Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

When it comes to steam toys, the Smithsonian should not be relied on.  Do you have a link?

I don't know who made  your engine, but 1880 is about right.   Did  you notice the difference between your engine and Nicks?  The valve is in a different place, your flywheel is has more machining, and the cylinder castings are slightly different.  Yours matches the picture on Nick's box and so is likely an earlier version.  I've noticed that the engravings were rarely updated to reflect design changes.

I've been working on a series of three articles on early American engines.  The first of which can be found here:

https://www.toyenginecollector.com/toys/article/and-then-there-were-toys-part-1