Rare Marx Gunsmoke Character figures on Ebay? Our very good friend Andy Keliar spot the following listing on Ebay. Gunsmoke Figures
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marx-gunsmoke-figures-vintage-/132019753543?hash=item1ebcfd9247:g:AbcAAOSw-0xYPzph
When you look at the figures you will ask some questions. That is why I have a question mark behind the title. The biggest one is did Marx planned a Fetus figure?
Rare Marx Gunsmoke Character figures on Ebay? The Listing
The listing shows two sets of Marx Gunsmoke Character figures. One painted and one unpainted. The unpainted set is in a brown plastic. The other is collector painted. The painted figures are five not four. The fifth figure is a Fetus figure.
The seller gave this following statement. “The guy I got them from said he became friends with the mold maker and acquired them from him directly. Later he had him paint them for him. He said only 2 sets were made.”
The collector notes that the figures could have been prototypes or alternative set. The painted set does not have any Marx or character markings on the bottom of the base.
Rare Marx Gunsmoke Character figures on Ebay? Questions
There are many questions on this figures. First the Unpainted set is in a brown plastic. I have seen only the figures in a cream from the United States. The second question is the poses are different from the regular Marx figures.
This the poses that were in the Marx Gunsmoke playset. You can see the difference in the poses. As I was doing I went to Eric John Marx Wild West site. On his Gunsmoke page I noticed that he had photos of the P and P Products version of the Gunsmoke figures. You will notice how they are similar to the ones in the photo.
Rare Marx Gunsmoke Character figures on Ebay? Festus
The question on the Festus is it a P& P Product or not. We will see.
Rare Marx Gunsmoke Character figures on Ebay? Update 12/1/16
I got this reply back from from Larry Patterson
I’m skeptical of the whole story.
Any story that starts out with “A friend told me the friend he got it from said….” is always suspect.
But let the wild speculation begin!
Because, as P.T. Barnum famously said:
1) “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.”
and
2) “There is a sucker born every minute.”
Don.
I agree .The tale looks vary odd.
But I’m not in to Marx at all; so it could be figured out ….
I’m curious, but not yellow or $2,000.00 worth of curious.
If they are real I bet they end up with Rich Eber.
That’s funny!! The old “end the auction early” call. 🙂
I think that would be Festus, not Fetus! lol
Yes my spell checker is off on this site and I was rushing the article out
Well, I could be wrong as I often am, but weren’t the Gun Smoke figures sculpted circa 1962? Festus wasn’t a main character on Gun Smoke unitl 1964? Would seem unlikely that someone would do a Festus character figure before he was an official main character on the show. Just my thoughts.
Ed
According to Eric John’s site the Marx Gunsmoke playset was sold in 1960 and 1961. It did not sell well. Festus came later. I have an email into Larry Patterson to see if he can shed some light on the subject.
My comment to Paul when I sent this along was
“eBay getting a little weirder as time goes by.”……………
The brown gunsmoke characters are run and come out of Mexico according to my discussions with Jim Wozniak
So that would mean there are probably more than two sets? Maybe my logic is off…
In the past I have had Matt and Chester from Mexico one pair in silver the other in peach, but it’s was only those two figures, no Kitty or Doc.
I know Larry patterson did all four in plastic resin and there is a guy I run into all the time at Kane County that does all four in plastic resin.
Anything that comes out of Mexico seems to be a crap shoot.
I would buy a brown set of copies, but for $40, not $2000.
We have an update on these figures from Larry Patterson. I place it in my post on this subject.
So now that we know the truth, i.e., that these are not some rare Marx prototype, who is going to inform the seller that his $2,000 asking price may be a little high?
The truth, apparently, is that these figures are REMAKES — REMAKES from a new P&P-style mold—just as surely as the CTS Captain Gallant FFL and Arabs are REMAKES.
And Andy’s estimate of their maximum value being about $40.00 retail (to some collector who “just has to have them”), is about right.
The only reason these REMAKES have any value at all is that the originals are so expensive that few collectors have the desire to lay out as much money as an original set costs these days.
The reddish brown figures in the photo appear to be cast in dental wax, not resin. This is a hard wax which when cast, cools with virtually no shrinkage – a really great feature for replicating figures or other scale model parts, etc.
I guess I did good then, I sold my 4 Mexico figures for $500.00. Of course I don’t know if I would have considered them remakes as they appeared to come from the original molds just from a different location. Again the owner stated he had them since the 60’s, which is entirely possible as Marx did ship some original molds down to Mexico. Investigating some of these figures is almost like investigating the mystery of Oak Island. We just don’t don’t have the provenance.
Whoever bought the Mexican figures for $500 might be interested in buying this nice bridge I own in NYC?????
If they bought your bridge how would you eat?
Looking and thinking on it – REAL hard… I’ve come to the conclusion this set is definitely NOT worth $2000 as they are obviously inaccurate. Anyone even remotely familiar with the show wouldn’t buy a set that had BOTH Festus and Chester in it. One or the other; or two sets of figures – one with Chester, the other with Festus – to represent both eras of the show. Yeah, definitely a rip-off… That’s just my studied opinion, though…
If you want a Festus figure, just put the 54mm mounted sheriff on the Marx mule with a separate saddle.
Often thought that myself.
Price drop! Only $1600 now!
I’ll bow out, you can have them.