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MARX AWI, PIRATE, ALAMO, AND ACW TOY SOLDIERS, FIGURES AND ITEMS IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

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PIRATE FIGURES

The Marx 60mm pirates were made in Hong Kongas part of their Warriors of the World line and in Germany as part of their German Masterpiece line. They were usually made in hard plastic and factory painted. They were given "names" and sold individually in small boxes with a card to describe the person's history. They were also sold in groups in larger boxes. At least two molds were made, one with slightly larger figures than the other.

German Masterpiece boxed set.

HARD PLASTIC PAINTED PIRATES

Captain Cobham --

Captain Flood -Thomas Veale-

Steven Bonnet - Dixie Bull-

Vintage 1950s soft plastic unpainted pirates

These are same figures as the Warrior of the World pirates, but made in unpainted soft plastic and sold individually from store counter top displays. They can be found in waxy creams, brown, redbrown, yellow and light blue. The brown and red brown seem harder to find.

Evidently a 2nd slightly smaller scale mold was made in Germany. It ended up in Russia and reissues have been made. Collectors call these figures "54mm" but they are close in size to the 60mm versions.

COPIES of the 60mm pirates

- Hong Kong copies, MOC, six figures about 54mm in scale.

The Marx 54mm Pirates

Picture courtesy Francis Turner.

Picture courtesy Francis Turner.

Marx made 13 54mm pirates for a Treasure Island playset that never went into production. It was then proposed to make a generic pirate cove playset but it was never made either. Twelve of the poses were eventually made in hard plastic and factory painted and sold in small boxed sets. Rare test shots of all 13 poses in white soft plastic have surfaced. The mold cavity for the 13th pirate (captain holding pistols at chest) surfaced in the 1990s and he was reissued with some other Marx figures by Glencoe.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION(AWI)AND WAR OF 1812 ITEMS

AWI = American War of Independence

litho tavern.

- Sons of Liberty flag with plastic pole & base.

Tin litho wall with two tan plastic end caps.

End cap for the tin walls, flesh tan, HP.

Stone wall.

PL-875 the Marx 54mm Colonial mold had 12 cavities with three marching, two standing shooting and one each of the other seven foot poses. Playsets would then have multiples of this grouping depending upon size. The mounted figure was made in a separate mold PL-900 and can often be found in playsets in a very different blue color than the foot poses. The flag bearer in the above photo is a recast from Mexico and is in a very darker color than the rest which are in original light blue.

LATER HERITAGE WAXY LIGHT BLUE FIGURES

PL-876 the 54mm British Redcoat mold had 12 cavities with one each of the two officers, two each of the two shooters and three each of the marching and running poses. Playsets would then have multiples of this grouping depending upon size. The Heritage era running figure is often missing his pigtail due to a problem in the molding process.

PL-892 made the six Johnny Tremain character figures.

C. Set made 2013-2023 reissue SP.

Marx AWI Cannon with Accessories

PL-876 had 23 cavities making one 1950s-60s spring shooting cannon in gold color.

1970s non shooting Heritage cannon, lighter gold color.

PL-875 had 17 cavities making one set of accessories.

1950s-60s playsets had redbrown accessories and 1970s Heritage playsets had brown accessories;

Reissue American Revolution accessories have been made dark gray and redbrown.

Reissue Early Americans, Includes from left to right; Two poses never issued/used by Marx man with ax and woman with buckets, 45mm Davy Crockett (no marking under base), 45mm Ft Dearborn Indian paddling and three of the 54mm Alamo/Ft. Apache pioneers. 8 Figures in all 7 poses. They have been made in tan, gray , light yellow and blue.

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George Washing has been made as a president and as a general.

Window box sets were made in the Marx Taiwan facility. The Colonials with George Washington and British with General Cornwallis figures.

Factory painted Warriors of the World Colonials

These were made in hard and soft plastic and factory painted in a variety of schemes. We think the Warriors of the World series were only made in hard plastic.

Soft plastic unpainted 60mm Colonials - Made in blue, cream & white and were sold individually from store counter displays.

Marx made eight 60mm WOW British AWI figures made in both rubber like vinyl and hard plastic and painted in Hong Kong. In later years they were recast in semi-soft red plastic.

WAR OF 1812

Photo courtesy Mark Hegeman.

Warriors of the World photo courtesy Francis Turner.

These figures were made in hard plastic, painted and sold as part of the Warriors of the World series as well as in silver plastic as sold individually as counter display figures. Neither variety is very common,. but the silver soft plastic counter display examples are especially scarce. Photo courtesy of Skinny The Goatman

- Reissue President Andy Jackson in light blue for War of 1812 Battle of New Orleans set ups.

ALAMO AND MEXICAN WAR FIGURES AND ACCESSORIES

Marx 3544 Davy Crockett at the Alamo Playset. Circa 1955 with original box with dividers and paperwork that might include a Disneyland trip send in promo. Contents include tin fort with chapel, gate, 4 walls with ledges and 4 walls no ledges, 3 sets (30 figures) Mexicans (1 cream, 2 metallic blue), 45mm Davy, 3 sets (30 figures) 54mm Texicans (1 tan, 2 silver OR 2 tan, 1 silver OR ALL silver or tan), 9 54mm saddle horses, 5 shooting cannons each with a sprue of 10 shells, 18 wall pegs on sprue (includes 2 extra pegs), 2 ladders, 2 HP trees, 2 HP cacti, tin 1824 flag with plastic pole & base, 12 piece stockade accessories.

Heritage Battle of the Alamo circa 1972-74.

1996 Commemorative 160 year anniversary RECAST Alamo playset by the ReMarx company. These were always a surprise as you never knew what they had on hand for their Alamo sets. They once used BMC Mexicans when they could not get resupplied with Marx recasts. So this set had some issues that I corrected when I opened it. It was missing the 8 pegs to hold the ledges and I supplied Heritage era dark brown ones. Tin chapel, gate with doors, six no hole walls, two walls with holes & two ledges. The figures were a bit of a mess so I put in a better mix. There are 37 Mexicans in all shako & round "Presidio" hat poses and 31 Texicans including both the 45mm & 60mm Crocketts. All 9 Boonesborough pioneers in gray, all 10 45mm Cavalry/pioneers in light gray (+3 darker gray shooters) and the 3 available Ft Apache/Alamo pioneers in silver + man chopping wood and woman with buckets who can be Mrs. Dickerson. Also added were two more cannons for a total of four and six more 54mm horses (two with saddles added) for a total of ten. A set of 60mm bucking rearing horses came with the set and are included but they are too big for the figures (one has a broken leg). A set of outdoor accessories, 2 cacti, flag pole (with paper flag) and ladders + all the paperwork.

Alamo tin litho "Disney" gate with both doors. ()

Alamo Wall with Holes

Wall Ledge

Wall No Holes

Alamo wall no holes, error litho has the ledge wall back so you have what looks like a litho barrel and bench suspended in air.

- Alamo tin flag with HP pole & base.

NONE - Alamo paper flag from 1970s Heritage set, NO POLE OR BASE.

REISSUE ALAMO FORT PIECES

Alamo Figures

Marx 319 45mm Davy Crockett

There are many shades of light powder blue.

These figures were used in Zorro and later Alamo sets. Also many shades of light blue.

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Zorro playset gate.

Tin Zorro flag, one side has scratches.

Alamo/ Ft Apache cannon.

- Marx used their Space cannon in Alamo play sets when the normal cannon mold was being repaired, silver. ()

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Marx made Mexican War figures for their warriors of the world line. Each was sold as a personality in an individual box with information about the person. These old figures were made in white hard styrene plastic and factory painted. The molds were recast/reissued in the 1980s/90s in solid stiff plastic in red, blue and silver.

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Photo courtesy Mark Hegeman.

Photo courtesy Mark Hegeman.

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For some reason Marx made only four US poses for their Mexican War set. For the Warriors of the World series the marching man was done in three different paint schemes with different names and the man with paper and shooter were each done twice. Oddly the crouching man was not included in the Warriors of the Worlds series.

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR FIGURES AND ITEMS

60mm Civil War Figures

The Marx 60mm American Civil War figures were first made in unpainted rubber like vinyl and then in soft plastic and sold as counter display / bin toys individually and in boxed AMERICAN HEROs sets. Earliest figures do not have bases but like other early figures bases were added for stability. The molds were then sent to the Charmore Germany factory where the figures were made in painted hard plastic as part of the German Masterpiece series. The molds then moved to Hong Kong where the foot poses were again made in painted hard plastic and sold as "Warriors of the World" Reissues have been made.

The Union figures have a variety of paint schemes.

Vintage painted figures

Painted mounted figure pictures courtesy Denis Rylev.

The American Heros Civil War 60mm Union sat came with unique light blue soldiers.

REISSUE/RECAST Figures

Reissues/recasts have been made in both blue and gray.

MARX AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MINIATURE ITEMS

Marx made minature American Civil War playsets at their factory in Hong Kong. Called "HO" by collectors but the hard plastic hand painted figures are a bit larger than HO scale. Picture courtesy Christopher Wallentine.

Some of the Marx miniature American Civil War figures were also sold on small blister cars as Tiny Traders. On tghe back of each card was a painted picture of the figure and his given "name". Picture courtesy Christopher Wallentine.

MARX AMERICAN CIVIL WAR PLAY SET ITEMS

The Union figure mold had 16 cavities and held four marching figures, two each running, lying shooting and advancing with rifle at waist and one each of the other six poses. A playset would have between one and four groups of these 16 figures. This means of course that 25% of all Union figures were marching.

This mold also had 16 cavities and contained; four marchers, two each of the kneeling shooting, running, and yelling poses and one each of the other six poses. So each playset would have between one and four groups of 16 Confederates depending upon size. Like the Union figures 25% of all Confederates were marchers.

This mold also has 16 cavities. There are two each of the stretcher bearer, crawling and bayoneting poses and one each of the stretcher and other poses. The mold was run in both blue and gray although the gray seem to be more common.

Marx ACW Mounted and Caisson Poses

Please note in the above photo the falling rider in blue is a copy. Originals were only made in cream and flat grays.

Marx made a very nice fallen horse a rider set in mold PL-1153. This set was only found in larger Civil War and Western sets as well as the 1963 Custer set. This set was only made in cream and gray, but was copied in the 1990s and other colors exist with the copies.

Picture courtesy David Schafer.

Marx made an extension to allow for a four horse caisson.

Marx ACW Caisson and Cannon

Assorted Playset Shells

Some larger sets got 3 or 4 fence sections one of which was "damaged". Pieces were later copied by CTS.

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The hard plastic poles Marx made for their tin litho flags came with a small pin/peg to attach to the base. Due undoubtedly to complaints the mold was reworked to make the attachment pegs larger for stronger attachment. The log style pole was used for Fort Apache, Rev War and Alamo playsets while the square style pole was used in Battleground, Cape Canaveral and Civil War playsets.

Examples of ACW/Cavalry Sprue Accessories

These were made first in silver and then in black. The black sprues were also put in some western sets as cavalry accessories. The campfire, coffee pot, frying pan and plate are also found on the cowboy accessory sprue. The (#) in front of each item indicates how many were on each sprue.

(5)Pistol.

(5)Sword.

(3)Rifle.

(3)Belt with holster.

(3)Belt with scabbard.

(2)Bugle.

(2)Binoculars.

(2)Larger canteen in sheath.

(2)Smaller wood canteen.

(2)Bag with strap.

(1)Pennant flag.

(1)Coffee pot.

(1)Folded gloves.

(1)Frying pan.

(1)Plate.

(1)Campfire.

Rock piles were made in two molds. Some were made with the end caps to the metal walls used in AWI playsets (usually fleash tan) and others were made with the "Burnside" bridge used in ACW sets (usually gray). Picture courtesy Les Gardner.

Marx made a nice 24 piece set (mold PL-909) of accessories to go with their Civil War playsets. There are 19 different pieces with 5 being duplicated. Three of the pieces fit together to make a nonfiring mortar. Original sets had the pieces in tan and gray, 1970s Heritage sets in dark brown. The mold still exists and reissues have been made in redbrown, gray, tan and perhaps other colors.

Medical & Western Wagons and Accessories

Medical Wagon Accessories

Porch for mansion, white, HP.

Tin mansion with both chimneys.

Email: sprecherko@aol.com