Another mystery I dug up when I first started car booting 25 years ago was a brace of vintage hard plastic animals: a pinkish purple snail, a blue elephant and a yellow lion. I had no idea what they were.
The snail and elephant can be seen here in the pic I found online today:
and the yellow lion here flanked by chums.
For the last quarter of a century I have been flummoxed by the identity of these toys. The cartoonish looks may suggest a zoo set or maybe a circus. The chap in blue who I am seeing for the first time online today backs this up as he could be either a circus ringleader or a zoo keeper. He could even be a circus train driver.
There appear to be possibly more related animals in the set as seen in these pictures I chanced on today, although the lion is a different one.
Have you any idea who made these plastic animals or any other info readers?
The lion puts me very strongly in mind of the tv cartoon character Linus the Lionhearted, but Linus was always on two legs so the resemblance may just be a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteYep, I see what you mean Richard. There was Lippy the Lion and Hardy Ha Har too wasn't there? In the Uk we had Lenny the Lion too, a puppet. I have a feeling that these plastic animals are from a circus set judging by the looks of that chap who resembles a ringleader.
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Deletethye look very familiar, but I could be confusing them with a set of Noddy figures I had when I was about 5
ReplyDeleteYou can remember when you were 5! Respect! Those Noddy figures sound cool. Wonder who made them?
DeleteThere are two sets Woodsey, marking being the easiest divider (with variation, which can be explained by time) and they were issued both sides of the pond, usually as colour-supplement cheepie offers, like the Home Farms, Noah's Arks and Zoos. The idea being you send off for the cute, cheap animals for the kids, and the direct-marketer has you details - for ever! They were also carded in smaller qunatities as cake dec's.
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Cheers Hugh, I thought you'd know them. I'm pretty sure I've seen a set in a window box on the Bay about 15 years ago but I didn't keep a picture. Fascinating that they were mail order. There's loads of them on the net, they must be common.
DeleteI had all of these and I loved the zoo keeper (he WAS a Zoo Keeper -says ZOO on his hat) :)))
Deleteso it does Kira! I've found out that they were made by Imperial Toys.
DeleteIn storgae I have two US pages out of sort of Housekeeping mags - late 50's early 60's, one day I'll give you two names! The farm sets come with a Bo-Peep type like the zoo keeper I think?
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no spell check!
DeleteThis is a way-old post, but has anyone had any progress figuring out what these toys were? I had a few of them as a kid in the early 70s, and I remember seeing them advertised in magazine ads, maybe even comic books. I have been searching for them for some time. The only thing I know is they were made in Hong Kong and were numbered.
ReplyDeleteThe best pic I've found of these since this post Umbratikus is this one of a bag of funny animals https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cb_1Qgb4lak/XVWpmMJFweI/AAAAAAAAIJw/cm8zSpk4MuITU1vn9H5jetTCgVYDoJyjwCLcBGAs/s1600/zoo%2Banimals.jpg
Deletehttps://isengard75.wixsite.com/fantazootoys Have a look at the 900 serie, A-numbered series and B-series, as well as the uncoded ones.
ReplyDeleteFabulous work Dottore! Great research! Fantastic.
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