Dinosaur products extend far beyond the familiar realms of CollectA, Papo, Safari, and other such companies. From clothing to cereals to shower heads, there’s not much our prehistoric pals can’t sell. Today I’ll be reviewing an Allosaurus that keeps my pencils nice and sharp.
I’ve had this sharpener since I was a small child, but I honestly don’t recall precisely where or when I acquired it. I think my mother may have gotten it for me when I was six years old and we toured the province of Alberta, including Dinosaur Provincial Park. And while I had long assumed that it was a Tyrannosaurus rex, according to this website that knows far more about pencil sharpeners than me, it’s supposed to be an Allosaurus. As you can see from that link, there is a T. rex sharpener as well, but it looks more like an old school Iguanodon. And unfortunately, I haven’t been able to determine who the actual manufacturer(s) of these products are, save that they’re from China.
Anyway, this little theropod measures slightly over 7 cm long and 5 cm tall, and is mounted on a base that measures 6 cm x 4 cm x 2 cm. It is entirely made of die-cast metal with a copper finish. The sharpener itself is housed inside the base at the rear, and still does a very good job of keeping my pencils nice and sharp after all these years.
As you can plainly see, this Allosaurus won’t be winning any contests for scientific accuracy. No, this is a vintage dinosaur depiction through and through. It’s standing tall and erect atop tree-like limbs with its heavy tail dragging behind it. The sharp teeth are large and the eyes are even larger. The tiny arms only feature two digits, hence my reasonable assumption that this critter was a T. rex. The entire animal is covered in a simple pattern of crisscrossing scales. And finally, it’s super skinny when viewed from the front. Looks like it was based on one of those cheap little plastic dinosaur figures that used to come in bagged sets back in the 70s’ and 80s’. I used to have a ton of those!
As one of the oldest pieces in my prehistoric collection, this sharpener continues to hold a special place in my heart. It stands proudly on the desk in my basement den, always hungry for another pencil. I’ve never come across it in any of my local toy stores, but you’re interested in getting one, that Sharpenking site I linked to earlier may be your best bet.
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I have a handful of die-cast pencil sharpeners (mainly of weapons), so this, despite being a very outdated figure, is actually slightly of interest to me. Nice review as always.
I want that colouring book!!
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/dinosauria-dinosaurs-to-color-and/9781438010052-item.html?ikwid=Dinosauria&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=1
Thanks! Unfortunately I am in Australia but I’ve found one here that’s just as nice 🙂
Fun and useful – an unbeatable combination!
I have the complete set of six and they were based on Timmee figures. If my image paste works you can see the company is marked on the box with an A in a circle. I haven’t found anything else about them except I dated them to 1984.
My image paste didn’t work but you can see the image on page 8 reply # 153 of my collection page on the DTF.
It is because you used bbcode, but that only works on the DTF, whereas html is required on the blog. I updated the code for you.
Thank you.
Cool!
I only realized after my post that your link shows all of them. Everywhere I have looked that Timmee figure is referred to as T rex, in fact the Dinosaur Collectibles guide lists three different Timmee T rexes and one is described as “looks like Allosaurus”. I see only two fingers in your close up and mine so I would call it T rex myself, there is no dinosaur ID on the box. But who knows maybe the Sharpener catalogue says Allosaurus. I am surprised to see that they are still selling them, I thought I had something rare.
I have this one too!