The Wolverine Supply & Manufacturing Company was founded in Pittsburgh by Benjamin Bain and his wife in Pennsylvania in 1903 and incorporated in 1906. The firm operated until 1950.
The early Wolverine toys were set in motion by the weight of marbles or sand. These toys were highly popular and were usually designed to unload marbles or sand from an elevated hopper and once set in operation, they would continue to operate until the supply of sand or marbles was exhausted, thereby providing endless hours of fun for kids, Sandy Andy were these type of toys called.
In 1918, Wolverine's line expanded to include girls' toys. Introduced at the New York Toy Fair in March of that year, were such toys as sand pails, tea sets, toy washing machines, ironing boards, glass washboards and even miniature grocery stores.
In 1928, Wolverine introduced their Sunny Andy and Sunny Suzy toys.
Company advertising explained that the new names for the toys would cover all toys not operated by sand. By 1929, airplanes, boats, buses, and other toys had joined the Wolverine family of toys. Wolverine continued to expand their toy line throughout the 1930s, right up to the beginning of WWII, almost as if they were immune from the effects of the Depression.
Even the sand toys, relatively unchanged from the early 1900's, were still being sold into the 1950's. One of their popular toys to collect is the Wolverine Zilotone