Hartland Cowboy Figures

Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:
Hartland Figures with Blue Pants

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008

This page contains figures wearing some sort of blue pants, chaps or trousers ranging from baby blue to deep navy blue.

Champ style Lone Ranger #801
By simply changing the color of the figure and adding the mask, Hartland could immediately start selling Lone Rangers once they obtained the licensing. This piece appears to be Hartland’s first licensed figure and for a period during 1954, they stamped the designation on the figure’s rump or chap. He carried two champ style silver pistols and kept the earlier champ style hat.
Mold Mark:
“Hartland Molded, Hartland, Wisc.” back of the left chap.
Occasionally marked: “Lone Ranger, Inc. 1954” with a rubber stamp under the rear of the figure.

Clayton Moore style Lone Ranger #801
Once Hartland had the licensing for the Lone Ranger, they created an official version imitating Clayton Moore on the TV series. He got the new hat, new pistols, new saddle and walking version of Silver. There are a few molds with slight variaitions such as the number of silver dots on his holster, but most look like the one shown with the red scarf. This is the most common version and is usually easy to find.

Mold Marks
“Hartland Plastics Inc” on the back of the left arm.

Clayton Moore style Lone Ranger - yellow scarf: #801
This is a very unique piece with only a few known to exist. The red scarf is replaced with a yellow version. It appears to be factory painted that way on mine and reports are the same from the other couple of people that own him. Lone Ranger figures vary quite a bit in color over the years. Some have a turquoise tint while others are basic baby blue.

Mold Marks
“Hartland Plastics Inc” on the back of the left arm.

V-Fringe Roy Rogers #806
Roy Rogers was king of the licensed products and was a shoe-in for Hartland. The earliest of this figure lacked the Hartland markings and probably rode the Champ style Trigger. He was later moved to the Walking Trigger. Roy carries two silver pistols. You might find this figure a little more often than the horizontal fringe below, but they are about equally split.
Mold Marks
Very early figures have no mold mark.
“©Hartland Plastics Inc” on the back of the fringe on the left sleeve.

Horizontal White Fringe Roy Rogers #806
After a few years of selling Roy Rogers on a walking Trigger, they created a new figure to ride on the new Rearing horse mold, also being introduced for Annie Oakley. This figure leans forward and rides in the saddle better. He also got a new saddle, new hat but kept his silver guns for a while. In later years, he could have received the brown pistols. In 1961 or so, he was also transferred to a Semi-Rearing Mane Down version of Trigger.
Mold Marks
©Hartland Plastics Inc” -back of the fringe on the left sleeve.

Stevens Plastics Horizontal Fringe Roy Rogers
Around 1992, Stevens Plastics in Missouri began offering this set through J.C. Penney's mail order Christmas Catalog. It shipped in a generic cardboard box. It was later offered direct through Stevens and a few distributors and shipped in an attractive box. The quality of production and painting on this set was not up to vintage Hartland collector’s standards. This piece is much more white on the plastic and the red paint has a rough feel to it. I doubt you will be fooled!
Mold Marks
©Hartland Plastics Inc” -back of the fringe on the left sleeve.

Col. Ranald Mackenzie #829
This is one of the most sought after sets, usually selling for top dollar. Mackenzie’s Raiders did not last long on TV and the set was discontinued before too many sets were actually sold. He carries only a single pistol, probably brown, but many collectors like to put a military style pistol with him. (Repros available). He uses the same saddle as Custer.

Mold Mark
“© 1959 ZIV TV, PGMS, INC.” on the back of the left arm.

Jim Hardie #864
From “Tales of Wells Fargo”, Jim Hardie had the reputation of being a very fast draw and extremely smart. He is the only Hartland figure with an exclusive left handed draw, not including the ones with two guns. He would normally have a silver or brown pistol and occasionally got a rifle for his rifle holed saddle. He occasionally rode on a Mane-Down Semi-Rearing horse, but it could also have been mane up.

Mold Mark
“© Hartland Plastics, Inc.” on the rump.

Hoby Gilman #825
The most unusual feature of this set is the black hat that must be carefully threaded between the fingers, thumb and head. If not done correctly, you can break the fingers or thumb. For some reason, Hartland bent the brim of his hat upwards as though catching the wind, I guess, but it was not like that in the shows. He carries one pistol, brown or silver, and an optional rifle in his brown rifle holed saddle.
Mold Mark
“©Four Star Films Inc.” on rear of the figure, just under the jacket.

Paladin #866
Since the TV shows were in black and white, we never really know whether his outfit was black or navy blue. I have been told it was black. If so, I am not sure why they would have used blue. Oh well. He comes with one gun, brown or silver, and possibly an optional rifle. His blue hat has the silver medallion. “Have Gun, Will Travel” on his calling card tag. He is more difficult than some to find.

Bill Longley — The Texan #827
The Texan probably has the most dynamic pose of all the cowboys with his torso twisted and his hand wrenched back to draw his weapon. He is one of the hardest sets to find, too. His horse is often mistaken for the earlier black and white pinto used with Cochise, but his has a more slender tail. He carries a single brown or silver pistol and an optional rifle. His saddle is the black rifle holed saddle commonly used on the later sets.

Cheyenne #818
Cheyenne is one of the most common and popular sets. Unfortunately, his right hand holds a pistol that is almost always broken off. He carries a special long knive, sometimes used with Jim Bowie, and would have shipped with an additional silver or brown pistol. His special hat has little blocks around the headband apparently intended to represent the arrowheads used on his hat in the show. He has a specail saddle that matches his jacket. He can ride one of several semi-rearing chestnut colored horses.
Mold Marks
“©Hartland Plastics, Inc.” on the back of the left sleeve.

General George Armstrong Custer #814
This is a nice looking set. He carries a 48 star American Flag, a sword and a military style silver pistol. His standard mount is a cropped mane Palomino, but in later years he is reported to have received the head down prancing Palomino. His saddle is shared with Col. Mackenzie. Custer sets are a little harder to find than Lee or Washington.

Sgt. Lance O’Rourke #804
O’Rourke was Hartland’s first mountie set. He carries a single Mountie Pistol with a string lanyard to hand around his neck. Some of the later O’Rourkes were identified and labeled as Preston which can cause confusion with this set. He can be found riding a Champ style horse or Chubby style. For a short period, it might be possible to get him on a Walking style horse, too.

Sgt. Preston #804
This set replaced the previous Canadian Mountie set and was modeled after the TV character, Sgt. Frank Preston. This figure is larger than the O’Rourke figure and has a larger hat. He also carries the Mountie pistol with lanyard, plus his right hand is outstretched to hold a Canadian Flag. The base of the bamboo flag sets in a small cup on his right foot. Preston is one of the harder vintage Hartlands to find.

If you have any other figure variations not shown on the Figure Locator pages, check out the Non-Hartlands page containing Lido and Breyer versions.