Plastic Showcase Part Three August 2017 we will look at some Marx figures. I got a couple of figures that have seen better days. Still people can use the for conversions or be part of their collection until they get an upgrade.
Plastic Showcase Part Three August 2017 Wyatt Earp
One of my favorite television shows as a child was The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. I never got the figure until an adult. The figure that was placed in the playset was in cream. Over the years Wyatt has shown up in gray. The answer is that they are from landfill.
However there are actual gray figures of Wyatt Earp. They showed up in Marx auctions of Scala and Bowers. scale and Bowers bought the Marx warehouse together. They later broke their partnership and solld their holdings through Maurer Auctions.
I can verify this as I got the gray figure at one of the auctions. At the auction, I also got Wyatt in tan and black. I recently got the above damaged figure and I do not know if it is real gray or landfill gray.
Plastic Showcase Part Three August 2017 Johnny Tremain
Many of us read the book Johnny Tremain in school. For others it was the Disney movie that was released in 1957. Marx put out a playset relate to the movie. They used their Revolutionary War figures adding a six character figure set. They can be divided into two groups . There are three historical figures. They are James Otis, Sam Adams and Paul Revere. The other three are from the book. They are Johnny Tremain, Cilla and Rab Silbee. Cilla was the nickname for Priscilla. I remember that some of the character figures were marked the actual actors name before the character names were placed instead.
The actual figures are hard to find. I only turned up a John Adams in my years of hunting. The figures have been reissued so a cllector can add them to their collection.
I have the full set in cream and the rest of the playset, too.
A woman (who’s husband was a toy train dealer) used to call me when she had soldiers to sell. Her husband would buy lots that sometimes included playsets. Her let her sell them for pin money.
Anyway, she called, I drove over and she had a Johnny Tremain, a Zorro, 2 Western Towns, 2 different Blue and Gray’s and a couple of boxes of loose stuff.
She wanted a dollar a figure. I paid as fast as I could. It was a couple of hundred bucks. All the rest, the tin buildings, Accs and loose figures, were throw ins. She did’t want them.
I got 4 or 5 calls from her over the early years. Every one of them was a home run!
I heard John Stengel Sr. say once that unfortunately the only way you could tell for sure if a gray Wyatt Earp figure was from the landfill would be to destroy the figure by cutting it open. If the figure was originally a cream figure from the landfill that had turned gray from years of being in the ground, the inside plastic would likely still be cream, even though the outside had become gray. If the figure had been originally cast in gray by Marx, it would be gray all the way through.
So, Paul, all you have to do to determine the pedigree of your gray Wyatt Earp figure would be to cut off one of his legs!
I let someone do it if they want. I will leave it alone.
Just as cutting the dump’s black Indians in half revealed a yellow center.
Don’t know of it’s the picture quality or not, but if you look at his right leg and chest closely it appears you can see the cream color peeking through.
I looked at the figure again I could tell if it was originally cream. I am selling as damaged for some to do conversion or do place in their collection util they get an upgrade.
I have some dump figures. Cream horses that turned gray. If you look carefully, you will see bare spots where the gray doesn’t absorb fully into the plastic.
If you wash them with straight dishwasing liquid and a toothbrush, the cream will bleed through even further.
Who knows if Wyatt reacted the same as a cream horse? Maybe not?
I do like the gray horses though. The rich blue Yankee cavalry rider looks great on a gray horse. Like the dark gray CSA rider on a pure cream mount.
Does anyone else remember that cache of dark, dark gray CSA Riders and beautiful, rich blue Yankees that turned up in the late 70’s or early 80’s?
George Cushman had them and he gave me a bunch. Some of them were filthy and it was told that they were discovered under a pile of dirt in a barn. Other times it was told that it was cardboard shipping drums that disintegrated, releasing the figures into the ground.
I know that Jim Mc was involved, as he was right there with George, when George gave them to me. George and I were friends. We did a lot of trading back and forth. It was at one of the NJ shows and they had skipped the show to pick this load up from somewhere else.
Maybe the General?
Who knows?
Admin?
You were at this show buying huge bags of Heritage figures from Ed Watts. Maybe the old Ukrainian Church show?
I am curious to know about those figures.
Bill
There was a find in MA. I was told this from a different source that the people you mention.
Jim and George bought out the orange carboard crate boxes that Ron brought to the Atlantic City antique show. I bought some figures. A lot of duplication if you see the auction that Peter ran you will see what I mean.
No on buying from Ed Watts as I was getting the stuff from the source Ed got it.
Paul I never went to the AC show, so that was not it.
Al Striano and I were talking to Ed’s wife, while you and Ed were going through big, paper bags full of Heritage figures. Thousands and thousands of them.
The paper bags may have been leaf bags. They were huge!
Anyway, that was the show. It may have been a “one of” but I seem to remember it being in the Ukrainian Church in NJ somewhere.
I would still like to know the origin of those figures and why they are in those colors.
I do not remember that show as it does not stick out like others. So you may be right. We both found the Amish person at a farmer’s market in the Lancaster area of PA, who had them. The blue as I remember was a light shiney blue. Nothing really out of the ordinary. The MA find may have had a different color you would have to ask Jim or George on that as I do not believe I got any of it.
Ahoy there, last year I went to a large out door antique and collectable show. Over 200 dealers. The last booth I stopped at had a grey colored Flint mc culla . asking price,5.00. Sorry ,I,am not going to cut any legs off.
Just bought the damaged Earp figure from Stad (thanks, Stad) to convert into Bill Tilghman – one of the recipients of the five Buntline Special Colt .45s. I know the story could be legend, but I like to believe it. No one knows for sure…….
Andy, just out of curiosity, was the “damage” that it had turned gray, or was there something else wrong with the figure? I couldn’t see anything wrong with it from the photo.
Just bought it tonight, Don, so haven’t seen it. The picture looks like the hat is a little banged up. I just want the right arm with the Buntline Colt, so doesn’t matter. I suspect the majority of gray Wyatt Earps are cream “seasoned” by the dump. When I cut his arm off, I’ll know for sure.
If I had thought about it for at least a second, I would have realized that the figure could not yet have been transported from Pennsylvania to Connecticut.
Wyatt will go out in the next few days.
Hi Don, Marshall Earp has arrived. Gash in the front of hat is fixable to use head for conversion. Definite dump rescue with cream visible through gray and tell tale rust from W.VA. soil.
I have another gray Earp figure that I suspected to be from dump. but mine is a very light, even colored slate gray, very similar to CSA figures while this one is darker and patchy. From this I will assume mine is actually molded in gray and not have to cut him open to know for sure. I can get three good conversions from Stad’s Earp – 1. is the arm with the Buntline Colt, 2. is the head for a cowboy who resembles Hugh O’Brien, and 3. is the rest of the body with the marshal’s badge for an anonymous lawman. Happy with figure! So – “Spend all my money on women, liquor, and toys; the rest I just waste!!”
I marked both ways on the description as I was no0t sure but leaning that it from the dump. Glad you can use it
Thanks, Paul. Thinking of making all five lawmen, lined up with the Buntlines: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, Charlie Bassett, and Neal Brown. This Wyatt will donate one of the Buntline Colt .45s.
I will use the Replicants Pinkertons man in a bowler hat for Bat Matterson. Before that I was looking for a damaged racetrack offical from Britains. The right hand holds a ruler or something else. If I had got one I would have shipped it to Peter Evans. He did one before where he replaced the missing arm with a pistol arm from a Deetail figure. Replicants took care of the problem.