Safari Ltd. Authentics

[terrorchicken]

I used to have these. Ive since given most away but I still have complete set 2 in the plastic box, they were my first mini dinosaurs, good times...

[Georassic]

The Protoceratops remains on my wishlist, as well...

[Fembrogon]

Oh, cool! I've had the T.rex and Stegosaurus since I was little (my brother might have the rest of the first set), but I never knew these were Safari figures - much less that Dan LoRusso & Greg Wenzel were involved!

How rare are these now? I wouldn't mind collecting the rest.

[Halichoeres]

They turn up on eBay pretty often. I've seen boxed sets go for less than $20.

[PaleoMatt]

I have some chinasaurs that are rip-offs of these from when I was younger! I'll try and find them

[Georassic]

I just scored most of the Authentics in an ebay lot:
All of series 1: T-rex, Stego, Brachio, Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, and Apatosaurus (which is labeled Brontosaurus)
Series 2: Dimetrodon, Styracosaurus, Protoceratops, Euoplocephalus
Series 3: Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Elasmosaurus, Iguanodon, Spinosaurus

They're all used but are in pretty good condition, no obvious glaring paint rubs. I intend to trade or sell all of them except maybe Styraco and Protoceratops. But I'm open to letting them go too.

I will post these to the Classified thread (along with several other figures) some time in the next several days, but if you're interested in any of them, feel free to message me sooner.
geo

[DC]

2 of the series were done by Foest and 1  by Dan Larusso as I recall.  Besides some Chinasaur copies the Betta products figures looked like they were based on them.  My favorite is the allosaurus it scales well witht he Wild Safari Apato and Brachio

[LophoLeeVT]

stenge i have the authentics styracosaurus as a knockoff in black made by simba.....

[Sim]

2 of the series were done by Foest and 1  by Dan Larusso as I recall.

Series 2 was done by Greg Wenzel, and series 3 was done by Dan LoRusso.  Dan LoRusso confirmed this on the previous page, in Reply #13: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=1550.msg79426#msg79426  I can really see their styles in the figures they did.

I had all three series when I was a kid.  I really enjoyed playing with the figures from series 2 and 3.  To this day I still dislike the figures from series 1.

[Fembrogon]

I'm resurrecting this thread with some new photo content. Although I've been in possession of the full first series of Authentics Dinosaurs since probably 2000, it wasn't until I discovered this thread that I became aware of the line's full existence. Very recently I finally managed to acquire copies of the 2nd & 3rd series, through eBay and Mercari (with the help of Brettnj); but with so little information apparently published on the internet, I'm not sure if some of these are legitimate or just highly-accurate knockoffs (none of them really match the Colorata imitations from 2001, from what I can tell at least).

The full sets, as I currently own them:

Dinosaurs I - the back row is the set I already owned, the front row is new from eBay.
Although the engravings are printed differently, both sets feature the genus, plus the Safari LTD and China branding underneath. I don't have a second copy of Apatosaurus.



Individual figures (originals on left, eBay acq on right):

Spoiler

Brachiosaurus (two copies from eBay)


Parasaurolophus


Stegosaurus


Triceratops


Tyrannosaurus

[close]

Dinosaurs II - the back row is acquired from eBay, the front row is from Mercari.
The eBay figures are engraving with both Safari LTD and "China" underneath, whereas the Mercari figures only say "China". No genus names.



Individual figures (eBay acq on left, Mercari on right):

Spoiler

Dilophosaurus


Dimetrodon


Euoplocephalus


Protoceratops


Styracosaurus


Velociraptor

[close]

Dinosaurs III - back row from eBay, front row Mercari again.
Like the Series II figures, the eBay versions say Safari and China, while the Mercari copies only say China.



Individual figures (eBay acq on left, Mercari on right):

Spoiler

Allosaurus


Diplodocus


Elasmosaurus


Iguanodon


Pteranodon


Spinosaurus (eBay on left & right, Mercari in center)

[close]

Generally speaking, the Mercari-bought versions have more saturated paint applications and feel like a slightly softer plastic. All of the Series II and III figures feel softer than the Series I figures.
The Mercari-bought versions don't all quite match photos I've seen of the series here and elsewhere; Allosaurus and Pteranodon in particular are noticeably different.
Authenticity (ahem) issues aside, I really like the Authentics line; it's neat seeing the "ancestry" of some of Safari's Toob minifigures, and all of these have that early semi-stylized Safari charm to them.

[TooOldForDinosaurs]

Very cool figures! I like those little fellas a lot but will most likely never get into collecting them since they are harder to find here and I can't justify too high shipping costs for such tiny but lovely figures. Congrats on those acquisitions - the Battats and the Invicta of course as well! 

Îm pretty sure this website is not new to you, but they offer pictures on all the lines (Dinosaurs 1,2,3) as groups as well as individual pictures sometimes with multiple of the same figures and their slightly different color variations. Yours look all rather authentic.
https://toyanimal.info/wiki/Safari_Ltd_Authentics

[Fembrogon]

Toy Animal Wiki is definitely one of my go-to sites for reference; they don't always go into the level of detail I'd really like, however. A couple of these figures still don't match any other photos I've seen, including on Toy Animal Wiki.

[Dinoguy2]

Great collection! I love the Authentics line. Some day I need to expand my coverage of it on my website. The Mercari set certainly looks different and those sculpts look different enough that they're probably a different set of molds. But, I doubt they're bootlegs, none of the differences are any more extreme than the kind of thing you see in the larger lines through the years. My assumption would be the Mercari ones are from a later production runs after some retooling had been done.

I'd be curious to compare them with some that are definitely a decade+ later, like the ones released on the "mini Carnegie" blister cards in the early 2000s.

Speaking of Mercari, I was able to get a few sets of the eraser versions of these a year or two ago, still in the original packaging. The erasers are nice because they're almost a more pure / prototype version of the sculpt, details much more visible with no paint.

[Fembrogon]

That's helpful to know; thanks D @Dinoguy2! Those eraser versions also sound interesting; I do like the level of detail present in some of these figures.