About
The MINT Museum of Toys simplified Chinese: 玩具博物馆; Tamil: பொம்மைகளின் அரும்பொருளகம்; traditional Chinese: 玩具博物館, is a purpose-built museum that is home to a collection of vintage toys and childhood memorabilia by a private collector in Singapore who is an avid toy & collectable enthusiast born in the 1950s. The diverse collections collected over the last 60 years represent the collector's various interests in history, culture and art and are a manifestation of these interests.
Located at Seah Street amidst a prominent row of shophouses lies the museum on the unit number ‘26’, coining its official address as ‘26 Seah Street’. Seah Street was named in 1927 after the noteworthy Seah family, a well-known Teochew millionaire named Seah Liang Seah of Chin Choon and Chin Giap, a pineapple canning venture. The street was built in the old European residential town during colonial times. The nearby street Liang Seah Street which is also owned by the same Seah family, links North Bridge Road with Beach Road and the entire area is known as The Bras Basah Bugis (BBB) precinct which is also Singapore’s arts and heritage district.
The MINT Museum of Toys is situated across the road of one of the most iconic and prestigious hotels in the world and also a national landmark in Singapore - Raffles Hotel. Its opening on 5 March 2007 was graced by then Minister For Foreign Affairs, Mr George Yeo.
MINT is an acronym for “Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys”, but also alludes to the museum’s aspiration of only collecting and displaying toys and collectables that are in ‘mint condition’, despite the vintage collection being made specifically between the years of as early as 1840s to 1980s. This is part of the museum’s bigger mission to preserve toys in their pristine condition for generations to come and to be able to use the toy collections for educational and knowledge sharing purposes. The museum believes that toys are not just playthings but a reflection of history & cultural significance that can make a positive impact to society for everyone to be able to learn about the past through toys.
The museum’ toy collection, considered the largest in Asia, includes an evergrowing collection of 50,000 pieces of vintage toys and childhood memorabilia made from over 55 countries including countries that are rarely known to ever have produced toys or have toy-making companies such as Estonia, Bulgaria, Morocco, Uruguay and Kazakhstan. As a locally founded museum in Singapore, it also proudly has a collection of Singapore-made collectables that were produced by Singapore toy making factories in 1950s - 1960s such as Blue-Box and the Singapore Toys Co.Ltd. The toy collection is also considered ‘vintage’ as they are specifically made between the years of 1840s - 1980s, from the mid-19th century to the late 20th century.
The toy collection includes various types of:
- Action Figures
- Advertising Enamel Signs
- Confectionary Biscuit Tins
- First-edition Comic Books & Novels
- Newspaper & Photograph Archives
- Collectible Card & Board Games
- Clothings, Costumes & Accessories
- Movie Posters & Vinyl Records
- Bicycles & Pedal Cars
The museum’s toy collections are curated under permanent exhibitions and displayed at the museum across themes such as Outerspace, Characters, Childhood Favourites, Collectables. You may enjoy a preview of the collections here: https://emint.com/outerspace/
There are also featured exhibitions located at the stairwells of the museum and a Vintage Enamel Advertising Signs at The Public Gallery located at the museum’s rooftop level. While only a fraction of its full collection is displayed at the museum, other collections are cataloged and archived safely while they may also be curated for seasonal exhibitions throughout the year.
Collaboration With Museum
The museum welcomes collaborations locally and internationally by loaning toys and collectables to support exhibitions. One such collaboration was ‘Into the Unknown: A Journey through Science Fiction’ exhibition organised by the Barbican in 2017 followed by another touring exhibition known as the MANGASIA Wonderlands of Asian Comics which presents the largest ever selection of original artworks from Asian comics.
For more information about such collaborations, please reach out to General Manager Christopher Ho at christopher@ebullworks.com.
