TOY SOLDIER HQ INC

MARX WESTERN TOY SOLDIERS, FIGURES AND ANIMALS FOR SALE

MARX WESTERN PLAYSETS

See news & reviews page for more information about Marx display boards. Picture courtesy of George Kroll and Mike Handley.

MINIATURE WILD WEST PLAYSETS AND FIGURES

In the mid 1960s the Marx factory in Hong Kong made quite a few miniatures sets with one inch hard plastic figures "painted by artists". They also sold some of the figures known as Tiny Traders on small blister cards.

MIB example. Picture courtesy Christopher Wallentine.

Picture courtesy Christopher Wallentine.

Picture courtesy Christopher Wallentine.

Picture courtesy Christopher Wallentine.

BEST OFF THE WEST

- NONE - Trunk/strong box, brown, SP.

SIX INCH FIGURES

Photo courtesy Doug Cusic.

NONE IN STOCK -.

Show from a 1964 catalog above, six 6 inch Cavalry figures were made in 1963. Made in aqua blue. Reissues in silver have been made in Mexico.

Marx made a 4 inch scale stagecoach with riders and a bandit made in hard plastic.

Indian with spear photo courtesy Steve Thompson.

4-5 Inch mounted cowboy. (NONE)

5 Inch mounted Roy Rogers cream SP.

4-5 Inch Bullet cream SP.

Four inch wagon driver SP

THREE INCH FIGURES

Vintage

Reissue 3 Inch Indians in a very dark purplebrown, a few feathers may be short;

Large 90mm Davy Crockett, gray HP, left index finger tip gone.

CEREAL PREMIUM CHARACTER FIGURES

Both sets have been said to be by Marx. A careful examination of the Marx mold list erases this thought as there is no evidence that Marx made either of the following two groups of cereal premium figures. Early toy figure dealers knew that Marx figures sold for higher prices and so labeled these figures as Marx. We do not know who made them but we do know that Marx did not. The same problem exists on ebay as many many auctions label nonMarx figures as Marx in hope of getting a higher sale price.

Some of the poses are copies of Marx figures which added to the speculation that they were made by Marx. We do not know who made them but we do know it was not Marx. There are nine different figures in the set. They are about 54mm in size and were made in white and cream colors.

SEE PREMIUM PAGE FOR AVAILABILITY

These were not made by Marx either, but perhaps by the same maker who made the copies of Marx fish also used as cereal premiums.

SEE PREMIUM PAGE FOR AVAILABILITY

WESTERN CHARACTER FIGURES

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Marx made Roy Rogers playset figures in both 60mm (older) and 54mm scales. The earliest 60mm figures are made of a rubber like vinyl and do not have bases. There were two foot and one mounted pose of Roy made in 60mm. The two 60mm foot Roys and the 60mm Pat Brady are harder to find as they were not included in every playset. The 54mm figures were later and not made in nearly the amount as the 60mm figures. The 54mm Dale Evans, Pat Brady, and Bullet have their names under their bases (belly) while none of the 60mm figures are marked.

5 Inch Pat Brady

Blue background pictures courtesy Rich Koch. Johnny Ringo picture courtesy of Eric Johns, Miss Kitty picture courtesy Mike Handley.

Wyatt Earp, 54mm, gray from the old landfill. NONE IN STOCK

Rare prototype Mark McCain holding rifle. Photo courtesy Rick Koch

Old original hard plastic square base characters

Photo courtesy Mark Hegeman.

- 15.00 Small HP Davy Crockett. Some painted examples were used in the miniature Alamo playset.(1)

RECAST Character 60mm FIGURES

- Simpsons was Canada's Sears affiliate -

Set of 24 different flat figures about 30-35mm, includes marked Davy Crockett. These were sold under "Romper Room" header cards as well as in a small boxed set by Marx.

Ranch Kids

Ranch Kid, cowgirl sitting. NONE IN STOCK

Hard to find ranch kids may have only come two or three at a time in some early ranch playsets. Some of the children were modeled after Roy Rogers & Dale Evans children.

WESTERN/ REV WAR/ CIVIL WAR/ ALAMO HORSES & CATTLE

60mm ANIMALS

The 60mm horses are a varied lot and can be confusing. Instead of putting an entire "mold shot" into a playset these animals were put in by piece count. By studying the old PL mold list we have sorted them out into the molds in which we believe they were made. We have confidence in our sorting but could be wrong.

These were the earliest western animals made about 1950 and were put into the early ranch sets and sold individually from counter displays. The mold ended up in Mexico and RECASTS exist. The mold has two each of the trotting horses and one each of the other four animals.

This mold is interesting in that the top three animals were included in the early 1950-53 farm playsets while the large horse was in early ranch and western town sets as the first draft horse for the buckboard. We have heard that the mule with pack can be found in early western sets but have never seen a playset that included one. All of these animals were sold individually in store counter displays. The top three animals will be listed with the farm items for sale. This mold was sent to Mexico and RECASTS exist.

Marx put the 60mm horses without saddles in three molds. PL-324 had eight cavities that had three each standing and running horses + two calves with the "Bar M" brand. The standing horse was designed to interact with the 60mm town cowboy "mounting", but was also as a buckboard draft horse replacing the earlier version in PL-162.

"Bar M" Brand

PL-325 was the second mold with 60mm saddleless horses. It also had eight cavities with three each rearing and bucking horses + two calves without the "Bar M" brand. This Bucking/rearing mold was sent to Mexico and RECASTS exist.

The last 60mm western animal mold made was PL-460 RODEO ANIMALS. The PL list shows this mold having 8 cavities to make 2 sets. This mold has four stopping (bracing) horses + two short horn steers and two snorting, head left long horn steers. These steers replaced the phased out chubby longhorn steers. This new snorter (or new version of) was also made in two different 54mm molds as the 60mm animals were phased out.

Saddles & Reins (bridles) used for both 54 & 60mm horses

54mm ANIMALS

About 1954 Marx made a set of 54mm western animals and started phasing out the bigger (more expensive to make) 60mm animals. These horses came with integral saddles with basically Marx copying one pose from each of their three 60mm western horse molds. The mold also contained a copy of the 60mm snorting steer. The 54mm version is the same size as the 60mm version, but with much better detail and muscle definition. This mold had two of each poses for a total of eight cavities. We will list the 54mm steers for sale with PL-1067 below.

About 1959 the two steers were removed and put into the new steer mold PL-1067.

They were replaced by two copies of the stopping (bracing) "Ben Hur" horse without saddles. We will list any of these horse with PL-865 (see below).

About 1956 Marx made a six cavity mold of horses without saddles to use with their 54mm western ranch playsets. They used the same separate saddles and reins as the earlier 60mm horses. To collectors they are known as the "Ben Hur" horses as they were used as chariot horses in the Ben Hur playsets. The running horse has his head tilted to his left but a variant with head to the right exists. We think these "head right" horses were pulled from the mold while still warm and the head shifted before cooling or deliberately heated to create a "rare" varient.

In 1959 Marx made a new steer mold. They merged the two PL-610 "old snorter" cavities combining them with the three new skinny steer cavities (two poses) to make mold PL-1067. The Marx PL mold list shows the cavities as 5/10/15 which is odd, but as one of the skinny steers is harder to find than the other we can assume the mold had either five cavities or multiples of the five each with; 2 old snorters, 2 skinny head left and one skinny head right.

This mold has 4 cavities making two of each pose.

Cavalry Horse mold had 4 cavities all of the same pose. This horse was used for both 60 & 54mm figures.

Another 4 cavity mold.

A one cavity mold this horse was used sparingly in Civil War and western playsets.

For some of their bigger western sets Marx made a special wagon hitch that took two oxen. They have been reissued. Photo courtesy Mike Handley.

A nice 9 cavity mold. The pack horses were not used often and were very rare until REISSUES were made in the 1990s.

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.

60MM FIGURES

60mm COWBOYS

HARD TO FIND MOUNTED "POSSE" COWBOYS

NONE IN STOCK

Made in mold PL-328, 18 cavities, these figures look like a posse to us. Some of these unpainted mounted cowboys showed up in the Marx warehouse and a few have been reported showing up in early Bar-M ranch playsets. Larger picture above courtesy of David Schafer shows four figures in three of the known poses made in rubber like vinyl The smaller photo Cowboy on left (4th known pose) has had his PISTOL CUT OFF that he was holding up. We think the two examples in the smaller photo may have been made by the U.K. Marx affiliate as the are made of an English like waxy polyethylene and are painted. The Marx PL list has a PL-328 Riding cowboys, 18 cavities and PL-324A (Cowboy figures (to be used in PL-324 shoe) 6 cavities, 3 sets. These are the best two choices for the mold that these figures, ad perhaps there are more than four poses...

Mold has been found and RECASTS have been made. The mold has 18 cavities making three of the pose on the left and five each of the other three in the photo above. Looks like a posse to us. Although collectors call them "chubbys", they fit best of the 60mm horses that take separate saddles that were for the cowboys made after the chubbys series.

< COMMON 60mm COWBOYS

Marx made four different molds of 60mm cowboys for their playset line. Some of these poses were also used for the hard plastic painted "warriors of the World" style figures made. The chubby cowboys are among the first figures made by Marx in 1950.

"CHUBBY" RANCH COWBOYS used in the 1950 first Louis Marx & Co. boy's playset

The Marx "CHUBBY " Cowboys were made of a rubber like vinyl and were put in the early 1950s western playsets.

"SPECIAL TOWN" COWBOYS

Most commonly found in a redbrown or tan in a rubber like vinyl. They were also made in a medium brown soft plastic. These figures were put into only some of the western town sets and are harder to find.

"RANCH" COWBOYS

These eight poses replaced the "Cubby" cowboys in the Marx ranch playsets. They had much better detail and were popular with kids. Early figures are made of rubber like vinyl, while later figures wwere made with polyethylene soft plastic. Early figures were made in yellow, brown and cream while later figures from bagged sets (perhaps from Mexico?) can be found in red, green, blue and gray.

"TOWN" COWBOYS

Marx made a nice set of 14 cowboys for their western town sets. The mold had 16 cavities to make one of each of the 14 figures + 2 separate rifles, one of which can be held by the crouching cowboy. Originally made of rubber like vinyl in yellow (most common) brown and cream colors. Later figures were made of polyethylene soft plastic in yellow, brown and perhaps other colors.

WARRIORS OF THE WORLD COWBOYS

These were sold in small boxes with cards giving a fictional account of each figure. They may have been sold later without boxes or cards.

- - , no box or card - A. - - - - - - - B. C. - no box or card.

Marx also made a mold (PL-672) that made four mounted cowboys and four mounted Indians all in 60mm scale. Included were one new cowboy pose and two new Indian poses. They also made a mold (PL-671) that made four horses for these figures in two basic poses, running and stopping. One of each horse pose with an integral saddle and one each with an integral Indian blanket. In 1956 the molds were sent to the Charmore factory in Germany where the figures were made in hard plastic and painted from 1956-1963 as part of their German Masterpiece Series. The molds (+ one of the two foor cowboy molds) were then sold the German company Heimo about 1963-1965. Heimo made some of their own figures in similar paint schemes which causes some collector confusion. Photo courtesy Denis Rylev.

These figures were also used in one US issued Louis Marx playset SILVER CITY WESTERN TOWN #4268 made in 1956.

60mm INDIANS

Marx made 3 sets of 60mm Indians for their playset line. Early figures were made in a rubber like vinyl and standing figures did not have bases. later figures were made in polyethylene a soft plastic and bases had been added to the standing figures for greater stability. About 1958 the 60mm Indians were phased out for the new 54mm poses. With the great information available in PLAYSET MAGAZINE and PLASTIC FIGURE AND PLAYSET COLLECTOR we have been able to sort out our stock of Indians into their proper mold groups as follows;

STOCKADE INDIANS

CAMP INDIANS

"CAMP" INDIANS

These figures appeared in 1953. The women and bow shooting men are very popular. Early rubber like vinyl standing figures will not have bases while later soft plastic standing figures will have bases.

SKINNY/SLIM INDIANS

The third 60mm Indian set appeared in 1954. We also think that the other two molds were reworked to include bases for the standing figures about this time. Perhaps influenced by the Walt Disney movie TONKA one of the new Indians has been shot with an arrow. Most kids (myself included) easily removed this arrow so that the figure could appear to have been shot by our cavalry figures. These figures are usually found in polyethylene soft plastic although I imagine rubber like vinyl examples exist.

WARRIORS OF THE WORLD INDIANS

These were sold in small boxes with a card giving a fictional account of the Indian. Later they may have been sold without boxes or cards.

Swift Bear - , with box & card.

Swift Bear - , no box or card.

Long Bow - , no box or card.

Slipping Bird - A..

Little Crow - .

High Wolf - A., B., C.,no box or card.

Strong Eagle - A., B.,no box or card.

Laughing Feather - , NO box or card.

Black Kettle - A., B., C.,no box or card.

WARRIORS OF THE WORLD STYLE INDIANS

Molds with mounted figures and horses were made and shipped to Europe. Two molds of the foot poses were made as well with the same poses (some slight differences.

Marx also made a mold (PL-672) that made four mounted cowboys and four mounted Indians all in 60mm scale. Included were one new cowboy pose and two new Indian poses. They also made a mold (PL-671) that made four horses for these figures in two basic poses, running and stopping. One of each horse pose with an integral saddle and one each with an integral Indian blanket. In 1956 the molds were sent to the Charmore factory in Germany where the figures were made in hard plastic and painted from 1956-1963 as part of their German Masterpiece Series. One of the Indians on foot molds + the mounted figure & horses molds were sold to German pcompany Heimo from about 1963-1965. Heimo made some of their own figures in similar paint schemes which causes some collector confusion. Photo courtesy Denis Rylev

These figures were also used in one US issued Louis Marx playset SILVER CITY WESTERN TOWN #4268 made in 1956.

Indians - RECAST from the Ukraine, old WOW mold, 60mm.P>

60mm PIONEERS

Marx made six different pioneers for their early Ft Apache stockade sets. Early figures are made in rubber like vinyl. Marx added bases to most of the standing figures for stability. These "revised" figures are usually seen in later polyethylene soft plastic. These figures were phased out about 1958 with the introduction of the 54mm western figures.

Examples of early vs revised poses -

Photo courtesy Ed Borris & Mike Kutnik.

60mm CAVALRY

Warriors of the World, hard plastic factory painted with box & trading card with a made up biography for each figure. Picture courtesy Mark Hegeman.

Most 60mm cavalry figures were sold in Rin Tin Tin playsets but some could be found in small figures sets including the General Custer figure.

Cavalry

Characters usually found in cream, 7th Cavalry in metallic blue (several shades exist). Characters have been found in light blue and the cavalry figures in light blue and tan that were used in headercard bagged sets. The picture represents one "mold shot" or grouping and multiples of this grouping would be found in playsets depending upon size.

54mm FIGURES

One of the nicest accessories Marx made for their western sets was this 54mm wagon. In the picture above the removable seat has been placed "buckboard style", but it also can be clipped to the front edge when paired with a covered wagon top. The wagon mold included five separate small accessories; barrel and box to clip on the wagon sides plus a lantern, pail and wash tub.

SEE ACW PAGE FOR WAGON AND WAGON PARTS AVAILABILITY`.

Although unmarked, based upon playset box art it has been determined that the figure on the left represented Daniel Boone. The mold consisted of 18 cavities containing two of each pose. The small Boonesboro playset contained only half the mold set. This mold still exists and although the originals were only made in a light tan color, reissues have been made in 10 or more colors including the tan seen above.

This mold contained 10 cavities. There were two of the mounted pose and one each of the other eight poses. When the Boonesborough pioneer mold was not ready for its intended playset Marx removed the two mounted figures from the Alamo/Ft Apache mold and inserted the "Daniel Boone" and shot with arrow poses to go with the other eight figures for the earliest Boonesborough playsets. The Alamo/Ft Apache figures were made in at least 14 different colors over their history. The location of this mold is currently unknown.

7th Cavalry

As you can see the Marx 54mm 7th Cavalry mold has 16 cavities. It has one each of the first eight and two each of the last four poses. Playsets would then have multiples of this group of 16 figures depending upon size.

As seen above each set would have one each of the first three poses and six of the figure with "arms at his sides". Large playsets might have multiples of this group.

As seen above the long coat cavalry set consists of five figures with arms at sides and one each of the other four better poses. Some have been found at the old Marx dump which has dropped prices in half of what they were 8-10 years ago as these used to be very hard to find.

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Marx made three molds of "54mm" Indians. The first PL-787 made about 1957 had one totem pole and fifteen Indians in nine poses. The second mold PL-919 made a few years later also had sixteen cavities and was the same as PL-787 except four of the duplicate figure poses were replaced by four new "revised" figure poses. These new figures are closer to 45mm in scale and may have been left over from an aborted attempt to redo the 45mm Indian mold (45mm Indian with scalp may have been part of this mysterious group as it surfaced in the later runs of the 45mm mold). The 3rd mold duplicated the first two molds and had 32 cavities. The Indian molds were used for many years and at least one of them survived to have reissues produced. The Indians were first made in yellow and copper (redbrown), a few were made in wine red and cream. In the sixties the color was changed to butterscotch/carmel colors while at the end they were made in oranges.

- Header bag with 53mm copies of 54mm Indians in orange and six inch cowboys in blue, about a dozen figures.

Marx's Hong Kong factory made flat window box sets of cowboys and Indians. Interestingly all of the figures are copies of British makers such as; Britains, Crescent and Lone Star.

This set had nine different poses and the mold contained 18 cavities such that two complete groups of nine were made at a time. Eventually this mold was somehow merged with the Miners, Trappers and Cowboys mold. At this time one mounted sheriff, one man with whip and two each of the other seven regular cowboys were added to the 16 cavity Miners mold to make a 32 cavity mold. This mold was run for at least the storage box sets in which 1/2 of each "mold shot" made it into each set (so the sets did not have every pose). The original cowboys were made in grays, browns, and tans, and then in butterscotch for the storage box sets. They have been recast in several colors.

The Miners, Trappers and Cowboys mold had 16 figures in 13 poses. As can be seen above there were two each of the last 3 poses and one each of the first 10 poses. There was also a separate sack (not pictured) for the figure on the far left to be carrying. The originals were done in tan and gray and then in butterscotch after the merger with the standard cowboy mold.

This figure was first made in the late 1950s. Usually made in cream, light blue was also used for the 1963 Custer and large Ft Apache playsets. It was made in "lime green" in the 1970s for small western storage box sets. The mold was found and RECASTS were made in the 1990s in darker blue and waxy gray. The old Marx landfill has turned up a few and the cream usually has changed to off white or light gray from being buried.

4104 Red River Gang;

40/45mm Figures

What we have came from an ex Marx employee these may have never been sold on the US market. Made of early 50s rubber like vinyl.

The Rodeo animals were made in mold PL-360 which had twenty cavities making two sets of ten. As there are only seven poses, one or more is duplicated in the set. This mold is in Mexico and recasts are being produced in a cream soft plastic (originals we have seen are all rubber like vinyl). Photo courtesy Isashi the Galaxy Pilot.

The 45mm cowboys were made in 1952 and the two mounted poses were to use horses from the rodeo animal mold. When Marx made the new 45mm horse these mounted cowboys did not fit. The mold had two each of 10 figures. Marx removed the 4 mounted cowboy cavities and replaced them with four figures from the rodeo figure mold (170, 171, 172 & 175). These exrodeo figures were in England when Marx made bigger bases for their 45mm figures so they remained with their thiner bases.

The 45mm Cavalry were first made in 1952 in rubber like vinyl. The standing poses mostly had small bases. Larger bases were added and vinyl was replaced by polyethylene in 1953/54. Re issues have been made in many colors.

With the exception of the "odd pose" the other 12 Indian poses seen above made up the early sets. Later sets also had the "odd pose", man holding scalp and tomahawk. We do not know if this meant an earlier pose was deleted or if the mold was altered. Also the man kneeling was supposed to be using a paddle, but Marx decided to remove the paddle to avoid putting a canoe in every set. Some early examples sometimes have part of the paddle shaft as seen above. Without the paddle he becomes a drummer using one of the small accessory sprue pieces.