British Museum (Natural History) by Invicta

[BRONSON]

Decades ago when I was a kid I won a boxed set of these in a competition, I will have to dig them out and photograph them and put them on here.

[SidB]

Six or seven years ago I saw a set of glossy gold-painted Invictas in a shop for resale. I'm sure that their original production considerably predated that time though. Has anyone ever run across these? I'd read somewhere that they had been produced for some special occasion in England.

[Lanthanotus]

Six or seven years ago I saw a set of glossy gold-painted Invictas in a shop for resale. I'm sure that their original production considerably predated that time though. Has anyone ever run across these? I'd read somewhere that they had been produced for some special occasion in England.

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[Fembrogon]

^{^Click for larger images}

I posted about these in the Recent Acquisitions thread the other day; I saw them going for what looked like a good price, so I took the opportunity. All three are in brand-new condition; Liopleurodon still had a sticker tag wrapped around it.

Muttaburrasaurus might be the highlight of the three for me, between its splendid scaly skin detail and its very modern design. Liopleurodon is a bit top-heavy, and light on fine details; but the overall sculpt is very strong and organic. Mamenchisaurus is almost funny, because as kid, I saw this sculpt all the time - but as other companies imitating it. I had no idea there was an "original" until I got online and learned about Invicta through sites like this one.

Even with all the companies providing good dinosaur figures today, I kind of regret that Invicta, or another company like it, isn't still producing figures in this style. There's an "authentic", vintage-museum charm to the Invicta figures, the way classic paleoart by Knight or Burian is still special, and I bet Invicta could have produced some remarkable figures had the line continued.

...And so my collection expands!

[Libraraptor]

Congrats to the new Invicta figures!
Still my favourite ever line of dinosaur figures.
My entry into serious collecting.

[BRONSON]

^{^Click for larger images}

I posted about these in the Recent Acquisitions thread the other day; I saw them going for what looked like a good price, so I took the opportunity. All three are in brand-new condition; Liopleurodon still had a sticker tag wrapped around it.

Muttaburrasaurus might be the highlight of the three for me, between its splendid scaly skin detail and its very modern design. Liopleurodon is a bit top-heavy, and light on fine details; but the overall sculpt is very strong and organic. Mamenchisaurus is almost funny, because as kid, I saw this sculpt all the time - but as other companies imitating it. I had no idea there was an "original" until I got online and learned about Invicta through sites like this one.

Even with all the companies providing good dinosaur figures today, I kind of regret that Invicta, or another company like it, isn't still producing figures in this style. There's an "authentic", vintage-museum charm to the Invicta figures, the way classic paleoart by Knight or Burian is still special, and I bet Invicta could have produced some remarkable figures had the line continued.

...And so my collection expands!

Superb collection, I think I have all of these and some more, I will have to dig them out and photograph them.

[Justin_]

Does anyone know when these stopped being sold at the Natural History Museum? I remember in the early '90s at the exit of the dinosaur halls went through a room with tables covered in these. It wasn't the regular gift shop and I don't think anything else was sold there, just Invictas.

[terrorchicken]

^that reminds me that I remember seeing these at the UK Pavilion gift shops at Epcot Center back in the mid 80s!

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Does anyone know when these stopped being sold at the Natural History Museum? I remember in the early '90s at the exit of the dinosaur halls went through a room with tables covered in these. It wasn't the regular gift shop and I don't think anything else was sold there, just Invictas.

Presumably very late '90s or early 00's as I remember getting the Iguanodon from there and I was only born in '93.

[Fembrogon]

The Dinosaur Collector Site A and Collector's Guide websites cite 2004 as roughly the year of discontinuation. That's a pretty nice run, all things considered; it's too bad they weren't released with something of equal caliber...

[BRONSON]

Well I finally found 2 minutes to find and dig out and take some snaps of my old Invicta dinos that I picked up when a kid, sorry for the poor quality, they were snapped in my musuem,
My first ever purchase was the Diplodocus when I visited the London National History museum when a kid, I was then hooked and whenever I saw any on a school trip or family outing I would pick one or two up, I got the Scelidosaurus and Dimetrodon at the Heights of Abraham in Matlock, and the rare Weetabix cereals one was won in a competition, 1st prize was a trip to the afforemention museum above and a large box of dinos, second prize I think was 3 winners of a large box of dinos (which I won one) and runners up got a single dinosaur, cant remember what the competition was now, whether it was a quiz or sending a drawing in, when doing a quiz meant you had to have knowledge as there was no google or internet around in those days.

[Shonisaurus]

And to think that before the dinosaurs and prehistoric animals were monocolores in its immense majority and those who have years like me were satisfied with those replicas. Despite the years they are still great figures. The good always endures.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

@BRONSON I see the only two you are missing are the Blue Whale and the Stenonychosaurus (Troodon), would the scale have anything to do with that?

[BRONSON]

Yeah the blue whale I didnt get because it was a modern animal and the Troodon because of the scale, these dino's are probably the only toys from my younger years that I still have, all my action man, star wars, britains soldiers went when I was in my late teens, I had hoped to pass them on to my kids, but I inherited a grown up one and she does not seem interested in having kids herself.

lol I just noticed the background of my museum in one of the photos, no one else has commented yet so I will keep stum   

[Nimravus]

The more I see the Invictas the more I like them. Of course, there are some of them that are old fashioned in anatomy, stance... but they have stood the test of time incredibly well. My favourite one is the Lambeosaurus along with the Baryonyx. Unfortunately, I don't have the first one.

[SidB]

The Lambeosaurus has been going for some shocking prices recently on eBay. I'm glad that I got one a couple of years ago, before the $ went through the stratosphere.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

The Lambeosaurus has been going for some shocking prices recently on eBay. I'm glad that I got one a couple of years ago, before the $ went through the stratosphere.

I was going to bring that up, too. Suddenly they're going for $250-$300.

I think it's a bubble, just like with the Battat diplodocus a few years ago. They normally went for around $275 until one sold for $500 and a few other sellers followed suit, but then they went back to around $250-275.

[SidB]

Patience really IS a virtue in the hobby of collecting.

[Shonisaurus]

S @SidB That is one of my faults that I must correct. I am very impulsive when it comes to buying a product from the prehistoric world and that is very bad for me. All the reason there is a saying that says "not by early rises early" and it is true.

[Libraraptor]

The Lambeosaurus has been going for some shocking prices recently on eBay. I'm glad that I got one a couple of years ago, before the $ went through the stratosphere.

I agree. I bought mine for the regular price 25 years ago,  at a bookstore here in Germany.  For about 16 DM I think,  which is approx.  8 Euro.