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I know very little about this toy except that my godmother, the late Maude Lorton, gave it to me after returning from a trip to Austria in 1959. As a kid growing up in snow-free coastal Texas, my initial reaction to this gift was consternation, until a truly freak storm blanketed our town with five inches of snow. Most of us had never seen snow IRL before, so having this sled turned out to be a truly interesting and memorable gift.
It is made almost entirely of cast metal, and is quite heavy. Originally, there were “seat belts” that were made of small metal hooks which fit into the holes on the sides of the sled with rubber bands for the belt itself. The sled is marked on the front with three decals. One shows lettering for “Hans Killian”, with lettering for Parkhotel Alpenhof, Garmisch - Partenkirchen and 3 Facher Bob-Weltmaster. The other decals are for a German organization and the Garmisch Sports Club.
The brochure which I have is starting to fall apart with age, but it shows a name and address of Karl Heusser in Munich, Germany. Apparently, there were several versions of this sled in both two-man and four-man configurations. The other images of this sled appeared on two European toy auction sites. Apparently, the figures were later made of cast plastic.
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