that had been restrained, saying it would’ve been unsportsmanlike.

Fabric bears soon became a thing, and before long, Teddy bears were being manufactured.

But America didn’t have the franchise on the idea. Around the same time, a German company founded 1880 by seamstress Margaret Steiff began making its own version. It was designed by Steiff’s nephew Richard in 1902, modeled after real-life bears. It debuted at a German toy fair in 1903.

Steiff bears are very well made. They last long because they surpass all U.S. and international toy safety standards. As a result, they sell for top dollar. A Steiff Louis Vuitton teddy bear holds the record for the most expensive toy of this type ever sold. It fetched $2.1 million at a 2000 auction, purchased by Korean Jessie Kim.