Help identifying an Alva Studios figurine ...

[tw22]

Hello ... first post ! I recently purchased 3 Alva Studios lead-bronze (I think) dinosaur figurines (50's-60's), and I can identify two of them, but one of them I cannot identify. From researching online, it seems that Alva made six of these figurines, but I can only find reference for 5 of them in both name and pic. Using the forum search engine produced zero results, so I thought I would start a thread to get help lol. And any help is appreciated, as I'm going to try and sell them and I want to make sure of what I'm selling. I think the stegosaurus and the corythosaurus are obvious ... but it's the tallest one out of the bunch which I can't identify. Online sources show Alva made a brontosaurus, stegosaurus, corythosaurus, iguanodon, and trachodon ... but I can't find the elusive 6th one mentioned. I think I have it, but what is it ? Any help, thank you ! And if for some reason it doesn't allow me to link to pics ... here is the flickr links.

Here is the unknown:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95263907@N02/9378433697/

Here are the three together, for reference (the other two I can identify):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95263907@N02/9378434713/

[Seijun]

Nice find! You have the trex, stegosaurus, and corythosaurus (let me know when you are ready to sell them, lol). The others in the set are the brontosaurus, iguanodon, and trachodon.

[tw22]

You know I was thinking it was a T-Rex ... but it's head didn't seem large enough. I'll trust you though haha

Yeah it was an awesome find ... I don't usually sell things like this on ebay (I used to work for LEGO and started to sell some collectibles I had from working there previously), but if I do sell them via the bay, I'll start the auction tomorrow, as Sunday is the best day to start an auction. If you have a price in mind though, shoot ... I don't mind doing business outside of the bay. I used to LOVE helping serious collectors find their LEGO treasures, and I love it when people help me too lol ... so if you're interested, then cool, let me know what you think is a fair price and all and maybe we can work something out

Do you now exactly when these came out ? Online sources say they were released for the Museum of Natural History in New York and sold only in their gift shop in the late 50's ... other sources say they were released in the 60's. And I assume they are lead with some kind of paint with bronze in it.

Hey thanks for your help ... I really appreciate it

[Seijun]

As of recently, a mint-near mint trex sold for $76, and a lot with a trachodon and stegosaurus, both damaged, sold for $72.

What condition are yours in? It's hard to tell from the pics. The trex looks like it's very corroded or something, or maybe it's just dirty?

I don't know what year they came out, sorry. They are lead, painted over with either a bronze-colored paint or maybe a paint containing actual bronze. Acetone will melt it off so its not bronze plated.

[tw22]

I saw that there was a "classifieds" part of the forum, so I just posted there ... and I figured out how to post direct pics so there are more pics there in that thread. I'll repost them here though as well ... but before I do, can you link to the T-Rex that sold ? I just want to see it for direct comparison. My Google fu turned up nothing in pics haha I did see the two that sold for 70$ something however.

Okay here are some more pics (and repeats of the above links):









Very clear stamp on the T-Rex:





As far as their condition ... I don't see anything obviously broken off, except for one of the stego's spikes on his tail (see pic). That may be broken, or by design. Not sure. Otherwise, they all seem present and accounted for. The cory's stamp is rubbed off and really is only seen clearly by extreme macro, with inverted pic and high contrast lol ... not worth posting, as you either see the stamping or you don't lol. The other two are more clear as you can see. And I don't think they are dirty ... I think the stego and cory have more of their bronze paint, and the T-Rex has less, so patina is more prevalent (I believe it's patina). Some people love patina, although I'm not one of them ^_^. So they are not brittle or anything like that ... it's just the metal I think, and age of course. Other than what I mentioned, they appear to be good to go.

It's hard to find info about Alva online ... at least anything that seems more official I'm a sucker for researching a thing lol Thanks again for your help thus far

[tw22]

Actually I think I just found the T-Rex you were referencing:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CAST-IRON-BRONZE-DINOSAUR-FIGURE-T-REX-/121119792875?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c334d5eeb&nma=true&si=WnShICrtxPzPdjeGvhpe8tS475w%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

It's basically a dead ringer, although the person listing it says it's unmarked. I'm not sure how something in that good of condition could be unmarked, when mine is stamped so clearly. Perhaps the paint was so thick on that one it covered over the stamp ... hmm ...