Johann Andreas Issmayer was born into a family of toymakers and started his own company in 1861 in Nürnberg, Germany.
According to history, this firm had a well illustrated catalogue, but these have all disappeared and have not
been found since. Issmayer toys are therefore only known through retail catalogues. Before starting the
production of trains in 1879, mainly steam engines were made. Continued by his son and his grandson the company existed until 1932.
Like the other German manufacturers of the era - Bing & Schoenner, Issmayer produced more elaborate and detailed models. They mainly sold large, live-steam-powered locomotives to their home market, and cheap, clockwork versions were imported to the USA. The trains were primarily tinplate, with lithography. There were three main methods of printing designs onto tinplate used; directly from a lithographic stone, transfer printing with paper and offset lithography using a rubber roller. Issmayer lithography is very bright and shiny with lacquered gold lining.
