Loners

Posted on September 28, 2015 by admin

121Laurie and I did a flea market this past Tuesday.  It is one we do not do often because it is a distance away from us. but Laurie had the day off and we could do other things besides the flea market so we made a day trip of it. This flea market  can be a hit or miss in finding things.  This time I found some items, one dealer had some Marx and Auburn accessories I could resale on Ebay. Then at two different tables I found  what I call loners. Loners are one or two figures on table and  nothing else on the table is toy related. On one table I found that a dealer had a Marx 60mm cowboy walking. I flipped it over and  saw it was the one made in Germany. I asked the price and he said fifty cents and then I saw the Mattel Guts Jungle fighter figure also for fifty cents.  I decided to keep them as they sort of reminded me of  Terence Hill and Bud Spencer from the various spaghetti westerns and maybe I will use them in a story if I ever get any time.  The other two figures flanking them are from the Britains construction set. I had them at one time but sold the set. Likewise I will keep them as well.  I paid two dollars for them.

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34 Responses to Loners

  1. erwin says:
    September 29, 2015 at 8:40 AM

    The Marx made in Germany is very hard to find in US loose as that. The gutts are nice figures I manage to got most of them long ago ,the collection is huge and figures are bit toyshy but acceptable in my opinion for modern /future war and space set too.
    The Britain were sold till very recent and I still see some around..I had never got them as not of interest for me but definitely great pieces
    Great find-awesome fast eyes toy hunter.!!

    Reply
    • admin says:
      September 29, 2015 at 10:58 AM

      Erwin
      the Marx Germany figures turn up a little more often around my area due the number of Five and Dime stores back in the 50’s The Guts figures are fine I like some of them. the most popular are the Green Berets and the Laser Troops.

      Reply
      • erwin says:
        September 29, 2015 at 5:06 PM

        Adm.Interesting in Marx-painted being sold back US ,I was no aware they were reimported I should say to be sold here. Like I say in old Us product I’m not familiar with on old market. Thank you for letting me know about it detail.

        Reply
    • erwin says:
      September 29, 2015 at 5:02 PM

      I forgot to say better awesome that way that go and find in shows,usually the value would be high as knowledge on them of course. I had my Marx Germans cowboys and Indians, I resold later the cowboys ,keep Indians because the poses varied in some versus original Marx 60 mm skin poses and Indian paint is great with those faxes painted. Cowboys I got original from old times and bought few recast long ago too. So not interest in keeping same painted in my collection

      Reply
  2. paul gruendler says:
    September 29, 2015 at 4:43 PM

    I got the Marx Germany bareheaded desperado walking with his hands up, two empty holsters swinging from his hips, at OTSN last Friday in a big bag of figures for ten bucks.

    Reply
  3. Brian Nielsen says:
    September 29, 2015 at 5:08 PM

    I assume the cowboy is hard plastic? The German made guys usually are, likewise the ones made in Holland. I think that guy was given the fictitious name Jack Straight in the Warriors of the World series. I always thought it was strange how small his base was, making him unstable. Of course with the dangers of the old west, I might be unstable too. Good “loners” finds. They add up over time.

    Reply
  4. Bill Nevins says:
    September 30, 2015 at 4:34 AM

    Are the German and Holland always hard plastic? I believe that I have several that are soft plastic from Holland. Mainly Rev War figures.
    As for the German and Holland figures being hard to find,
    I find them pretty regularly here in NY. Mostly broken, except for the soft plastic ones.

    A few weeks ago, I found a bunch of the WOW UN Soldiers. You don’t see those too often.

    Reply
  5. Brian Nielsen says:
    September 30, 2015 at 11:49 AM

    Bill, you are quite correct that thay are sometimes soft plastic, almost a vinyl type material. In fact a company called Heimo made them, I am not sure if it was a Marx subsidiary or what. I have a counter box of about 36 Heimo Indians and cowboys and a boxed set of pirates. They are all WOW figure poses with different paint jobs. They are also ‘softish’ vinyl or plastic.

    Those UN soldiers are not easy to find, and often expensive when you do. Good one!

    Reply
    • admin says:
      September 30, 2015 at 1:01 PM

      Brian N
      Heimo was a company that Marx contracted to do figures for them. Louis Marx had been sent over to Germany by the U.S. government to see if there was anything to do revive the German economy. Heimo also sold the figures in your under their own brand. Louie did it as he could have figures painted cheaply, which he could not do in the states. We have not found any company that did work for Marx from Holland. I have a feeling Marx moved some the figures through Holland to avoid tariff or quotas. Heimo sold the Marx figures in Europe under their name. Our very good friend Andreas Dittmann contact Heimo many years ago , but all the old people were gone and the company was now doing lighting

      Reply
  6. peter evans says:
    October 1, 2015 at 5:59 AM

    The Heimo Romans are slightly redesigned from the original Marx figures.
    The Pretorian with oval shield has the shield pushed back against his body. The Roman with Vexillium Standard has slightly different armour and hand positions and all the figure have different faces and changes in expressions. You need to put the figures side by side with the originals to really see this

    Reply
  7. erwin says:
    October 1, 2015 at 8:35 AM

    Peter.Yes I notice it too, your right, I think in other MARX figures the same happen, pirates -some are a bit different in pose and face as well.
    An Rumania ,an obscure company copy the Viking and romans, I have some of both sets, they change the armor, shield and helmet detail too. Less than the so call GPS -CANE romans 6 poses (not to be confused with cheap recast sold here by TSC years ago ) that are not original CANE as not similar in poses set and detail at all.
    The roman by CANE have an interesting change in armor and variation of poses versus Marx romans were design was taken.

    Reply
  8. Brian Nielsen says:
    October 1, 2015 at 6:48 PM

    Thanks for the interesting information. Now, like Paul, and thanks to you guys, I will have to check all these guys I have with a magnifying glass. Luckily it is the kind of ‘work’ I love. I just got a bunch (about 15) of the WOW WWII Yanks from Holland. They are HP and use only 3 paint colours. When I lived in Texas, I started collecting the WOW figures and they became my favourite (yes, that is how we spell that word)types. I did not get many of the Series III guys, and I am sure not all the Series II either. Lots , but not all got broken in battle. As an adult, with nostalgia as an ally, I started acquiring them all over again. I need to sort them now ot determine the gaps. A very big job.

    Thanks again for the information. Brian

    Reply
    • admin says:
      October 1, 2015 at 7:21 PM

      Brian N
      This is one of the purpose of this site is share information on our hobby. The third series of Warriors of the World did not get a wide circulation as series one so they are harder to find. It is a matter of looking you never know when you will find them.

      Reply
  9. Brian Nielsen says:
    October 1, 2015 at 9:39 PM

    Yes, I am always glad for the info. and am just kidding about the ‘work’. I actually met you Paul, at a flea market in PA many, many years ago by pure chance.

    Reply
    • admin says:
      October 1, 2015 at 11:59 PM

      Brian N
      That kind of work is relaxing. I am glad we met once, flea markets and toy shows are my second home. I have been doing flea markets since 1967. They are not as exciting as the old days but once and awhile they come up with surprises.

      Reply
  10. bill nevins says:
    October 2, 2015 at 5:43 AM

    I pick up WOW’s all the time and I am occasionally shocked by how good the paint jobs can be. I’m not really a serious collector of them, though. I buy them vowing to repair or convert them into a certain pose. In 40 + years, I have yet to fix one. Go figure.
    Years ago, I ran into an older gentleman selling WOW’s at a small church flea market.
    I, of course, bought everything he had and asked if he had any more. He did and I ended up at his home, a few blocks away. He told me that he owned a candy store back in the 60’s and that he had opened every WOW box, that came into his store, and kept the best painted ones for himself. Not only that, he had all those flats that came in the large boxed sets. Like lions at the Roman Coliseum and chariots, palm trees and some other stuff. All ridiculously out of scale.

    Anyway, I bought the entire collection from him. I sold off all the flats and a lot of WW 1 and WW 2 stuff like the French, Germans and British on Ebay. But, I kept the Vikings, the Romans, the Pirates and all the American History Western stuff for myself.
    I’ve got Vikings in the same pose painted eight different ways!! Different colored garments, hair and shields. It makes me wonder just how many paint variations exist of the same figure.

    Reply
  11. bill nevins says:
    October 2, 2015 at 5:49 AM

    Erwin, I also have some WOW Roman copies in painted soft plastic, but 54 mm in size.
    Those poses are a bit off also. I seem to remember them having a Hong Kong marking under the base. I’ve only seen them a couple of times.

    Reply
  12. erwin says:
    October 2, 2015 at 9:13 AM

    Bill:The HK-54 mm painted Marx WOW roman copies are same done like the PIRATES in HK not related to Marx factory. These were cloned down scaled made by an obscure company that sold the same mold they cloned to a another in late 70’s and some times are seen in hard plastic version wasted as cake decoration . I had both series in soft and hard cloned/copied 54 mm .These copies(roman) are some times see in a variation in mounted poses of original former foot poses with horses Hong Kong stamped in the left leg. I had them too in mounted variation on TIMPO copied HK horses .
    Yes agree the painting was so much variation as many factory’s such as HEIMO, the one that said Holland and of course the MARX original WOW HK series used many unskilled painters; romans, knights , cowboys , pirates have no uniformity so they went as they choose. Plus I guess they use outside people to paint as UK factories did.
    WW1-WW2 ,civil war, UN armies and cadets have to be more uniformed, still most had horrible paint job in general. The ww1 and WW2 hard plastic are hard to get in great condition, it took me years to complete one set of each buy buying many broken. I kept now the good and resold the broken as in hard plastic are hard to fix and convert.
    Not to be confused with HEIMO made in Germany 1958 54 mm 8 poses copies of Marx ORIGINAL 60 MM WOW series that was indeed under orders of MARX the only rare WOW pirates series painted and downsize as it happen during MARX 1956 transition scale from 60 to 54 mm scale. The Heimo 54 mm scale have the logo (Germany) bellow and are hard plastic either white unpainted or flesh pink with paint work over.

    Reply
  13. erwin says:
    October 2, 2015 at 9:44 AM

    just to add and clear one thing .
    Any WOW Marx figure that said Germany bellow are from Charmore (the Marx subsidiary factory used in Germany under plan Marshall)
    The one stamped (HEIMO) are from non Marx related factory but independent German company founded by Mr Heitmann, he bough few molds and machine from the charmore/marx factory and create some new series of mold with variation base in Marx figures. The HEIMO figures are in most cases rubber ,none in hard plastic and carry the stamp HEIMO or not stamp at all. Paint is usually more bright and wont fade off or fall easy
    Because of the purchase of some Charmore molds and stock, some HEIMO boxes are found carrying stamped -Germany and hard plastic figures from original charmore factory. This create some confusing issues among collectors.
    The most value and hard to get figures are the unpainted white charmore figures among collectors or first series in soft plastic in long cases.
    HEIMO are valued too ,specially early production .
    On Holland stamped Marx WOW it is hard to figured out where and when were produced. Unless some one could clear it up

    Reply
    • admin says:
      October 2, 2015 at 11:29 AM

      Erwin
      At the moment I am going to disagree with your information. I know that I have seen stamped Heimo Logo which are the same as Marx. Also I have had Heimo in hard plastic. Charmore was a tax schemes of Louis Marx, they also did yoyo’s and jewelry
      Here is an article on history of Charmore.

      http://den71is.ru/charmore_eng.html

      Reply
  14. erwin says:
    October 2, 2015 at 1:45 PM

    admi , which part disagree I’m confuse. Sorry I wrote too much there..

    Reply
    • admin says:
      October 2, 2015 at 4:03 PM

      Erwin
      You mention about the Charmore factory and being sold to Heimo. Where did you get this information from as it is new to me?

      Reply
      • erwin says:
        October 2, 2015 at 8:29 PM

        Admi:With all do respect.
        It come from one main source. A history on Crarmore/Heimo and WOW marx made and posted in following link .http://den71is.ru/charmore_eng.html.
        That was posted in this forum I believe from you no long ago
        the last part show an Update paragraph with an update that said this.
        ((Very often, people mistakenly call the Charmore figures Heimo, which is totally wrong. Heimo is a completely independent German company, founded by Mr. Heitmann in the early 60s. A few molds, as well as equipment, were bought by him from Charmore. Often you can find figures with the mark “Germany” packed into boxes with the brand Heimo. This is explained by the fact that during the transfer (sale) of all of the assets and production facilities, a large number of unsold finished products had accumulated in the Charmore warehouses. Accordingly, Heimo sold the remainder under its own brand. Nevertheless, this production should be classified as Charmore. A little bit later, when the legacy stocks were running low, Heimo began to produce their own products. The figures of Heimo manufacturing differed from Charmore. All of them were created from rubber and painted in a brighter color. At the same time, a thick layer of paint was applied, and the paint itself was glossy. The bases, in most cases, were marked with their own brand.))

        Now it base on what the writer took from other two sources of which he appreciate the help.
        The Mold and machinery purchase was done as I confirmed my self after some research and goggling in the chambers of commerce.
        The mold parts and figures is what it said by the link. Because it was accepted as best work done on it I think is the correct ,but nothing is to be 100% correct, so I myself when post my comment did change the word to (most) as I’m positive some others were done in non rubber.
        It is my main base data information. Also same link has another suggested link web site in Russian that could be translated and some other add information appear as well. All at the end of the work if scroll down.

        Reply
        • admin says:
          October 2, 2015 at 11:33 PM

          Erwin
          Thank you for the clarification and update, this put a new spin on this old problem until Andrey’s article. We had no additional information on this difference and the two separate companies. I will see that this information is correct and made aware. Thank you again.

          Reply
          • erwin says:
            October 3, 2015 at 2:38 AM

            No I do not clarify any Sir, you know more than me 10 times ,and it is the link mentioned the one posted as official; German collector should intervene and confirm the data mentioned by Andrey,not me,
            I do my self found one correct Heimo/case stamped made of hard plastic after 8 hour search and rest in rubber. I found two HK pirates cloned in smaller scale 52/54 mm were later cake topper were done from and roman 54 mm version HK too.to be photo/picture for you in case like too.
            So it confirm you admi is right in hard plastic/heimo stamped were done as well ,but most were done in the bright colors rubber material as more abundant. About purchase I do not know any,it is only from link posted .I extract comment and add (most) as I myself can not confirm all were done in rubber.
            One thing is clear after I compare, the WOW HK Marx pirates are smaller than original soft plastic early made in USA-Germany and unpainted later reissues in Russia /Mexico. I can provide pictures pose by pose and two have some minor difference in head/face too. Wonder if this has been noted. The varied from 55/58 to 60/64 mm in between two molds/figures used.

          • admin says:
            October 3, 2015 at 1:34 PM

            Erwin
            The situation on Charmore/Heimo is not something that will be resolved in a day or so. It will be a on going project to validate information and get the various figures together. I hope to get a page going which will be on going later this coming week.

  15. Markus says:
    October 7, 2015 at 4:46 PM

    Hello,
    just a quick note on the Heimo Compnay.
    Named after its founder (Hei)nz (Mo)rdelt. He moved over from Berlin to the very small village of Jagsthausen in south-west Germany in 1958 to set up his company over there. Beside producing quite a selection of “Marx based” plastic figures looks like his main business was producing animated figures for fun parks and animated shop and department store displays for the time before x-mas. A business that almost declined with the closure of a lot of stores over here in Germany during the last 20 years.
    Seems he also hold shares on one fun park.
    Did some research on the history in German internet newspaper archives. In the 80’s the company still had about 70 employees but already faced down its first troubles with profits getting down. Finally closed down in 2010. Andreas Dittmann is a much better researchers on those companies than I am but seems he didn’t traced down any specific information on the Marx-Heimo connection which probably ended in the 60’s or 70’s.
    Anyway if you google “Heimo Figuren” you’ll get a lot of pictures of the figures they made, mostly Disney characters.
    All the best from Germany
    Markus

    Reply
    • admin says:
      October 7, 2015 at 5:11 PM

      Markus
      Thank for the information it is very much appreciated. I remembered talking to Andreas many years ago and he had contacted the company. No one was there who knew anything about the early days. Yes it is sad here too with the decline of stores. Only the big cities have their Christmas Displays. I would like to get up to New York City this year and see theirs.

      Reply
    • erwin says:
      October 7, 2015 at 7:12 PM

      Thanks Markus.I did some research too and found they are the one priced as doing first PVC cartoon/comics as you said toy figurines in Europe. I also found some confusing information in the name of funder too.
      So the name of the owner was (Hei)nz (Mo)rdelt and not Mr. Heitmann as previously reported by Russian link work on history of WOW Marx figures.??.
      Then it should corrected as well date -years. I appreciated the info and help..

      Reply
      • Markus says:
        October 8, 2015 at 4:36 PM

        Hi,
        did some extra research on HEIMO that at least gives some extra information on the founder Heinz Mordelt and the company.
        If its right he started in 1944 (hard to believe in time of “total war” but maybe on an improvised level) and moved in 1959 from Berlin.
        Wonder how google translator will work on the quite recent newspaper article.

        The second link gives an interesting information on a Marx office at Hamburg which came out totally new to me but I’m far from being an expert on that question.

        http://www.stimme.de/heilbronn/wirtschaft/sonstige-Unter-neuem-Namen-fuehrt-Michael-Friedrich-die-Firma-Heimo-weiter;art2088,2030081

        http://www.disneyana.de/galerielaqua/ab_050805_disneyana.de/pages/09_heimo.html

        At least “HEIMO” seems to be still in business making animated large scale figures for fun parks and fairs.

        Reply
        • admin says:
          October 8, 2015 at 5:28 PM

          Markus
          Thank you for the additional information, as I mention when Andreas Dittmann talked to them the company was only making items for fun parks. It is good to see they are still in business. Interesting on the second link, for year collectors in the U.S. had problems finding Toby the Tortoise. some collectors solved the problem by getting the figure from Germany or the UK.

          Reply
        • erwin says:
          October 8, 2015 at 9:09 PM

          Interesting both links. The fact that he did first movable figures and shop-window decorations in last year of the war and apparently in Berlin is very rare and odd as not only war devastate Germany but Berlin was in ruins already and not a good place x business I think. So I’m wondering if that is correct or may be something is missing. Very great data and sources about rest of products they did and how the company had manage to survive doing toys and still toy figures with out change till today, a goal reached by very few indeed and definitely should be added to as accomplishment of a survival example in the toy world
          Second link(from were Russian link took some pictures samples too); show the address used by MARX Charmore in Germany with (German address as before were using the US address ) in last boxes release with Marx figures after 1960. The place, a former warehouse is now apparently a pharmacy by the name.AqVida GmbH and if do Google eye satellite view show as a corner large building with very old architecture x most part.
          Thank you Markus for the rescue information, in fact much better than most we got before

          Reply

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