Collector’s Contributions Questions Other Things we have several itmems to pass along at the end of June. First Les Lessa has sent us photos of 54mm figures he did of the people of Jules Verne.s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Next Tom has a question on the Marx Louis Marx Figure. I have a question on a price on Marx Civil War Playset.
Collector’s Contributions Questions Other Things 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The following photos were sent to me from Les Lessa. He had made his own character figures from Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
The figues that Les made are based on the Disney Movie Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea made in 1954. This is the movie we enjoyed as children.
I can tell you that the custom made these character figures from primarily Historex figure kits. that They are 54mm in size. Les did not make the seal figure. He has also made many of the Nautilus crewmen figures as well. We hope Les shows more of this great project.
Collector’s Contributions Questions Other Things Louis Marx
Tom of Kemprals’ minis and Games had the following question in regards to the Louie Marx figure.
I have this plastic figure of Louis Marx holding a cigar. The plastic looks white and its on the presidental base. I’m trying to figure out if its the reproduction from the 1990’s or the original vintage version. It could be vintage based upon this collector and his wealth and his other vintage items. Just can’t find another version / picture of the original marx figure, was it different did it have a “cigar pointed down” pose.
I will try to get a photo of my figure in the near future. I know that Francis Turner of the Marx Museum had the mold and got the figure done. What are your thoughts?
Collector’s Contributions Questions Other Things Marx Civil War Playset Version
Yesterday I went to an house auction not far our house. In the ad was advertise a Blue and Grey playset. I knew which set it was as I had it as a child. It was the Giant Blue and Gray Battle Playset as seeen on televison. I went over to the auction and took a look at the set. It was pretty much complete. The mansion was put together and it had many of the original playset bags. Looking over the playset, I saw the caisson and medical wagon. I decided to come back when the auction started.
Collector’s Contributions Questions Other Things The Auction
I did some errands and came back to the auction and discovered another buyer there. His name is unknown to me. My code name for him is Mr. Overpaid. I have run into two times before. The first time was about ten years ago when he ran up all the Marx items to silly prices. He then goofed leaving me get a Sear Center with the accessories for cheap price. He thought it was a gas station. The next time was earlier this year. At an auction he was buying up everything trucks, character items and figures. I pushed him up on every figure lot making him pay ridiculous high prices.
So I decided to stick around and at least make him pay. Forty minutes into the auction they put the playset up for sale. the bidding started at $25.00 and soon was over hundred dollar in ten seconds. The amazing thing I was not bidding someone else was. In less than a two minutes the playset was at over $580.00. Mr Overpay quit and it went to the other bidder. With a 10% premium and 6 Percent sales tax the person paid over $676.00!
My question is that a fair price for this playset? I looked at Ebay and there is on at $2200.00 and another at $3395.00. I look at the playset selling the parts and my rough was three to four dollars. Let me know your thoughts.
When some of us started collecting in the 80’s, the metal dime store soldiers were ramping up in price because guys that grew up in the 30’s and 40’s wanted them (and they had the money to spend). They didn’t bother with plastic soldiers so a lot of Marx plastic was fairly cheap when you could find it. Then the Boomer generation started looking for their toys from the 50’s and 60’s, etc., driving up the value of those items. It is cyclical and inevitable. People with the money and a strong desire to have these items will always outbid ‘the little guy’. Just basic supply and demand.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was one of Jules Verne’s great Sci-Fi adventure stories, with intuition and imagination. Walt Disney did it right, with great casting and everything else to create a classic film. The timing of the movie was such that it would have been perfect for a themed playset by Marx or someone else but we all know that did not happen. So the playset which Les has always wanted he has created for himself, with many hours invested in creating it.
Under $700 for a complete Giant Blue and Gray set is a very good price. $3000 range seems to be the standard.
WOW.The twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea film base characters are super well done.Impressive !!
Always like the movie and had recreate using other figures but mine are made with minor converting and not anywhere near close to actor of course as Les great job.
the hard part is an scale Submarine.
Some of figures i use are the MARX 1812 sailors that could be convert too but are in the 60 mm range scale.
Same several Amscan brand sailors pirates with same clothing as that in movie mix with some others
For divers there some Spaniards and french figures brand made with old type diver suits that can be used too with the mix of space type weapons from old space figures.
But again in the 60-65 mm scale .
Recently I found an large two different squid made by Safari and other brand ,i took pictures at local aquarium where in sale .I will get then soon.I can send pictures tonight.
Also Empire HK also sold a 14″ long giant squid that is nice too i think from 70s or 80s .There two Empire version type.I only have one large ,I do not know scale in other but I know is smaller.
My thoughts.
Best…
I like add ironic Kirk Douglas was born rise and studied here in my town-city(Amsterdam,NY) till early 30s after HS graduated.We got in town several plaque and his family house still preserved as well a HS pavilion hall dedicated to him .Yet his was not known at all by this actor name but his second after birth name Izzy Demsky.He was born as Issur Danielovitch in 1916.
He was help a lot by his mentor HS teachers that recommend him to move out and pursue acting career.
Unfortunately and not related both teacher later had a tragic life.
best…
Regarding playsets I agree partially with others comments.In my opinion the inflation had been done many time and prices are as far any other with a lot want paid for
I’m glad admin let other go crazy and spend as much.
I particular respect the nostalgic value interest but i will never paid those amount x any playset at all.
In my opinion I always set a price for sets or figures as I barely buy playsets. If over that price i let go and will be next time or never.Sorry, but there other important things worth my money in my life that are first .This is a hobby and i had spend a lot on it but for large varied amount that is my personal view and goal.Rather than in a single playset .
Yet I wish best x those interested in spending the money in the ways they like best.
What is the real actual price is hard to determine as need be the right moment right collector with right money and willing paid as much as he want .
You may list it x 1000 x 2 years and never sale it ,but you may list it x 2000 and sale in two days
My thoughts only …
best.
Thank you Erwin, I have gotten some nice comments on my figures. I,am not a professional sculptor ,but I think I captured there essence.I have a dozen or so crew men done also. I hope to have divers some day. I have a 1/32 scale nautilus as well. I,ll post photos some time soon.
Wow a nautilus.
I’m thrill to see it.
That should be great and awesome work.
Yes your conversion jobs are professional Sir.
Those figures are a heck of work. Paint faces resemblance is incredibly well done.
Best..
Gee, I hope that the Giant set goes for 3,000+.
I have 9 of them in boxes.
All together, I have 22 Blue and Gray boxed sets, missing only the mini set. Not the miniature hard plastic set, but the small playset (#2646) for which I have all the parts and I am just missing the box.
There are pictures on here showing my B&G playset collection somewhere.
The most I ever paid was 500 bucks for a Giant set.
And that was one time at Hackensack, when I sold Francis Turner 100 empty playset bags for the exact price. I turned that money over to Bill Hamilton, who sold me the Giant B&G set at the end of the show for that price. Maybe 198? something.
I got the bags for free from a flea market vendor in PA, who sold Heritage Mexicans and Alamo HP Accessories
with the bags. Knighta and Vikings also. I bought a ton of figures and acc’s from him and noticed that he had taken the figures and acc’s out of the playset bags and put them in plastic sandwich bags, so that you could see them. He had a paper sack full of the empty playset bags. I asked him what he was going to do with them and he gave them to me, instead of throwing them away. Maybe 200 plus bags.
You know who the vendor was, Paul.
Other than that, most of my finds were under 100 bucks.
And many, many were under 50 bucks. Most of it was flea market finds.
I’ve sold couple of Giant sets over the years and averaged between 700 – 800 bucks on Ebay without the box or any paperwork. But that was probably 15 years ago.
Maybe a year or so ago, I bid $350 on a “best offer” for a beautiful Giant with the pistol in the bag, the paints and everything else, in a very good box. I did it on a lark, as the listing was only 10 minutes old.
To my amazement, the offer was immediately accepted. Upon arrival, it turned out to best, most complete set in my collection!
I love my B&G sets. I had the Giant as a kid and I never lost my love of it. It’s the reason that I got into collecting in the first place. I still have my original set. I still set it up like I did 55 years ago, when I received it on Christmas day 1961 (or was it 1960?). It’s still the greatest toy ever made, in my book.
Things are worth whatever someone else is willing to pay
for that item. No more, no less.
Never knew the guy’d name. It all was from a Amish dealer who bought glassware near the Matx factory. He was told to bring a truck and they filled it with Heritage stuff. Other people took it over but I have not seen any of it in too many years.
$350 is phenomenal! Do you remember the actual asking price? (Funny “Best Offer” story – last month I saw a really nice Ideal exploding bridge on eBay for $20.75 or Best Offer – I offered $15 and the guy countered at $20 even – he knocked off a whole 75 cents! Why even say “Best Offer”?? Anyhow – bought this great piece; working mechanism and no breaks. Like new. Glad I found it.) The condition I’d want in the Giant Blue & Gray set is the current eBay set at $3395 – mint, matched, complete, unbroken. Granted it’s been sitting with no takers for a while. My first Giant B & G set was from Woolworth’s 5 & 10 with my big sister’s employee discount for around $13 or so. I’m guessing it was in 1960 when I was age 9. “Regular” sets were probably under $5 then, so this was a BIG deal. Got it on a Thursday night when we picked her up from working late & I talked my mother into letting me skip school on Friday to play with it. I still remember how blown away I was by that set. The bags of figures & accessories just didn’t end!! I already had the smaller set, but this one with the exploding bunker, hospital wagon and new Centennial figures, caisson, shooting mortar and new Jefferson Davis was overwhelming!! GREAT MEMORIES of the old Marx playsets. I guess that’s why we pay what we do for the old sets. Good old Bill Hamilton – great guy. Used to love to shoot the bull with him. Honest, sincere, funny – big loss. RIP, Bill.
I was 9 in 1960 too. Unfortunately, when I was 9 there were no close Woolworth’s, my mom didn’t drive and my dad worked nights. The closest Woolworths was a 2 mile walk or a two bus public transportation journey. At nine I wasn’t allowed to venture too far from the hood.
The pictures of Bill Nevins’ Marx Blue & Gray playset collection are in the February 2017 archives under the caption “How big is your playset figure collection?”
You can get to it quickly by using the searchword “storage”.
It contains some amazing photos, which still leave me in shock and awe. Rick Eber himself would be amazed.
I’ve gone back and looked at those photos several times since they first appeared.
The Marx Giant Blue & Gray sets have been selling for $500-1,200 in the past year or so on Ebay. Twenty years ago they were $2,500-$3,000. They were my favorite toy as a child and I keep an eye on their prices. When I got into the hobby circa 1990 individual figures were selling for $3-5, centennials $6-9 and reb flagbearers $20-30 each. Now $1-2, $2-3, $10 each. My ACW figure sales have dried up in the past several years as the collector base has aged and new collectors have many options. The TSSD & Conte figures are just too big to mesh well and nice armies can be built from AIP, Imex & Accurate.
At the Maryland toy show I asked several collectors about the set and they agree with the price was too high if the person was planning on resale.
This pile sold on eBay for $409, BUT no trigger on exploding bunker, hooks and hitches broken off caisson, where is hospital wagon and small accessory set to wagon?, pieces broken, figures not matched, flag broken on CSA, instructions and bags look moldy, box is beat up and taped, no paint or special effects record, where is ruined building & redoubt, tents are gray, should be tan, etc…. BIG difference between this pile and MIB $3395. Have to consider condition before comparing prices. MIB Giant Blue & Gray are $2000 – $3000 range. Piles are cheaper, but I personally would not want this particular $409 set. I guess it depends on what condition the sets are in. e.g. a Beatles record, factory sealed shrink wrap can be $500,000; scratched up with no jacket = less than $10.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marx-Original-Giant-Battle-of-the-Blue-and-Gray-Playset-/162463858036?hash=item25d399bd74%3Ag%3AJ0UAAOSw4CFY6CAJ&nma=true&si=2XFcS1iBT%252FrHg9Tf582X%252BK2FVIg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Ok for past month i been finding odd ebays links sales to me least.
I call odd as i do not have idea in most old US made toys values and on Marx and pretty much still learning or adding to my brain computer for future .
But i will post in this post several of then ,hope some bring attention and explanation to me and fun to others as well.
Also As far i know there some one or some out there making resin copies of hard ti find figures using a very simple technique with silicone mold or other .
Admi-Paul .If x some reason these post links are not correct I apologies and let me know or erase then please .Thank you
best..
Here is one that i don’t recall if was posted here before.
Could some one clear for me the price if is an error in numbers or what is please!?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Deluxe-Reading-Battlewagon-ship-Store-Display-Rare/322573668692?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649
Somehow I don’t think he is going to get that price.
Deluxe Reading was an interesting company, they marketed their sets in grocery stores. Toys and groceries in one stop shopping. Now most grocery stores have a toy section , when I was a kid until Deluxe Reading came along that was not the case. They were revolutionary with their concepts. I had their space set as a kid, it was a cool set with great rocket launchers we used to use as guns as they fired rubber tipped rockets. The set came with two bases one for their missile’s and they had a rocket launcher like NASA with a tall platform. The figures had indentations in their bases that corresponded to clips on the command bases so the figure could be placed their without the risk of falling over. I originally wanted a marx Cape Canaveral, but I ended up having more fun with this set then I ever could have with the Marx set.
This dealer is know for high silly prices.
This seller i been following x long and always post resin copies of not common reissued Marx or other brand old US made figures.
here is sample.
Upon question him once ,he claim are made of plastic type resin material .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-UNPAINTED-60mm-RESIN-GENERAL-GEORGE-CUSTER-MOUNTED-FIGURE-/302366059694?hash=item46666becae:g:hm8AAOSwDuJWzgeZ
I have the Custer figure that’s Richard Fischer who does these, I think he posts in here. I know he requests figures he’s looking for all the time though e-mails. They feel like like plastic resin. I believe he posted his Custer figure on this forum in the past.
The figure is base on a mounted Marx Cowboy from PL328. You can see a picture at his web site.
here is other RESIN set he sales …
so far he had sold out other sets already /…
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-RESIN-CAST-60mm-MARX-RICHARD-GREENE-5-FIGURE-CHARACTER-SET-/302366060114?hash=item46666bee52:g:rRcAAOSwbsBXjEV5
These Richard Greene resin reproductions are poor efforts – lots of air bubbles evident so not properly made. Just my opinion. The price (too high) does not match the quality (too low) of the product. He may also have trademark infringement issues.
The air bubble problem TDBarnecut mentions is very apparent on the last figure on the right. I think it is the Sheriff of Nottingham. He looks like he has been hit with a shotgun blast in the face and shoulders. His entire mouth and chin are missing from one very large bubble.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2KcAAOSw0fhXjEWE/s-l1600.jpg
Who made these ?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nine-Early-Space-Military-Aviation-Play-Set-Figures/302368578085?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649
Looks like Deluxe Reading space sets. They also came with a seated dog which is hard to find.
Looks like Deluxe Reading to me.
Thank you guys for recon then .I appreciate it.
Funny seller is less 10 miles from me
Here is an interesting set ,i have all the figures as i like then because so close to original movie .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MULTIPLE-TOYMAKERS-PLANET-OF-THE-APES-PLAYSET-2/292160129010?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649
the figures turn up. The gorrilla with the sword is the hardest as the sword breaks easy
I still have my old MPC apes. For me, the most fragile was the gorilla with the rifle. I lost the rifle barrel shortly after I got the set. I recall that my friend tried to put the sword gorilla on a Marx horse and one leg snapped off, but I re-glued it. The plastic was extremely hard and brittle. Even more so than model kits.
In this eBay picture, you can see that there was also supposed to be a Cornelius figure shown standing between the two mounted gorillas. Kent Sprecher also has a picture of a boxed set with Cornelius included.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/BFEAAOSwBOtY-4k2/s-l1600.jpg
I never see the Cornelius in any sets that have been on eBay. It’s always just Zaius with a blue suit, Zira with an orange dress and the two mounted gorillas along with the soft plastic US GIs.
My biggest wish when I was between 9 and 12 was that a company would produce a soft plastic 1/32 set of Planet of the Apes, with multiple poses of gorilla soldiers as well as character poses. I also wanted an army of “slave apes” in jumpsuits from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. I’m still kind of hoping that some Japanese company will produce a set. They’ve done Star Wars stormtroopers and “fat soldiers” and “animal soldiers” and “yoga soldiers”, etc. Maybe some day they will get around to Planet of the Apes.
They did a series x the first of new movies w 6 poses in 1:35 scale as gashapon toys by Takara Tommy few years back.
All figures come in green and brown.
I have repeated action poses of figures.I use tim mee horses x them.
Best…
Erwin, those are from the new movies? I’m more interested in the old 60s and 70s series, but they do sound interesting. I can’t seem to find any pictures of them on the web.
Mark they are from the fisrst new movie made .not much intersting poses. Main chacter well done in typical 1/35 scale used by that brand to fit inside capsules.
Figures split in two parts.
But because they apes in new movies are way too modern style to me I never bough then when come out.
Takara Tommy toys are not much seen around after few years release.Specially here in US were now are being distributed more.
I do not know any japanese blog may have then post
I had not seen or look x then resently.last time I saw where in japanese store in NYC .
The one I reffere have several action poses are the old. MPC .
Best. ..
A few years ago somebody did a set of 54mm painted metal soldier apes from the 70s films that was quite nice. He posted them on the Treefrog forum. Looks like he has one set left on Etsy. https://img1.etsystatic.com/029/0/6565314/il_fullxfull.607362929_2bm8.jpg
Mark after looking at interesting conversion they look to me as extracted made out of TM pirates poses i have ,the poses and even weapons are identical ,with same paints.i think the person used then with minor paint and add heads.
These pirates were sold painted(i have then in painted early version) and then copied in a bit down scaled not painted and still often seen around in lots,bags or else.
Yet are very well done.
best …
I got the Deluxe Reading at Bohack’s in Queens, NY. I remember that you had to spend a certain amount to get the “Bohack’s” price for the sets. I tortured my mother into it.
The were cool toys and were lots of fun.
Ahoy Erwin, If you are interested in Disneys 20,000 Leagues, check out ,www.nautilussubmarine.com . Really cool site.
Thank you Lester.I had create account and will enjoy it soon as a soon get approval by board.
Yes I love all JV writings and the movie is great.
I enjoy it many times.
JV was ahead of his time and very good writer ,his description were amazing in technical data .Many of his writings were eventually put to practice in future.
The movie was well; done a bit short but intense and nice special effect x time.
I will prefer film not done today as computer animation effect are too fake in my opinion and not glory on it but just x one or two designer and computer programs itself .
Back then they use real or in scales or and -under scale scenes and mock up props else ,very genuine and well done .
My thoughts…
best
Jules Verne was like a junior DaVinci. Amazing what he wrote 150 years ago; and what DaVinci invented 500 years ago!!!