Goebel is a well-known German company that produces porcelain dolls and figures for windowsills of old, boring housewives. In 1992 they (Goebel, not the housewives…) released respectively distributed four dinosaur figures. Apatosaurus´ comrades in this line were Styracosaurus, Triceratops and Stegosaurus.
Goebel green and bright green (there is not that much variety in the paintjob of both the base and the animal) “World Of Jura” Apatosaurus is a special figure in many ways. It highly differs from the modern sauropods of these days.
Goebel Apatosaurus, as it says at its base, has been sculpted by Anthony Buckler in 1992. Bucklers claim was probably not so much scientific correctness but rather displaying the charming curiosity of old illustrations of these extinct behemoths.
Goebel Apatosaurus is made of polyresin stone, very heavy, 13, 5 cm tall and 22 cm long. It is attached to a base, showing a flexible yet sluggish sauropod scanning the Jurassic landscape, probably in fear of a predator, nervously waving its tail that looks like a rattle snake.
As I said, the sculptor´s claim was not so much being scientifically correct. One can easily see that. The feet end up in claws that are much too sharp and long, the nostrils are between the eyes, the teeth only lie in the front mouth, the legs are spread reptilian – style, and the tail is bent impossibly.
I like the figure despite its flaws for its solemn pose represents a time when dinosaurs were seen as old and sluggish animals waiting for their extinction, yet respected as rulers of prehistoric times. It feels a little bit like Zallinger’s Mural has come to life.
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I’m not a fan of their dinos, but Goebel makes some very nice wildlife pieces, especially birds. I have a Tropicbird and a Marabou stork that nobody else does.
The body is quite poor, but the head is really not that bad, aside from the nostrils being too far up. Marc is right, the teeth on this figure are actually accurate.
Se nota que es un modelo un poco antiguo,nada que ver (afortunadamente)con las versiones que se hacen actualmente.Está muy superado en todos los aspectos.
It’s from 1992 Mike.
There is no excuse for this kind of thing any more.
Cute 🙂 It reminds me of the AAA baby Apatosaurus.
Obviously this is a very retro figure, but it’s actually correct in only having teeth in the front of the mouth. Check out this pic of skull: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apatosaurus_skull.jpg