Otto and Gustav Lilienthal originated Anchor Blocks in the late 1800s. They had the idea of making building blocks that were actually stone-like, so made them from quartz sand, chalk and linseed oil. The colours of red, blue and cream were meant to approximate brick, slate and limestone. Friedrich A. Richter bought the rights to the product in 1880 and starting selling under his own name from 1895.  Between then and his death in 1910, 40,000 sets of Richter's Anchor Stone Building Sets were sold.

Anchor Blocks were produced through World War II as "stone," but under East German production, they were downgraded to plastic. In 1979, devotees of Anchor Blocks formed the Club of Anchor Friends. In 1995, with the help of the club, Dr. Georg Plenge restored the Anchor company under the name Anker Steinbaukasten GmbH. Today, authentic Anchor Blocks are sold through German catalogues and shops.

Architectural building blocks for children first appeared around the end of the 18^th Century. They remain popular today and are usually made of wood or plastic, and may be used by very young children.

These two sets of stone blocks were produced by Richter in Germany sometime at the end of the 19^th or beginning of the 20^th centuries. They are called Anchor (Anker) building blocks and are still produced in Germany today. The company describes the product as ‘providing young and old architects with a genuine sense of building’. Anchor blocks are special because they are stone – made of quartz sand, chalk, linseed oil and pigments, all natural materials. They are lovely to feel and to build with.

Each set is in a wooden box with a richly decorated lithograph cover and its own instruction kit and list of contents. The smaller box is the basic building set of blocks and the larger is the specialist bridge building kit. Both boxes are sturdy with slide out lids which are decorated on the inside and out. 

The smaller box (set 2) contains two colours of stone blocks of various sizes together with the original paper grid floor plan to assist the design and the design book. Its lid has an ornate classical design and information in German, Dutch, French and English. The description indicates that there should be three colours of blocks and a greater variety of shapes, indicating that this may not be the original set.

The larger box (set 4) has an illustration of a sample bridge construction on the outside of the lid and an outline of the contents on the inside. It also has information in the same four languages. An ‘anchor’ now features as part of the cover design. The contents are not complete but include three colours of blocks, some metal strips and fittings for the bridge construction together with the original design book. There is also a copy of the Richter booklet about Anchor Blocks which advertises the products and includes various endorsements. It explains the theories about the importance of construction play as described by Froebel.

For full information about the toy and its design history then look at the company’s English website: www.anchorblocks.co.uk