MINT Museum of Toys is a museum which houses an exquisite collection of vintage toys and collectables in an international award-winning contemporary building on 26 Seah Street.

Since its inauguration in 2007, the museum has expanded its collection to include over 50 000 items of astounding quality and value. Over the years, 8000 of these items have been incorporated into various exhibitions and programmes run by the museum, serving as windows into the past as well as inspiration for the present.

mint museum singapore collectionPhoto credit: MINT Museum

The expansive collection, hailing from over 40 countries, ranges in date from the 1840s to 1980s, and is sorted by floor according to four main categories: Outerspace, Characters, Childhood Favourites and Collectables.

While the exhibits boast highly-sought after collections of vintage Batman, Mickey, Dan Dare and space-related toys, as well as original movie posters of Star Wars and King Kong, MINT Museum of Toys also houses a wide array of original enamel advertising signs, displayed at both the basement and rooftop gallery as part of the quirky interior décor of the museum’s resident gastrobar, Mr Punch Public House.

Today, MINT Museum of Toys serves a diverse and expanding audience, including tourists, families, collectors, artists and students. It continues to fascinate and spark the imaginations of young and old alike, taking them to on a journey of rediscovery to rekindle that Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys (MINT).

MINT museum singapore guestsPhoto credit: MINT Museum

History

The museum began as an idea in the mind of founding CEO, Mr Chang Yang Fa. Driven by his passion for design and the arts, Mr Chang, who is an avid toy collector, imagined a space devoted to presenting vintage toys and childhood memorabilia – a space where visitors can also rediscover the past and revisit wonderful childhood memories.

The current collection of toys is the result of more than 30 years of hunting down and collecting rare toys from all over the world, which serve as reminders of the good old days when toys were hand-made and engineered to the most minute detail. The workmanship and quality of these collections have withstood the test of time, preserving the artistic and technological styles of the eras they hail from.




Key Collections

Many of the collections displayed in the museum were carefully curated to show the unique and intricate details put into toy designs over the years, as well as the evolution in artwork and use of different materials for the toys.

The vintage Mickey Mouse collection, for example, showcases a wide range of Mickey Mouse toys, dolls and other collectibles manufactured all over the world. Housed side by side in plexiglass casings, these toys show the marked differences between the artistic and production directions of toymakers in America as compared to in the UK, where Mickey and Minnie Mouse dolls were drawn with toothy grins.

Apart from featuring old favourites and whimsical playthings, MINT Museum of Toys houses the biggest collection of Door of Hope dolls in the world. These handmade dolls were designed and produced mostly in Shanghai by impoverished and abandoned girls in a missionary and sold to fund their livelihoods and education. Today, these intricate dolls are treasured for their painstaking attention to detail and accurate portrayal of the different occupations and social classes of Chinese society in the 20th Century.

Events & Activities

Apart from collaborating with educational institutions to organise learning journeys and workshops, MINT Museum of Toys also runs two recurring events: Make & Play, a monthly guided tour cum handicraft workshop happening every last Sunday of the month. The other event, Guerrilla Nights, is held on the last Sunday of every quarter, and is specially catered to featuring seasonal themes, curated collections and unique meal pairs at Mr Punch Public House.

26 Seah Street

Designed by world-renowned firm SCDA Architects, the MINT Museum of Toys building was built specifically to accommodate its collection.

The facade was designed to minimise external lighting that could potentially damage the exhibits. It is also one of the iconic features of the building; made up of twenty-six glass panels shaped into a wave-like structure, the facade lends fluidity and movement to the building.




How to Get to Mint Museum of Toys Singapore

Address: 26 Seah Street Singapore 188382
Bus: 2, 12, 33, 56, 57, 100, 107, 130, 133, 960, 961, 980
Nearest MRT: Bugis MRT
Opening Hours: 9.30am – 6.30pm
Website: emint.com
Admission: Charges apply.

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