We were alert to this item Zorro Hacienda on one of the bid sites. It is a Zorro Hacienda which was done in 1965. It is an authorized Disney piece and it very interesting . When you click on the link here you will see at two story building made of cardboard.
The seller’s description of the hacienda is below:
Rare old toy Hacienda of Zorro distributed by Gilaz in 1965. Complete building was never played with cardboard of origin in used condition. Fountain, Zorro’s trademark Jim and Mexican policeman of brand unknown. Dimensions of carton 50/32 / 15cm.
The figures according to some of my French contacts are by Acedo. Our very good friend Erwin Sell feels the Mexican soldier is based Reamsa Mountie figure. The fountain has a wanted poster for Zorro in French. The Zorro Hacienda is not cheap 499 Euros or $563.00, A very interesting item for the Zorro collector.
Neat, you never know what you’ll see in this Hobby , always new things to see !
Super nice Hacienda, nice realistic looking of topical Spaniard colonial era.
The horses are direct Reamsa pose #5 western copied,
the “Mexican” is definitely not a real Mexica/Spaniard soldier but a RMCP or a US cavalry pose ,both poses were done by reamsa(400 and 328). If Acebo French company did it definitely used the Reamsa pose to do=copy the figure that definitely is not a Zorro era militia colonial soldier as you can see. The Zorro mounted is not know pose to me at all.
May be ACEBO original. I’m contacting few know collectors to see if is of any other origin.
I think price is fine base in license and rarity of it.
Maybe one of the French Makers Farmhouse, I’m not an expert on these, has been promoted to “Zorro Hacienda” by putting stickers to it.
But the building is really impressive.
“JIM” did 8 “different” Zorros.
Most with interchangeable upper bodies. Well sought after figures by now and not easy to find.
Think the “Mexican Policeman” is some sort of repaint. Will ask some french collector.
I do not think a typical French farm, that is typical Spaniard/roman architecture, used extensively in central and south America plus Mexico during colonial period, still easy to see around there and in the Caribe.
French toy cardboard farms as those made by starlux, Jim,others do not have that style roof/tiles, neither windows or balcony columns and round barroco-ex catholic church curved top finish roof represented.
If were the case ,it was considerable changed and adapted from a French farm.
Most French farm toy carry windmill traditional; base in the north France ,Normandy and Dutch/Flemish tradition farms.
On the figure ,it could well be Jim and from other …but definitely the soldiers is not a typical Zorro era figure .It is heavily forced converted to be.
The building is made of HARDBOARD, not Cardboard, name used in the UK for wood that is rough on one side and smooth on the other generally sold in sheets about 6 feet by 4 feet. Used a lot in the 1960’s for castles, forts and that type of kids toy building. So this is not a light construction item.
The base is also HARDBOARD. the entire item is made of wood so will be heavy to ship.
If you scan down the Ebay page that the listing is on you will find someone selling a JIM horse which appears to be the same as the one used for Zorro.
I think is just a general terminology use the word (cardboard) .
The buildings in particular in most cases were made of (isorel laque) and (isorel et bois).Or isorel finished. Which is indeed precise -“Masonite”(a type of hardboard) also known as Quartrboard, hernit, karlit, torex or treetex.That is precisely a HDF-Fiberboard .
But….
as was posted in this forum from a French collector some catalog and info about the building and brand and he said this…
“According Jean, Gilaz was known for their buildings: farms, castles and forts. These building were done out of cardboard and wood.”
I own few of them,some starlux,none Gilaz.And the heavy part was always the hard board base often with real sand glued on it that make it more heavier. Some have minorr parts made of plastic, such frames, windows ,doors and conic roofs.
the walls in many are of exact hardwood wile in others are very thing CARDBOARD 100%.You can easy bend it with fingers and puncture it .Not HARDBORAD.
So I think it was a mix in many and hard to classify then as such one single material.
The more sturdy are most German (west and east) made as they often use real light wood in many.
About horse pose is base in a Reamsa horse western pose .It is depicted in Reamsa catalog 1963 ,horse pose #154.I will supply pose. If JIM did ,great but definitely appear very alike ,so was base in it.
So far in my view the best tall high wall realistic castles are those made in France .Also their shape triangular, oval and else are original designed taken from real small castles.
Wile most plastic castle have very low windows with non sense big windows at low levels and half towers parts. Like TIMPO/Cherillea , Britain , MPC , others.
I bought few of those before and get off them quick as not my like from realist point of view. As a toy of course they were fine.
Best..
Hello guys,
it’s too expensive for Gilaz stuff!!!!
The Mexican is an Acédo Royal Canadian Mountie painted in blue (copied by Reamsa and not the opposite…) and the Zorro is a Jim (this last one is visible with the hacienda on a french toy catalogue from 1965-66 where it said: “coming with one Zorro and two Mexican “constables” (gendarmes)… so it’s not sure that the Acédo Mexican is from the original box… Fritz, feel free to use the catalogue page from the forum.
Best from France!!!
Mathias
I agree the price of the building is too high. It is only for an advance Zorro collector. It is interesting to see, Marx Hacienda once sold for $200.00 now is getting half that.
Paul, I have to agree with you on the price, but I guess if someone wants it that much, who am I to say? Then again, P.T. Barnum had a point about one being born every minute. How’s that for straddling an issue?
Wayne
The other side of the coin is this the person is buying it has money and it means little. Twenty years ago there was a story that Steven Spielberg bought three Marx playsets for $10,000.00! The thing was that was only 45 minutes of his time working based on the salary he made that year. I just read in the Daily Mail some person who made his fortune on Star Wars bubble bath is building a mega basement under home in London. It will contain 65 foot long swimming pool. roman bath cinema etc. You can read it here
Mathias. Thank you!!
What years it was done (the Royal Mountie from Acedo)?
I knew was a Mountie by the uniforms and hat.
Great to know where is the ZORRO from. I will check it at forum,thanks
It also could be possibility that this is common x French collector but not for other European collectors.
25 years ago or so European still were struggling with reviving the economy after many years destroyed after WW2 .I notice recently more common people in Europe make much more money than long ago versus here too. Some of my European collector also tell me that as well. That today the can afford what years ago they can not.
Look in the other side how much the paid x a Marx partial Ben Hur 70′ playset!!
Another thing is PayPal buyers using PayPal credit card special with 6 -9 month not interest in purchase over $99.99.That is a hook
sorry guys in spelling I’m tire and off today…