CREEKS CUPPA STORIES

Rubber Duck Types Explained: A Beginner's Guide to Vintage, Novelty and Character Ducks

The story of the rubber duck begins in the late 1800s, after Charles Goodyear developed vulcanised rubber, the process of heating rubber with sulphur to make it mouldable and waterproof. The earliest ducks were solid and heavy, floated poorly, and were made as chew toys for babies and dogs rather than bath toys.

The first real bath-time duck appeared in 1931, when Eleanor Shannahan of Maryland, USA, filed a patent for a duck-shaped aquatic toy that could sit either above or below the bath surface and squirt jets of water. This invention marked a shift towards bath-time play.

In 1938, the Walt Disney Company and Seiberling Latex Products created bath floater toys. The most popular pair were Donald and Donna Duck, though Donna was later renamed Daisy Duck.

The design most people recognise today came from sculptor Peter Ganine. In 1947 he filed a design patent for a duck toy made of vinyl, painted bright yellow and fitted with a squeaker. These toys were reproduced in thousands and sold worldwide, and the shape became the duck most people know.

The duck's cultural footprint grew in the early 1970s, when the Sesame Street song "Rubber Duckie", sung by Ernie, became a hit and charted on Billboard. Exact dates and peak positions differ between sources, so it is best described as a widely recognised charting hit.

The range of rubber ducks changed again in recent decades. Modern novelty versions include ducks that glow in the dark, change colour, contain LED lights, or use a wind-up mechanism so they seem to swim. Separate from that, character ducks representing professions, politicians and celebrities form a distinct collecting strand. Collectors often group their ducks into themes, a habit that suits readers who already own one duck as much as those eyeing a first one.

The duck earned wider recognition in 2013, when it was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York, alongside the game of chess. Public art has also brought the duck to cities around the world: Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman created a giant rubber duck in 2007 that has appeared as public art in many places. In January 1992, a shipment of 28,800 plastic bath toys, including yellow ducks, washed overboard in the North Pacific; their drift ashore helped oceanographers study ocean currents and inspired books such as "Moby-Duck" and "10 Little Rubber Ducks". For a relaxing outing, the appeal of ducks in many forms fits naturally into Creeks Cuppa, a duck-themed independent coffee shop in Exeter, which can be found online at Creeks Cuppa