Doug Watson's collection

[Crackington]

I read about that too. I always think of these obsessive diggers as "Marxiologists". I guess, sans fossils,  its the closest dinosaur figure collectors can come to a proper experience in the field!

[Doug Watson]

Some more 50s and 60s

The last of my Marx figures the complete set of original flat finish 6 inch cavemen.



From what I have been able to learn Marx offered the original 6 inch cavemen in light beige in Canada only. Up here they came in big bags of Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice. I hated both cereals and so it seems did my 5 other siblings so I never got the complete set as a kid. Thankfully years later flea markets and eBay did the job.
This is a complete set in flat finish.



My last complete set is of the 1970s lead free waxy reissued 6 inch cavemen.



From the late 50s three of the Pyro model kits I had. As I mentioned before I was fascinated by marbled and metallic plastics and these combined both so I never painted mine either.



This is also where I learned about truth in advertising. This is the box art for the T rex above. This lesson was reinforced in the 60s when I opened the Aurora monster models up and found they didn't match the box art either. The model I had as a kid didn't have the caveman or base it was just the dinosaur.



From 1959 the ITC Neanderthal & skeleton kit.



This is my incomplete set of MPC dinosaurs. MPC blatantly ripped off the Marx designs for many of their pieces with less detailed and smaller copies. I guess copyright laws were more lax back then. As a result I wasn't crazy about MPC as a kid and I only got these as parts of lots that I won on eBay so I haven't actively tried to complete the set. MPC did do some original pieces and those were actually their better pieces.



Finally these are my Tootsie Toy hollow dime store dinosaurs. I am only missing the Stegosaurus, again I got these in lots I won on eBay so I have put these together by default. They also did a group of prehistoric mammals but I haven't found any of those yet.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

My dinosaurs ate so many of those cavemen...lol

I recall a simialr caveman in a squatting position..I think he was holding meat or something..was that Marx or a similar brand?

[Doug Watson]

My dinosaurs ate so many of those cavemen...lol

I recall a simialr caveman in a squatting position..I think he was holding meat or something..was that Marx or a similar brand?

Marx did two squatting in the small 45mm size for the playsets, you can see them in reply #90 on this thread one has a rock and a flint, the other is skinning a wabbit.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Ah, must have missed that..that's them. You gotta like how they covered just about everything.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Regarding the MPC vs Marx thing, etc. MPC actually downsized or narrowed the figures to make it possible to make them with two piece molds, rather than three or four piece molds like the Marx figures. In doing so, they were able to offer them much more cheaply and give more in a playset, than Marx was able to. As a kid I had both playsets, but preferred the MPC because of the large number of animals it came with and the rock formations, which were more creative than the Marx ones.
  Another comment in passing, the MPC smilodon in your picture appears to be the orange variation. The MPC figures that are orange or purple were cereal premiums and are considered much rarer than their other colored counterparts, and makes that perhaps your most desireable MPC figure pictured.

[Doug Watson]

  Another comment in passing, the MPC smilodon in your picture appears to be the orange variation. The MPC figures that are orange or purple were cereal premiums and are considered much rarer than their other colored counterparts, and makes that perhaps your most desireable MPC figure pictured.

Thank you for that information, I wasn't aware of that. I also have a purple Trachodon as well but it doesn't make me like them any more. As a child I disliked them for their inferior quality and the fact they were copies now that I am a toy sculptor who has had his work knocked off I dislike them for being some of the earliest knock offs.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

  Another comment in passing, the MPC smilodon in your picture appears to be the orange variation. The MPC figures that are orange or purple were cereal premiums and are considered much rarer than their other colored counterparts, and makes that perhaps your most desireable MPC figure pictured.

Thank you for that information, I wasn't aware of that. I also have a purple Trachodon as well but it doesn't make me like them any more. As a child I disliked them for their inferior quality and the fact they were copies now that I am a toy sculptor who has had his work knocked off I dislike them for being some of the earliest knock offs.

I think we all like and acquire favorites based on different criteria....I own both a nice Marx set and a nearly dead mint MPC set as well. I do admit two of my favorite dinosaurs in my collection are the "waxy" light green rex and brontosaurus from Marx, circa 1970's.
   As for the orange and purple MPC figures that I mentioned were breakfast cereal premiums, If I remember correctly they came in boxes of Flintstones cereal like fruity pebbles and cocoa pebbles back in the 70's. I do know for fact those two colors were exclusively cereal premiums and as such are supposedly more rare and valuable.

[Doug Watson]

I am sure I would feel differently about MPC if they were my first dinosaur figures instead of Marx. As I have said I like their original pieces like the Diatryma and wish they had done more new dinosaur sculpts like the Brontosaurus. I would still like to get the Glyptodont, Dire Wolf and Ceratogaulus.

[Doug Watson]

Into the 60s now.
I lied when I said I was finished with Marx figures, I forgot about the Flintstones.

These are the figures you got with the Bedrock Playset from 1962. You also got houses, trees, cars etc. I have the complete set in the box.



The only things I am missing are the paper bags the figures came in.

Box & instructions. $4.94 US in 1962


The Bedrock set up with those houses cast in lovely marbled plastic. Do they even make anything out of marbled plastic today?

Marx also offered 8 of the same characters as painted hard plastic Tinykins. I remember these coming in boxes of tea, I think it was Red Rose. I have included the original Fred to show the size difference. Marx also made an even bigger blue version of Fred and Barney for the Hunting party set.

[Doug Watson]

More from the 60s, 1964-1965 to be exact. At the Sinclair Dinoland Exhibit at the World's Fair in New York you could get Mold-A-Rama versions of some of the dinosaurs on display. They were also available at Sinclair Gas Stations. On the bases they either had Sinclair Dinoland on one side and the dino name or World's Fair 1964-1965 on the other.

The Brontosaurus was also Sinclair's trademark. They had two versions one with the head looking ahead and one with the head looking behind which was a reworking of the JH Miller brontosaurus.



The T rex and the Triceratops. I have two of these T rex in this metallic finish and one in red. I haven't found any of the others in the metallic so far. The Triceratops exhibits the typical damage you see on these. They can be fragile.



They had two sizes of Stegosaurus. The small version is the size you can get today at places like The Field Museum, but they won't say Dinoland or World's Fair on them. Big Stego is missing a bit of the plates and the tip of the tail.



The Trachodon & Corythosaurus



The Ankylosaurus



Sinclair plastic bank. They also made a faux brass metal bank from the brontosaurus that is looking behind, don't have that one yet.



A Sinclair Go Dino ashtray. I use mine as a candy dish at Christmas.

[Doug Watson]

Still from the 1964-1965 World's Fair, Sinclair also offered a bagged set of six Marx sized hard plastic dinosaurs which are much more detailed and more durable than the Mold-A-Rama dinos. Although they were Marx sized they were all original sculpts. These are more rare so I'll show them one at a time. Apparently they were reissued by other companies into the 90s but these are originals.

Brontosaurus



T rex



Trachodon



Triceratops



Stegosaurus



Ankylosaurus



This is the Booklet that came with the set. I got mine when I was a kid at a Church book sale, you can see by the price it was a long time ago.



Inside the booklet is some beautiful artwork by Matthew Kalmenoff which show the colours of the Louis Paul Jonas Dinoland life-size dinosaurs.

[DinoLord]

Very cool collection - it's not often we get to see such true vintage figures! My favorite is the ashtray - still shiny after all those years.

[Doug Watson]

A complete set of Wade ceramic dinosaurs, well I thought they were from the 60s since I got them at the same place and time as the Wade Flintstones from 1965 but it turns out this Set # 1 of dinosaurs came out in 1993.



In 1965 Wade also made these ceramic Flinstones figures which apparently came in the Wade Balding & Mansell Flintstones Christmas Cracker Premium set. From left to right they are Tigger, Dino, Rhino & Bronti.

[Doug Watson]

Very cool collection - it's not often we get to see such true vintage figures! My favorite is the ashtray - still shiny after all those years.

Thank you, yes a lot of those are badly pitted, I got mine from Mike Fredericks at Prehistoric Times.

[Doug Watson]

I believe these are my last items from the 60s.
Brooke Bond put out a set of Dinosaur cards that you could get up here in Canada inside of Red Rose Tea boxes. Luckily my Mom was British by birth and drank a lot of tea so this is one set I completed back then.

On the left is my well worn original complete set and on the right is a minty complete set with most of the cards unglued. I got that set at a Nostalgia show for a good price, I think $5.



If you completed your set or I suppose lied about it, you could send away for a certificate. This is mine.

[triceratops83]

You really have a collection to be jealous of. Love the Sinclair Dinosaurs.

[Roselaar]

Wow, that Stegosaurus looks grumpy...

[Crackington]

Thanks Doug, you've just answered a question I've been wondering about for a while. I picked up one of the Wade Flintstones figures in a charity shop a few years back, but never connected it with the show. I knew it was a Wade, but have been confused for several years trying to work out what it belongs to, as the Wade dinosaurs figures that show up in searches are very different and more realistic. I didn't realise they made different sets, so now know I have a bona fide "Dino".  I also didn't know it was from the 60s so quite a nice antique.

[Doug Watson]

Thanks Doug, you've just answered a question I've been wondering about for a while. I picked up one of the Wade Flintstones figures in a charity shop a few years back, but never connected it with the show. I knew it was a Wade, but have been confused for several years trying to work out what it belongs to, as the Wade dinosaurs figures that show up in searches are very different and more realistic. I didn't realise they made different sets, so now know I have a bona fide "Dino".  I also didn't know it was from the 60s so quite a nice antique.

You are welcome, I used to think I had the complete set, they are from the 1965 Wade Balding & Mansell Flintstones Christmas Cracker Premium set. From left to right they are Tigger, Dino, Rhino & Bronti. It seems there were four others but they don't look like Flintstone characters, they are Bluebird, Crocodile, Hedgehog & Terrapin. You can see the list and pics of the Flintstones ones here on page 30 & 31 of the Wade 2014 guide. http://issuu.com/francisjoseph/docs/wade_2014all