Doug Watson's collection

[Digibasherx]

I'm Canadian indeed. I recall Grand and Toy because it was a green logo with a circle or some sort.  Mind you, this is 25+ years ago and it could be another stationary/educational store.  It's really too bad, as now I'm starting to get interested in Safari, Kaiyodo and in some degree Invicta models.  I recall the stationary store had Invicta, but I think they're only sold out of Britan and Europe (I could be wrong).

[Doug Watson]

I'm Canadian indeed. I recall Grand and Toy because it was a green logo with a circle or some sort.  Mind you, this is 25+ years ago and it could be another stationary/educational store.  It's really too bad, as now I'm starting to get interested in Safari, Kaiyodo and in some degree Invicta models.  I recall the stationary store had Invicta, but I think they're only sold out of Britan and Europe (I could be wrong).

Yes they have a Green Circle with a G & T in it. They could have been selling the toys for doctors and dentist offices. By the time I was shopping at G & T I was only looking for office supplies. I will kick myself if they were selling Invictas and I didn't notice. Invictas originated out of Britain but have been out of production for around 13 years now. I got most of mine off of eBay and a UK seller who was still selling them in 2003.
G & T is still in operation and was a Canadian company but now they are owned by Office Depot.

[Doug Watson]

I considered starting a new topic for this but since it is so closely tied to parts of my collection I decided to put it here.
I have crossed an item of my bucket list that as a Canadian I didn't think was possible. I have collected several Sinclair Gas dino items from the 60s and years ago I read that Sinclair had been bought out by ARCO and BP so I never thought I could ever actually go to a Sinclair Station. Well we just got back from a vacation in California & Nevada and to my surprise I found a Sinclair station in Boulder City Nevada. It seems the company rose from the ashes in 1976 in the region bounded by the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains complete with all the Dino logos. Unfortunately there are no more plastic dinosaurs only plush dinos and inflatable dinos.

Here are some shots from the station.

[Halichoeres]

Surprised you didn't carry off that big fiberglass one! I would've been tempted.

[Digibasherx]

Fossil fuels indeed .

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Thats awesome Doug!  I'd love to find one of Sinclair statues for the Park, something kids actually ride on.

[Libraraptor]

Surprised you didn't carry off that big fiberglass one! I would've been tempted.

Me too

[Doug Watson]

Surprised you didn't carry off that big fiberglass one! I would've been tempted.

Me too

Surprised you didn't carry off that big fiberglass one! I would've been tempted.

Our little silver rental Ford Focus was too small

[Doug Watson]

Thats awesome Doug!  I'd love to find one of Sinclair statues for the Park, something kids actually ride on.

It is cool that someone had the foresight to hold onto the mould. I have seen at least one online where the station put a saddle on it for the kiddies. There is another one that has half of a life-sized Dino as the front of the store that you walk though the front legs. If we had Sinclair Stations up here in the sixties I would have bugged my Dad to fill up there every day!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Thats awesome Doug!  I'd love to find one of Sinclair statues for the Park, something kids actually ride on.

It is cool that someone had the foresight to hold onto the mould. I have seen at least one online where the station put a saddle on it for the kiddies. There is another one that has half of a life-sized Dino as the front of the store that you walk though the front legs. If we had Sinclair Stations up here in the sixties I would have bugged my Dad to fill up there every day!

Seeing how dino-crazy the public is you'd think they would open a new dino chain store..or re-open some.  Pretty sure I'd never go anywhere else.. lol

[Brachiosaurus]

I considered starting a new topic for this but since it is so closely tied to parts of my collection I decided to put it here.
I have crossed an item of my bucket list that as a Canadian I didn't think was possible. I have collected several Sinclair Gas dino items from the 60s and years ago I read that Sinclair had been bought out by ARCO and BP so I never thought I could ever actually go to a Sinclair Station. Well we just got back from a vacation in California & Nevada and to my surprise I found a Sinclair station in Boulder City Nevada. It seems the company rose from the ashes in 1976 in the region bounded by the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains complete with all the Dino logos. Unfortunately there are no more plastic dinosaurs only plush dinos and inflatable dinos.

Here are some shots from the station.

I have a metal cap disc thing with that dino on it

[Doug Watson]

I have finally completed my Marx Flintstones Hunting Party (minus the box) thanks to Joe Demarco. I picked up the T rex and the Stegosaurus from Joe at a great price because each had slight damage. I now have Fred & Barney, the Stegosaurus, the T rex and the Brontosaurus. I got them a while ago but I just finished repairing the damage to the Stegosaurus and T rex. I have my doubts if I will ever find the box since the only times I have seen it is with the figures and with a huge price tag.
I have posted close ups of the Stegosaurus and the T rex on the original post Reply #124 on page 7 of this thread. http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3118.120
The complete set minus the box.

[Lanthanotus]

Nice pieces, Doug and congrats on completition, hope you'll find the box one day. I had the knockoff of the T.rex as one of my first dinosaurs and I always wondered about its two completly different feet, but I see the original looks quiet beautiful, as just stepped out of a Charles R. knight picture. Does Fred miss one leg? And why is this the "hunting party", the dinosaurs look nice, but nothing like the ones from the show....?

[Doug Watson]

Nice pieces, Doug and congrats on completition, hope you'll find the box one day. I had the knockoff of the T.rex as one of my first dinosaurs and I always wondered about its two completly different feet, but I see the original looks quiet beautiful, as just stepped out of a Charles R. knight picture. Does Fred miss one leg? And why is this the "hunting party", the dinosaurs look nice, but nothing like the ones from the show....?

When you bought the big Flintstones Bedrock Playset from 1962, you also got houses, trees, cars etc. I have the complete set in the box. You got smaller Flintstones human characters as they looked in the cartoon including Puss & Dino. You also got an assortment of the Marx solid plastic dinosaurs from that time. I guess they probably did that to save cost rather than do a series of the cartoon dinos. Or maybe they figured kids would rather have "realistic" dinosaurs, which in my case was correct. You can see the rest of the Marx Flintstones and the dinos you got on Reply #109 on page 6 here.http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3118.100
Fred isn't missing a leg he has his right leg lifted like he is walking. Like I said with the Bedrock set you got a miniature town but with the hunting set all you got were larger versions of Fred and Barney and larger hard plastic hollow dinosaurs. This T rex is 6.5" tall compared to 3.5" tall for the original solid slim T rex. The Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus are original sculpts. The box shows Fred and Barney hiding behind a tree with their clubs waiting to bonk an unsuspecting dinosaur on the head as it comes down to a stream to drink so that is why they called it the Hunting Party. I think they thought sales might be on the strength of the again "realistic" dinosaurs rather than having cute cartoony dinos for them to whack. Funny because the box shows a cartoony dino instead of a real one. I guess advertising from the day probably showed what was inside to help sales.

P.S. I just remembered that Joe Demarco told me that he recalls these larger hollow dinosaurs being sold separately in bins later on so Marx may have also thought there would be a bigger market for non cartoon dinosaurs. Some of the casts have the dinosaur name and sizes and others don't so that could be accounted for by the later run.

[Lanthanotus]

Thanks for these explanations, Doug.....

When you bought the big Flintstones Bedrock Playset from 1962, you also got houses, trees, cars etc. I have the complete set in the box.

... do you happen to have photos for this box and setups (though I guess I spotted the box in your first post...)?

[Doug Watson]

Thanks for these explanations, Doug.....

When you bought the big Flintstones Bedrock Playset from 1962, you also got houses, trees, cars etc. I have the complete set in the box.

... do you happen to have photos for this box and setups (though I guess I spotted the box in your first post...)?

No, but I could set it up and take a shot and yes you spotted the box.

[Halichoeres]

Congrats, Doug! That's a cool set.

[Doug Watson]

Thanks for these explanations, Doug.....

When you bought the big Flintstones Bedrock Playset from 1962, you also got houses, trees, cars etc. I have the complete set in the box.

... do you happen to have photos for this box and setups (though I guess I spotted the box in your first post...)?

Here you go. 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?

[Doug Watson]

Another recent acquisition. The York Peanut Butter Dinosaurs and Other Animals of the Past Picture Card Book. Also from 1962, "Where were you in 62?"
I never had the album but I had a stack of the cards. Their octagon shape made them the best cards for playing closest to the wall so I either wore them out or lost them to another 7 year old hustler.
I still have one very badly worn card from my youth and 12 displayable cards in the album so I need 28 more. That $0.25 price on the cover kills me especially when I think of what I just paid.

[postsaurischian]

  Lovely!

....... "Where were you in 62?"

4 more years to go until I see the light of day .