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Standing Gunfighters
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Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008
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  The Gunfighters are some of the hardest Hartlands to find. Each figure has two moveable arms which are held together through the figure by a rubber band. The arms for each statue have the number of that figure molded inside it.While the figures may have had silver guns, except for Earp they probably often shipped with black, maroon, or brown pistols. The figures are the same size as the 800 Series Horse and Riders, but all gunfighters are numbered with the 700 Series.
Hartland introduced the first five gunfighters in 1958 and by the last brochure of that year, they had seven. The three missing were Troop, McKay, and Masterson. The 1969 brochure displayed all ten. At some point in 1961, all ten gunfighers and a large group of the horse and riders were eliminated from the brochures and production halted.
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Wyatt Earp #709
One of the easiest gunfighters to find. All gunfighter literature
on this figure shows him with a brown Buntline in one hand. He
has the same hat as the horse and rider, but the gunfighter sometimes
came with a maroon hat. Over the years, the maroon hats seem
to shrink more than the black ones which fit better.
Click here to see a large photo
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Bat Masterson #769
One of the harder gunfighters to find. He carries a brown and
gold cane in one hand and has a smaller brown pistol in his holster.
This figure also has a unique trademark Black Derby hat.
Click here to see a large photo
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Bret Maverick #762
This figure is one of the easiest gunfighters to locate. All
literature that I have ever seen, shows the gunfighter with a
white hat. It commonly has an “R” in it. TV press releases
show him with either black or white hat and I just like the way
he looks with a black one when in the gunfighter pose. Like the
Hardy GF, this statue is often hard to stand on a shelf. There
may have been two different molds to try to fix that problem.
Silver, Brown or Black gun.
Click here to see a large photo
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Dan Troop: #767
One of the harder gunfighters to find and also one of the most
impressive. This hat is almost identical to Dillon’s except
it omits the tiny bead line around the brim. Silver, Black or
Brown pistol.
Click here to see a large photo
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Johnny McKay #768
Possibly “the” hardest Hartland figure to find. McKay
was the sidekick to Dan Troop and was probably not as popular
of a figure with the kids at the time. He has a black hat similar
to Dillon’s, but it is a little thicker all over. No number
of letter inside. Silver, Black or Brown pistol.
Click here to see a large photo
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Clay Hollister: #763
This is my least favorite gunfighter but he still nice to have for the collection and is in the more common half. Early brochures show him with a white hat similar to Troop’s and Dillon’s but some TV press shots show him wearing a large flat brimmed black hat. This black hat does show up in later literature. Two Silver, Black or Brown pistols.
Click here to see a large photo
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Jim Hardy: #764
This figure is a more slender version of the horse and rider
set. It is fairly easy to find. This hat is slightly different
than the one for the rider. It has no number or letter. The hat
can be either black or maroon. In my experience, this figure
is often hard to get to stand by itself. Silver, Black or Brown
pistol.
Click here to see a large photo
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Chris Colt: #761
This figure has sandy blonde colored hair despite some brochures
showing dark hair. I have seen the collar of his shirt both clear
plastic and painted white. Silver, Black or Brown pistols.
Click here to see a large photo
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 Paladin #766
This figure is probably in the harder to find group but it does
show up more often than a few of them. The hat is identical to
the horse and rider version. Silver, Black or Brown pistol.
Box/tag photo courtesy of Keir Neubauer
Click here to see a large photo
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 Vint Bonner #765
Also in the harder to find group of gunfighters. His hat is the same color as his vest and looks very much like the Hoby Gillman hat if it were straightened out. He carries one Silver, Brown or Black Pistol.
Box/tag photo courtesy of Keir Neubauer
Click here to see a large photo
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| Literature & Historic Photos: |
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Brochure Photos:
This group of ten photos are the ones used in the brochres. Hollister is shown with a curled up white hat, and pants that were lighter than his boots. |
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In a later Dealer Sheet, Hollister appears in his production colors and hat. Jim Hardie appears to have a lighter colored hat in the photo above, which was probably the maroon variety. He seems to have shipped that way about half the time. Some of the early brochures show Chris Colt with dark sideburns. Click Here to see a Gunfighter Sales Sheet! |
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| The Gunfighter Tags: |
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Tags:
Gunfighter tags are fairly hard to find. Round tags were printed for eight of the ten gunfighters. Paladin Gunfighters shipped with a special tag with lettering on the reverse side, while the Paladin Horse and Rider sets had no printing on the back. Masterson, the last Gunfighter is not believed to have ever received a hang tag. Tags were most often included in the sets shipped in the solid cardboard boxes, however it appears at least some received them in the cello boxes. The round tags used with the Hardie and Maverick appear to the identical to the tags used with their Horse and Rider counterparts. |
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| The Gunfighter Boxes: |
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| Hartland made two different styles of boxes for the gunfighters. The earlier boxes were solid cardboard with a generic gunslinger on the front. Additional lettering was added to the sides and flaps to identify the set. The later version of the box has a cellophane front with the figure’s name proudly displayed on the front. I own only a few of the solid cardboard boxes, but other collectors have reported them for all of the gunfighters except Masterson. From their reports, most sets sold with the solid box contained a brochure and tag. Brochures and tags seem to have only shipped occasionally in the cellophane front boxes. Masterson, the last gunfighter produced, was only shipped in the cello box and most believe that set never had a hang tag. |
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Besides the two major GF box types, the cello gunfighter boxes have a minor variation with the hanging tab on the back of some. I don't know if every gunfighter had one of each cello box variation, but more than likely, the addition was added as a display improvement. I doubt the variation will affect the value of this style, but it is worth mentioning. |
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| Historic Injection Molds: |
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Hartland
Collectibles, LLC has generously offered to share these photos
exclusively through this site! Besides their newsletter, The
Hartland Courier, these photos will be available no where else.
I’ll add more as I get a chance, so bookmark this page and
check back in often! Click their link above to go directly to
their site. |
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Vint Bonner Gunfighter:
No surprises here. One figure, two arms, a gun, and a the correct
hat. |
Jim Hardie Gunfighter:
This set has three hats and two pistols. There was only one figure
in this mold, too. |
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Paladin Gunfighter::
One figure, a pair of arms, one hat and one pistol. |
Hardie Gunfighter::
This mold has one figure, one hat, one pistol, and a pair of arms. The hat appears to be the correct one. |
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Troop Gunfighter:
The other shot I have of this figure was at an odd angle, but it clearly shows the whole mold. This photo shows only the front half of the figure, hat, and one arm |
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Maverick Gunfighter:
Finally, the mystery of the Maverick Gunfighter is solved! Through the years, we all knew that some of them stood better than others and more than likely it was a minor difference in the two sets of mold cavities. This one has two regular pistols and three hats, plus two complete figures and arms. The photo on the right shows a zoomed in section of the mold. The crown seems to be oval shaped to me and not tear drop shaped. Maybe it is just the angle of the shot causing the oddball shape on the crown? The outer edge of the hats look like Maverick hats to me. Notice the code letter above each hat. Many Maverick GF hats have letters inside, such as O, E, R, or U. |
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My Rating System:
The Gunfighters are quite hard to find. You can find many of
the average difficulty Horse & Riders before you find any
gunfighter so I started these at Three Stars. Your luck may be
different than mine. Also, many of the gunfighters don’t
stand perfectly on a shelf. The two worst are Hardy and Maverick.
In many cases, the gunfighter’s successful balancing act
depends on whether their arms are held in front or behind their
bodies. I recently sold a Maverick gunfighter to a collector
who was unhappy that Maverick did not stand well. I checked my
collection of Mavericks and of six, only two would stand on a
solid level shelf. Even the two which did stand had roughly 3/16"
space at the tip of the right foot. It might be a good idea to
ask the person selling you whether a figure will stand without
wax or tape, but I don’t think there are that many of these
figures to get too picky. Just a note: I used parafin wax
on several of the figures shown above to get them to stand on
the gas grill while taking their photos. Happy Hunting! |
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This page last modified Thursday, October 18, 2007
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