March 3, 2008
Closeup: Viking
MARX DOLLHOUSE - Low Rancher with Lift-off Roof.
Picture from the Kruger Toy & Train Museum. Marx #5025 made from 1960's - 1971.
The great thing about this house was that the roof lifted off to reveal interior rooms, which each had doors connecting to other rooms. This was very different than the standard dollhouse of an open back and no doors. I really like what looks like tiny Jonathan Adler sculptures on the fireplace.
CAPE CANAVERAL - 2007 Value
| Category | Toy |
| Pattern or Item | Playset |
| Description | Cape Canaveral, Box, Marx, Box, 14 X 24 In. |
| Year | 2007 |
| Price | $170.00 |
SUPER CIRCUS - 2007 Value
Kovel's online version of their antique & collectible magazine, appraised the following:
| Category | Toy |
| Pattern or Item | Playset |
| Description | Super Circus, Tin, Plastic Box, Marx, Box, 12 X 28 In. |
| Year | 2007 |
| Price | $195.00 |
ATOMIC CAPE CANAVERAL - record included
Here's from a posting on a Remco (other toy & playset maker) forum:
"A record included with Marx's Atomic Cape Canaveral sets the mood with a narrator reading instructions for Junior Missile Officers. Eventually, he announces "This is a live launch. All unauthorized personnel will now leave the ready room and lift-off area." In the background at Central Control actual technicians can be heard "Roger Wilco-ing" each other amid beeps and effects. This is followed by a countdown, blastoff, and tracking officer who states "The missile is on course. The satellite is in orbit." If all that doesn't get you ready to spring off a dozen rockets and saucers, you must be from another planet!"
FARM SET - cows
ROBIN HOOD Richard Green Special Edition - on Ebay
VIDEO on Playsets - 1
Description - The "Peacetime" play sets of the 1950s are the theme in this continuing series of videos for toy collectors and everyone who has a fondness to recapture the halcyon days of yore.Highlights include: Louis Marx Service stations (lots of swell fifties autos!) Atomic Cape Canaveral Strategic Air Command (SAC) base Operation X-500 Rocket Base ( a deluxe reading set very rare as it was only sold in grocery stores) Turnpike Toll Booth Alaska play sets commemorating Alaska becoming a state in 1958. Plus visit Kane County Toy Show which is one of the largest in the world and tour this fascinating and huge exhibit gaining insight into the heart of buying and selling in today's collector market.A very special visit to the Louis Marx landfill the legendary "Elephant's Graveyard" of unfinished toys. This volume runs 46 minutes. Hosted by Rusty Kern.
One place to buy it is here....
CAPE CANAVERAL & Space Ranger
Marx Space Ranger
"Send this plastic rocket ship into 6-foot orbit. You're at the remote controls as metal bar swings it forward, into reverse. It blows up a flying saucer, rescues a man, sends a secret message. Accessories - exploding flying saucer, nose cone, space car, 3 rockets, 6 astronauts, 6 moonmen etc." - from 1962 Sears Catalog
Marx Atomic Cape Canaveral Missile Base
This is one of the most popular of the Marx Playsets. This baby came with a tin litho building, space record, fencing, four-stage rocket, bomarc rocket, somarc missle and launcher, scientists gantry and launch pad, flying saucer, searchlight, radar antenna, space capsule, flying saucer and launcher, helicopter, fuel truck, missle trailer, dome, fuel tanks, scientists, NASA ticket, missle men and more!
Excerpt from an article on Space Toys by Don Thompson at Big Red Toy Box
COLLECTING Marx
Excerpt: "Since many rare playsets can sell for thousands of dollars, collecting seems to be a hard hobby to get into - but there are ways to make it easier. First, look at garage sales and flea markets. Common sets can often be found, like Fort Apache (a cowboys and indians set), for only a few dollars.
Second, start looking for unboxed sets, as they might be made up of parts from other sets. A box in good condition can add 20% to a set’s value, and even more if it is unopened."
March 2, 2008
CONVENTIONS - Marx 2007
I believe this Marx convention is yearly in Wheeling, West Virginia, but I have to get more info. From some of the photos posted at this site, I really want to go. Stacks and stacks of playsets! (check out this pic!) I'm sure way out of my budget, but would be great to see in person.
In this pic I spot on the top shelf the Roy Rogers Rodeo blue buckboard with no wheels, some Ben-Hur chariots with yellow wheels, the green tin US Army Headquarters Training Center, the brown tin log cabin (not sure what set this goes to), grey Burnside Bridge for the Blue & Gray Civil War set, and a covered wagon possibly for the Wagon Train set or Roy Rogers Mineral City.
CARRY-ALL (Action Sets) Commercial
Shows the 4 action sets: Cape Kennedy, Fort Apache, Fighting Knights, and Boot Camp. Separate from their larger playset counterparts, these sets were all in a tin suitcases, where the case became the playboard. Bonus: a pre-Brady Christopher Knight.
REMEMBERING Marx
From treefrogtreasures.com toy soldier forum: "I used to have a few of those fort apache sets that my father bought me when I was a kid. I think he liked them more than I did . I had two that came with the marx cavalry and both had a different shades of blue and the indains also came with two shades also, one was like a tan and the other was an off orange color. The other sets came with pioneers instead of cavalry. My father also left me a bunch of the marx indains and pioneers from when he was a kid and he had all kinds of different colors on the indains from yellow to brown,red I can,t remember all the exact colors but there were a few. He also had these other indains from the first marx fort apache which looked a bit larger in scale and came with a different cavalry which were also used for the rin tin tin set which he also left me a few figures from but, most of the figures were stolen out of the basement of our tentament house by the kids who lived there I lost just about all of my marx indians and many other figures also but still have quite a few of the the ones my father left to me. " - fishhed19690
RIN TIN TIN Fort Apache - box pictures
The amazing playset collection of BarbiGirl has pictures of two Rin Tin Tin sets: the 500 series (first 2 pics) and 1000 series. All pics are considered MIB (mint in box).
RIN TIN TIN Fort Apache - 3 versions!
From Let’s play Fort Apache! : Collecting the Fort Apache playsets from Marx
by Stu Shiffman on the collectingchannel.com:
At least three different models were produced of the Marx Rin Tin Tin Fort Apache playset, as a licensed tie-in to the television series. These were numbers 3627 (60mm figures), 3658 (54mm figures), and 3957 (mixed scale). If mint in box, these can sell for about $450 for 3627, and $250 for the others. A box lid circa 1956 shows a large "Rin Tin Tin Fort Apache" logo and illustrations of a horseback war-bonneted Plains Indian riding down on the fort, with a portrait of Rin Tin Tin and the boy Rusty in the upper left-hand corner. The text reads "Rinty - Rusty - Cavalrymen - Indians - Fort - Cabin - Horses - Blockhouses - and Accessories". These licensed versions included figures of Rin Tin Tin, Rusty, and Lt. Rip Masters.
COLLECTING Marx (history of as well as auction prices)
Great article from the July 2007 Toy Collector Magazine website called "Everything You See is Here". Also has an interview with Rusty Kern, the editor of Playset Magazine, the magazine that's a MUST have for playset lovers & collectors.
Excerpt: "Few toys reflect the influences of 20th-century culture and technology more than playsets manufactured by Louis Marx & Co. Inc. Contained in a single box were all the pieces needed to settle the American frontier, stage the D-Day invasion of Normandy, launch rockets into space or create hundreds of other real-life scenarios."
Excerpt: "Marx aggressively acquired licensing rights to produce sets based on popular television series and movies of the era. When The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin became a hit series on Saturday mornings in 1954, Marx quickly came out with Rin Tin Tin Fort Apache sets, featuring the famous German shepherd and his young master, Rusty. The 1950s revival of Westerns on TV led Marx to produce Wyatt Earp Dodge City, The Rifleman Ranch and Johnny Ringo Western Frontier, all in 1959; Wagon Train from 1958 to 1961, and Gunsmoke in 1960, among others."
HISTORY of Louis Marx & Co.
From Wikipedia: "
Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer from 1919 to 1978. Its boxes were imprinted with the slogan, "One of the many Marx toys, have you all of them?"
The Marx logo was the letters "MAR" in a circle with a large X through it, resembling a railroad crossing sign. Because of this, Marx toys are sometimes misidentified as "Mar" toys.
RIN TIN TIN Fort Apache
In 1955-1956 Louis Marx & Co. decided to expand on their Fort Apache set with the "Rin Tin Tin Fort Apache". It has the Lt. Rip Masters, Rin Tin Tin the dog and the Rusty figurines . The Lt. Rip Masters And Rusty figurines are stamped on the bottom Screen Gems 1955. It has Indians (14- Yellow), Calvary (10- Blue) and Frontiers men (8-Brown) that come with it. (pictured: Lt. Rip Masters and Rin Tin Tin. Figures currently for sale
at Battlefield Legends.) 
at Battlefield Legends.) 
RIN TIN TIN Fort Apache: Sold on Ebay
Sold for $153 on Ebay on 3/8/2008. Item description: This is a 1956 Herbert P. Leonard Production, 1956 Screen Gems, Inc. Rin-Tin-Tin Fort Apache set made in The United States of America by Marx Toys. There are numerous soldiers, indians, horses, accessories including Fort Apache, Rinty, Rusty and Lt. Rip Masters (all three marked on bottom and dated 1955). There are also a cannon and cannon wagon and a stage coach; American Flag, etc. All in original box (box appears to have been punched in the lower left and right hand side with a sharp pinpoint item). The games that I am listing have belonged to the same family since original purchase.
RANCHHOUSE by Marx - interior
The exterior and back patio with lithographed pond in the right corner. According to the barbigirl website: The rancher included the usual rooms: living/dining room, kitchen, master bedroom, bathroom and nursery. The nursery had a motif that was unique to this house. The house came with approximately 40 pieces of Contemporary style furniture. The 1953 model came with a 1/2" Cadillac sedan and 14 dollhouse dolls, talk about Full House!!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
