Marx Prehistoric Times

[Lyzzz]

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.

http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=946.0

[Fembrogon]

I feel like you could display this photo in an art exhibition; what a gorgeous display!
Forgive me if you've explained it before, but apart from the test shot and robin's egg blue figures, what's the story behind all these variants? Are these recasts by later companies, or special releases by Marx themselves?

[BlueKrono]

I feel like you could display this photo in an art exhibition; what a gorgeous display!
Forgive me if you've explained it before, but apart from the test shot and robin's egg blue figures, what's the story behind all these variants? Are these recasts by later companies, or special releases by Marx themselves?

Most of the variants of gray, brown and green are original Marx. A large portion of mine are from the West Virginia Marx toy dump, where I believe they change color under the orange soil. The rarer special releases would include the milk chocolate brown, metallic green and silver. The really bold colors are almost all later companies like Superior.

[Halichoeres]

A very timely response! 

Some of those pale green ones look like they should glow in the dark (I know they don't, but they darn well should).