White Post Dinosaur Collector

[WhitePostDinos]

Hi All,

So glad to have found this place!

I've been on a hunt for more information about the White Post Dinosaurs. Bit of a long story, but they come from a small roadside attraction called Dinosaur Land in rural Virginia (the toys were modeled after the life size statues in the park). Dinosaur Land was actually started by my great grandfather (and is currently owned and operated by my grandmother). I worked there all through high school and if you ever found one of the mid-90s brochures, you'd even see me in it.

In addition to running Dinosaur Land, my grandmother is also a retired Kindergarten teacher. And when she retired she gave me all of the toys she had in her classroom. After a lot of internet digging I've concluded that these are five of the eight White Poster Dinosaurs (Diatryma, Iguanodon, Moschops, Psittacosaurus, and Tylosaurus). I've included pictures below. I believe I'm missing three (Plateosaurus, Oviraptor, Corythosaurus).

I have gone through all of Dinosaur Land's inventory and they no longer have any of these on site. I had heard that these were originally sold as a set on a single card, but I've never been able to find a picture of this.

My end goal is to collect the three figures that I'm missing from my collection so as to complete this piece of my family history, but I would also love if any of you out there had any additional information about White Posts, or pictures, or if you could point me in the direction of where I might be able to find some for sale.

Really appreciate it!

https://imgur.com/a/YPzLLFT

[Halichoeres]

Welcome to the forum! With your connection to the park, you of all people ought to have a complete set and I hope you can find it!

[Gwangi]

I can't help you locate your dinosaurs but I'm happy to see you here and read your story. The White Post dinosaurs are somewhat legendary around these parts. I myself live about 3.5 hours from Dinosaur Land and visiting it is on my bucket list. Welcome to the forum!

[Halichoeres]

W @WhitePostDinos this is not my photo, but it's the only one I've seen of the set on a card:

[WhitePostDinos]

Wow! I've never seen this! Really Cool! Thank you so much for sharing.

[Halichoeres]

My pleasure, of course! I'll keep you in mind if I ever get a bead on any of the figures.

[Libraraptor]

Hello and welcome to the forum!
What an interesting background story!
If anyone deserves to own the complete collection, it´s you. I am a monochrome figure enthusiast, so the White Post dinosaurs have been on my list for ages, but they are kind of a holy grail in the collector´s  scene, at least to those who appreciate their unique charme.

You get more information about them here:

http://dinosaurcollectorsitea.com/whitePost.htm

and I did a review of the Moschops, the only figure from the park I own:

http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/01/24/moschops-white-post/

But that is all. Maybe the best chance are lots on eBay or flea markets. Do you or your grandmother know by any chance how many figures had been produced overall? Are there any records about how many had been sold?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Just managed to visit Dinosaur Land last year after hearing about it for ages in books and other media it was awesome! It was parks like this that inspired me to build my Dinosaur Park down in Tennessee.   

I don't have any of the figures but always wanted them or larger statues/figures of Jim Sidwell's dinos. I first saw them at Magic World in Pigeon Forge TN.

[BlueKrono]

I have two of the Tylosaurus with slightly different paint jobs. I used to have the Moschops as well but sold it to @Libraraptor years ago. I've been on the hunt for the Diatryma for years, but no luck so far. You don't happen to have an extra, do you? I haven't seen any of the three you're searching for. Three years ago I took a road trip to the park even though it's over 1,000 miles away, just to see the place where they once were sold!

[WhitePostDinos]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for all of this! Information is so hard to find about White Post's on the internet. So really appreciate all of this.

@Libraraptor Thanks for all the great reads! The Moschops article was particularly interesting. I talked to my grandmother earlier today (and showed her the picture of all of them on the card). She was impressed and actually printed it out to show people who ask about the White Posts. Apparently a few people ask about them a month. She unfortunately did not have a lot of information about them. All that she knew was that her father had ordered several thousand from china, and that she thought the card originally sold for either 99 cents or a dollar 99. And that she thought they sold out of them entirely in the early eighties or late seventies. The rule was to push the cards onto the kids.

@BlueKrono Sorry to say I don't have any duplicates, only my five and I am not parting with them. Though if I ever come across another Diatryma, I will let you know!

@Blade-of-the-Moon I'm also a big fan of Jim's and made sure to check out more of his work when I was in Pigeon Forge a few years back! Also Looked up your park and it looks really cool. I'll have to check it out.

Thanks all for all the encouragement it's great to stumble upon a community like this! Really appreciate any additional information anyone comes across or if anyone should see a Plateosaurus, Oviraptor, or Corythosaurus for sale!

Thanks!

[japfeif]

Hi! Welcome to the site!!!!!
Wow, that's super interesting, your connections to Dinosaur Land! Way awesome!!

I do have a full set of the White Post dinos (loose) but would not want to part with any of them at this time, as they are kind of part of my "holy grail" section of my collection!

But I will definitely keep my eyes out for any I come across....your personal message said you were just lacking the Oviraptor? So does that mean you WERE about to find the Cory and the Platy?

Not much info I can provide that you don't already know, but as far as I know myself, the dinos were sold on that carded set that halichoeres provided in his post (which actually is in the collection of Jeff Quinn last I believe and is the only one known to still exist).

When I was researching for my book I found that only about 10,000 of the carded sets were even made (quite a low number, given that Marx came out with about 1.5 million of THEIR carded sets). The artwork on the Dino Land card even resembles the Marx cards a bit.
So I guess it's no that shocking that these guys are beyond rare. The hope is that there are a few more carded sets out there that just have not been unearthed yet.

Also, I was told that Dinosaur Land also sold the original eight Hong Kong Tai Sang Marx dinosaur knockoffs on a very similar card.....not the same card that they were released on originally, but a card that was very similar to the one used for the White Post dinos.

Anyway, very interesting hearing from someone with an actual history to Dinosaur Land and the White Post dinos....good luck in your search!

BTW, here is the section of my book that mentions the White Post dinosaurs if you are interested. I just cut & pasted the paragraph and the photos didn't copy, but the pics in the blurb were just of the carded set halichoeres provided above, and a pic of the loose set.

"In 1963 a theme park of sorts named Dinosaur Land opened in White Post, Virginia. This roadside attraction, which is still up and running, features some four dozen or so life-sized fiberglass statues of various dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals scattered about the forest landscape. Also mixed in are giant insects, snakes, a massive shark, a huge octopus, and even the granddaddy of all giant monsters himself, King Kong. Many of the original dinosaur statues are quite old school in appearance and not particularly scientifically accurate, and as the decades have gone by, most have shown various degrees of wear and damage due to neglect, exposure to the elements, or simply old age. But to many folks, this simply adds to the charm and old-time feel to the park. One of Dinosaur Land's main attractions, ironically enough, is not its many giant creature sculptures, but its enormous gift shop filled with such touristy mainstay merchandise as post cards, toys, jewelry, items of clothing, and hundreds of other trinkets and collectibles, as well as some offbeat items like colored Fenton Glass products, beer-making supplies, and foodstuffs. One of the items available in the shop during the latter part of the 1970s was a carded dinosaur set consisting of eight small figures modelled after their full-sized brethren out in the park (fig. 217). Known in the hobby simply as the White Post dinosaurs, these are easily among the most obscure of all plastic dinosaur figures, and the carded set, called "Dinosaur Land", is so uncommon that many collectors are not even aware of its existence. The dinos were ugly, ungainly, and quite inaccurate, molded in waxy, brittle plastic and very messily adorned with paint splotches around various area of the body. Some of the figures are so odd-looking that, without the benefit of their card (which helpfully printed the name of each dinosaur next to the figure), rough guesses have to be made to identify each genus in several cases. Curiously, the set include genera that were much less well-known than the usually seen lineup of Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and the rest of the pack. The White Post dino roster consisted of Corythosaurus, Diatryma, Iguanodon, Moschops, Oviraptor, Plateosaurus, Psittacosaurus, and Tylosaurus (fig. 218). The carded set is beyond rare; in fact, it is believed that only one example (pictured here, from the collection of Jeff Quinn) is currently known to exist. Rumor says that only 10,000 of the cards were ever made (a ridiculously low number, considering that Marx produced around a million and a half carded sets during their run). The artwork bears an uncanny likeness to the cards of the Marx dinosaur sets, probably to capitalize on their popularity. Interestingly, Dinosaur Land also sold the original eight Hong Kong Marx knockoff figures discussed in the previous chapter using this same card (including the "Dinosaur Land" wording). Even loose, the dinos are exceedingly uncommon, and coming across any of the figures is a most infrequent and lucky occurrence. It is extremely unlikely that the average reader of this book will ever come across a set of genuine White Post figures, loose or carded, and their inclusion here may be considered more for the Marx-like artwork of the card itself rather than the actual figures."

Jeff

[WhitePostDinos]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks so much for this reply! I would never ask anyone to part with their collection, and thanks for much for all the information!

10,000 fits the number that my grandmother quoted me as well. I think I have a picture of the Marx rip off card (https://donglutsdinosaurs.com/prehistoric-gardens-figures/) - Found via google search. The card looks nearly identical.

I was able to find the Cory and Platy via a dealer recommended to me from a member of this community! The Oviraptor is my last hold out.

Though Dinosaur land no longer has any of the toys, my grandmother did find the original cloth bags (stamped with the Dinosaur Land Logo) that were used (apparently specifically?) for people buying the toys on the cards - which is kind of neat.

Thanks for all of this information, I'll have to order a copy of the Book! (maybe a good Christmas gift for grandma)

Thanks to the whole of this community for all of your help/information/encouragement. It's been so appreciated.

And please do keep me in mind should a WP oviraptor come to anyone's attention.

Thanks,
Robert