NU-NU

Chinese pulling a Tea Chest

Model: 733
Type: People
Topic: Professions / Industrial
Country of manufacture: Germany
Mechanism: Clockwork
Movement: Walks forward: it features a "automatic arrest" function, i.e., the mechanism automatically stops if the toy is lifted off the table.
Materials: Tin
Dimensions (LxWxH cm): 12x5x14
Condition: Reasonable
Manufactured: 1924 – 1938

Research notes

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, European popular culture frequently used repetitive, rhyming phonetic names to caricature East Asian people. Names like "Nu-Nu," "Na-Nu," or "Li-Lah" sounded "foreign" or "oriental" to Western consumers of the era. Variant of "Kadi", which has 2 chinese; DRP: May 12 (1903), Jan 22 (1907); USA pat Dec 2 (1903); initial version with string pull