Marx Prehistoric Times

[stoneage]

In 1955 Louis Marx & Co. released a line of 14 Dinosaur pieces.  They consisted of Pot-Belly T-rex, Brontosaurus, Kronosaurus, Allosaurus, Hadrosaurus, Trachodon, Ankylosaurus,Stegosaurus, Pteranodon, Triceratops, Cynognathus, Plateosaurus, Sphenacodon, and Dimetrodon.  They were all released in either a flat gray or green lead based plastic.  They were sold in store bins or bagged set for 10 to 25 cents each.  Retailers wanted something to display these dinosaurs on so Marx gave them a vacuform piece with a lake, waterfall and hills and holes to put plastic ferns. In 1957 and 1958 Marx decided to include them in their new playsets with ferns, palms, dead tree and tree stumps.   Now 55 years later very few of these fragile pieces exist, particularly in one piece without cracks.  Cavemen were also added to make the playsets more playable for kids.

[stoneage]

In 1957 and continuing until 1959 Marx also began releasing playsets with 4 terrain pieces.  There were a lake with a waterfall, a cave and 2 rock formations all in a brownish gray with swirls.  The dead tree and stumps were deleted. 

[stoneage]

Marx dinosaur playsets all came with boxes with graphics.  Here is the box for Playset #3394 from1959.

[stoneage]

All Marx playsets came with a booklet that gave information about each figure.  This booklet goes with the box and set above.

[stoneage]

Also these early sets would contain a premium figure of the large molds.(Pot Belly T-rex, Brontosaurus, and Kronosaurus.  These figures would be in Metallic Silver, Metallic Green, or Brown.  Metallic Green being the most sought after.

[stoneage]

In 1961 Marx came out withPlayset 3398, it's most popular set to date, which included a new three piece diorama. This set was also rereleased in 1971. With it came a new revised sleek T-rex along with new figures, including Parasaurolphus, Iguanodon, Struthiomimus, Megatherium, Styracosaurus, Moschops, Smilodon, and Woolly Mammoth.  The new figures came out in Brown and Tan in addition to Green and Gray.  Tan figures are the rarest.

[stoneage]

In 1974 Mark released it's "One Million Years B.C." Set to capitalize on the movie of the same name.  This set had a five piece prehistoric mountain and was released again in 1975 as "Prehistoric Mountain".

[stoneage]

This set also included a playmat and dinosaur booklet.  One it didn't include was the Kronosaurus which was discontinued.

[deanm]

Ahh, the many wonderful and happy memories. My parents bought me that set for Christmas back in 1972!  I still have the set (less the cardboard). Was the foundation of my dino collection and the discovery of pterosaurs and my love for them that continues to this day.

Thanks for sharing   

[stoneage]

In 1963 Marx introduced a series of six 6" cavemen, pictured here with Pinacosaurus.

[Paleo & Fish Collector]

Thank you for posting Marx is truly amazing!!

[docronnie]

Thanks for sharing stoneage!

I hope you could also include tutorials and photos on how to identify each figure as Marx originals.

[japfeif]

Hi all! First time poster here, my name is Jeff. I wanted to let some of you guys interested in the Marx dinosaur stuff know that my new book is in negotions with the publisher now & should be available (fingers crossed) by late summer, or early fall. The title is "Dinosaur Playsets: an Illustrated Guide to the Prehistoric Playsets of Marx and MPC".  The book, as the title says, is fully illustraded with color photos of each & every major dino set by both Marx and MPC, as well as details on the various figures, mold groupings, accessories, and other stuff. The project has been about 6 years in the making & should be pretty cool and hopefully help answer some of the nagging questions on these guys. Obviously the majority of time was spent collecting each set by both companies (no easy task!). THere are also chapters on some of the various knock-off sets & companies, like Winneco/Payton, Toy Street, SDC, and Marx of Miami. I am pretty stoked about it and I hope that some folks may find it useful. There is a real need for this I think, as nothing before has been attempted on this level of completeness. As brutal as the Marx stuff is to accumulate, getting a representative collection of complete sets & items from MPC was murder!
Anyway, I wanted to throw this out there and let everyone who may be interested that with no unexpected snags this reference book should be available soon!
Thanks all!'J

[docronnie]

Thanks japfeif! 

[jamesmount]

Wow ! This toys is looking awesome. thanks for sharing this information and pic, After seeing this pic i just think how can people live in forest.

[stoneage]

Hi all! First time poster here, my name is Jeff. I wanted to let some of you guys interested in the Marx dinosaur stuff know that my new book is in negotions with the publisher now & should be available (fingers crossed) by late summer, or early fall. The title is "Dinosaur Playsets: an Illustrated Guide to the Prehistoric Playsets of Marx and MPC".  The book, as the title says, is fully illustraded with color photos of each & every major dino set by both Marx and MPC, as well as details on the various figures, mold groupings, accessories, and other stuff. The project has been about 6 years in the making & should be pretty cool and hopefully help answer some of the nagging questions on these guys. Obviously the majority of time was spent collecting each set by both companies (no easy task!). THere are also chapters on some of the various knock-off sets & companies, like Winneco/Payton, Toy Street, SDC, and Marx of Miami. I am pretty stoked about it and I hope that some folks may find it useful. There is a real need for this I think, as nothing before has been attempted on this level of completeness. As brutal as the Marx stuff is to accumulate, getting a representative collection of complete sets & items from MPC was murder!
Anyway, I wanted to throw this out there and let everyone who may be interested that with no unexpected snags this reference book should be available soon!
Thanks all!'J

Well if this book is now available, someone please let me know.  Also I would enjoy seeing pictures of other Marx sets.

[Tiermann]

Marx were my first dinos and I still love them. Over at the Toyanimal.info wiki I've posted photos of the individual dinos from the main series (from my collection) as well as listed the others I am aware of. It is at http://toyanimal.info//index.php?title=Marx_Dinosaurs_and_Prehistoric
Great to see complete sets, that's something I just don't have. Thanks for sharing them here.

[Georassic]

Both Playset 3398 and Prehistoric Mountain were essential parts of my childhood! Thanks for the memories!

[BlueKrono]

Marx is my favorite series of all time. Can you say classic? Japfeif, I'd love to get one of those books.

[FlawedCoil82]

Was the mountain released in this set rereleased in any other set? The one I had was a more orange color and came with different dinosaurs that had a "marbled" look to them (but it was the same mold with the rock bridge and such). I remember being disappointed when I opened the set as a kid because it came with a "swirley" green Styracosaurus instead of a Triceratops. I may still have some of them. They were different dinosaur molds than what are seen here.