The Naturecraft Ltd. company was founded in 1931 in Congleton, Cheshire, UK. It was one of Congleton’s oldest companies, and was headed until its buyout by Managing Director Peter Tomlins. Naturecraft England originally produced figurines such as dogs and other animals, as well as caricatures and other wall art. All items were originally made in the UK. Among the many, many figurines Naturecraft produced was a series of dinosaurs. I own their Iguanodon, their Apatosaurus and their Brachiosaurus, but there is a Parasaurolophus, too, and possibly some others I am not aware of.
Today I´d like to introduce to you their Iguanodon, which most probably is the best Iguanodon I have in my collection and which definitely can keep up to much more expensive dinosaur artwork sculptures.
Iguanodon itself does not need further introduction since this omnipresent “Mesozoic cow” is one of the most popular plant eaters being depicted as toys figurines or paintings. This extremely detailed and well-made statue is made with cold cast bronze. The special production process of this piece uses actual bronze powder mixed in the cold cast resin in order to ensure a richer and more authentic presentation.
It is a fairly heavy figure and stands 14,5cm tall and is about 22,5cm in length. Felt is attached to the underside of the base in order to go easy on the furniture it stands on. Naturecraft Iguanodon looks good on desks, bureaus or in cabinets as a fitment on its own.
The detail in this figurine is overwhelmingly beautiful. The scaly skin, the fine and right proportions, the pose, everything is amazing. The main color is dark bronze. Bright bronze stripes run from the neck to the tail. This dinosaur figurine depicts Iguanodon in a bipedal pose but as an optional quadruped. The animal seems to head towards the rest of its herd, trying to keep up with it. Its muzzle is open, one can see a tongue in it.
The base reveals a finely detailed stony underground with some ferns growing in the background. At one side the companies name and the year of the production “NATURECRAFT 2004” has been impressed.
I don´t want to describe each and every detail, since I hope the pictures do the talking. Also, my English is not as good as it once was due to a painful lack of native speakers to help me maintain it fresh and colloquial. However, I have left one special information: If you wet your fingers and touch the figure and then smell at your fingers they will smell like brass! This is due to the bronze powder used in production , see above. The smell really reminds me at the time when I worked at a brass valve factory.
As a conclusion I recommend this figurine to every collector, since this model shines in every surrounding without looking too edgy or overly exclusive.
I do not know how common Naturecraft dinosaurs were and are; I´ve seen their Parasaurolophus being offered for 50 pounds on amazon.co.uk but the Iguanodon seems to be a little more rare.
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Actually the pieces in this set DO have some bronze in them. It’s powdered and mixed in with the resin. They call the technique cold cast bronze.
You can easily find this figure one of the 9 in the set, on eBay. I have them but are not by “Naturecraft”. Their bases have “Veronese 2006” embossed on a side.. I suppose the Naturecraft molds were aquired by Veronese at some time. Each of my figures also has a sticker underneath saying “Summit Collection” The praise heaped on this Iguanodon is well deserved and all the figures in this set are equally awesome!
I have been interested in some bronze (or faux bronze) dinosaurs. This may be just what I’m looking for! Nice review.
I’d never come across this line. Thank you for introducing me to it. What a beautiful model!