Larry Hyatt's Gem Mint Lee Set

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2009
Lee Photographs by Larry Hyatt & Jack Canning 2004
Christmas morning 1961, somewhere in America...
“Hey Pat, wake up. I see light!” whispers little Mike, as he stands on the tipof his toes to peek out the east window of their room. It’s not the first time Mike has peeked out the window that night. It’s just the first time there was a faint glow above the prairie skyline. “It’s time!” Neither Pat nor Mike got much slept that night, of course, with the not too distant sounds of shuffling in the living room. Surely they heard some jingle bells, too!

The scene quickly shifts to the living room where they both survey the landscape. The Christmas Tree lights are on, and packages that weren’t there last night cover the area around the tree. “Quick, Pat, go tell Mom and Dad that Santa Claus came,” shouts Mike. Pat takes off on his mission while older Mike develops his battle plan—like the seasoned soldier he is! Mom and Dad come dragging in, but not after a quick stop to wake up older sister, Bobbie. Mom, wishing she had time to fix a pot of coffee, picks up the Kodak camera she had just “purchased” when she cashed in her S&H Green stamps. She gets the flash bulbs ready, just in time to snap a few fleeting photos. Dad, still trying to wake up, sits down to watch the show after turning on a few more lights. Besides the large packages under the tree, there area a couple of suspicious ones under there, too. They aren’t too large—almost square. Could it be that Hartland General Lee you have been asking Santa about for almost a month? “Hey, there are two packages about the same size under the tree!” Mike wonders, “Could the other one be that General Custer Pat has been asking about?” Let’s open them to see what’s inside!
 
Once the Christmas wrapping paper was removed, the box would look like this. Lee’s box was shared with General Custer, but as you can see the bottom flap is customized for this set. By 1961, this set might have sold for $3.98 at the stores. In earlier years, they sold for $2.98. My parents found some in a small Five & Dime store in Wichita Falls, Texas.
This particular set came from one of the Hartland executives, Ed Hulbert. At one time, he had 12 MIB sets exactly like this one. About eight years ago, Jim Watson, a dealer in New York, bought six of them from Ed and sold them over a period of a few months. Recently, another set of six has surfaced and are now finding their way into collectors hands after 40 years of being stored away. Ed Hulbert was the Plant Manager at Hartland Plastics when it was in Hartland, WI. Thanks to Larry Hyatt for taking photos and sharing them with us! Also, thanks to Jack Canning for supplying additional information and photos related to this set. Be sure and read to the bottom of this page to read the story of opening this set in Larry Hyatt’s own words!
 
Once the contents are pulled from the box, they look like this, wrapped in dark green tissue paper. Larry has had several GEM Mint sets, and he says he gets butterflies every time he opens one!
The General Lee figure is wrapped together in tissue paper, along with the package of parts. He is sitting on his saddle with a light colored piece of tissue paper between them. Lee is held to the saddle by a rubber band. Remarkably, it is still in good shape! The Head Down Prancer is wrapped with larger dark green tissue papers, along with the later style1961 brochure. The tag is also in this portion.
The General Lee parts are sealed in a glassine bag, printed in red on one side. They include the sword, hat and leather cinch strap. The reins are crimped on the horse already. The thin silk flag has the crude putty tip and bamboo post.
On a typical Christmas morning, most of this would go out to the curb side for the garbage collectors to haul off. A few youngsters might keep the brochure for a while to be able to show the parents which set(s) they wanted next, but the box, envelope, and tag probably had a short life.
The story at the top of the page is mostly hypothetical. I have a younger brother named Pat, and an older sister named Bobbie. By 1961, my parents had moved away from the Wichita Falls area and never had a chance to buy the later sets. The morning scenario was typical, however, and it might have been fairly close if the set shown was a Davy Crockett. If there were two boxes in the photo at the top of the page, one probably WAS a Davy Crockett and the other was probably a Jim Bowie for my brother.
 
Opening This Box: Larry Hyatt’s own account of this event!

“A Moment Which will Last a Life Time”
I was waiting with bated breath for the package to arrive. You see, this all took place in the middle of the terrorist attack of Sept. 11th, 2001 !!!

The money was gone and no site of the package. Finally it arrives. My heart was pounding! That’s a BIG DEAL since I have had two open heart surgeries, so things like this can be a little scary. Just imagine the newpaper headlines... “Man found dead opening RARE Hartland figure!”

I made it to the table and sat the box down and began opening the shipping box. What if I damage the Hartland box? This takes courage. After I finally opened the box and got the set out, I could see NO ONE had ever opened this Hartland Set. I mean, it was pristine! As soon as I saw the box I called Phil Duncan, a friend and local collector. I told him to come down and he could open it himself as I took pictures. He said, "No way. Open it now!"

So, I started, trying not to make any marks at all. My hands were shaking and my eyes watering. Maybe they were tearing up from excitment? The lid opened. WOW! green paper—so green!

A fleeting memory crossed my mind...of how my dad always opened his Christmas presents so carefully and so slowly. I always said, "Hurrry up, Dad!” He alway replied, “I want to enjoy every second of this wonderful moment, Son! Maybe, someday you will understand what I am saying." Now I can say, “I do, I do understand Dad!”

As I carefully and slowly removed the horse, I still wasn't sure which style horse it was. Eventually, I opened enough of the green tissue paper to reveal a magnicent Lee Prancer! You know, there isn't anything as white as Hartland white, at least in my eyes!

I wish we could appreciate things like this better when we were children, but this is the next best thing I made it through the opening of this set without having to go to the emergency room. That was a relief! I shot these photos both for myself and to share with other collectors. All you can say is “WOW!” I wish every collector could have this experience at least once.. What a joy! My cup does run over !!

Larry Hyatt, Oct. 3, 2001
Thanks for the story, Larry!
 
This page last modified Thursday, October 18, 2007