Misc .Catalogues

Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:
MISC. CATALOGS

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008

1960 Alden’s Christmas Book:
This photo seems to account for the fact that the Warpaint Thunderbird horse shows up more often than the figure. The text next to the photo doesn’t mention a blanket and it doesn’t appear to show a blanket in the photo—just a little bag of candy.

Thanks to Diana McKenzie for these two photos!

1961 Alden’s Christmas Catalog:
This ad documents Rebel’s saddle and the year Hartland used a Semi-Rearing Trigger. After several years of the sets selling for $3.98, it is surprising to see them for only $2.99 here.

1961 Alden’s Christmas Book:
This is a beautiful photo of some of the later sets. Favor and Rebel were two of the last sets Hartland produced. Most brochures show the Rebel on a brown and white prancer and with the wrong saddle but this photo finally shows the Rebel set as I believe he always shipped, including the black (probably rifle holed) saddle. This photo makes it clear that Hartland “could” have used the coffee dunn head down prancer with Gil Favor if they had wanted, since it was available for the Rebel. I am beginning to speculate that only the very earliest of the Favors had the prancer, even though he might have been designed to go with that horse all along. Maybe he just sat in the saddle better on a semi-rearing version of the horse and they opted for that version, giving his horse mold to the Rebel?

Also of note on this photo: Three of the figures were on the semi-rearing horses. Two would have had mane down version, but it is hard to say which mold of the semi-rearing horse that Paladin would have been riding. Some of the mane down version do exist for that set. Additionally, Dillon is on his standard smooth tail horse and it appears that the Rifleman is on the same horse mold. I have a few of the Rifleman horses with the earlier wavy tail.

Spiegel’s Christmas Catalogs

1962 Spiegel Christmas Catalog :
Here’s another example of the later style Roy Rogers figure on a semi-rearing Trigger along with the shipping version of the Rebel. The Rebel is shown again with a black saddle. Matt Dillon and the Lone Ranger were still being sold, but not shown in this photo. You would think the Rebel and RR on this horse would be easier to find!

Dearth’s Hobby & Toy Center: 1957 Chirstmas Time Toys
I cropped out some of the other toys which would have been in the two corners to make these show better. This catalog reminds me of a Western Auto store catalog, with a variety of familiar looking toys and games. This set shows the Lone Ranger with his correct horse, new saddle and normal parts. Cochise is shown on a phantom horse....white tail and mane. The black pinto markings are also different than the normal semi-rearing pintos. He also has some extra paint work on his boots, not common to any production piece I have ever seen.

Miles Kimball Catalogs - Oshkosh, WS

1955 Miles Kimball Catalog.
The set on the left is a Hartland Wrangler riding Blacksnake, as referenced by the Chief Thunderbird instruction sheet. The figure on the right is a Breyer Indian on a Western Pony. Miles Kimball sold both Hartland and Breyer sets throughout the period, but there was never any indication which company was making any of the sets.

1956 Miles Kimball Catalog.
This grouping shows a Hartland Champ style Lone Ranger, early style Tonto, and a Breyer Mountie. I am fairly sure that Hartland’s Canadian Mountie was ready by the end of 1954 or certainly by February of 1955, so I am a little surprised to see this grouping.

In the early years, the Hartlands were advertised as being made of “unbreakable plastic”, but all know that wasn’t the case!

1956 Wards Christmas Catalog:
This is a scan of a color photocopy. I'll try to get a better one someday. The interesting feature here is the newer style horse and saddle used on the Lone Ranger. This piece would have had to be ready for shipping by mid-1956.

Notice the leatherette reins on both sets. While some sets may have continued to get beaded chain reins, after the introduction of Turf King, it appears they switched to the leatherette reins for all the walking and chubby style horses. As a point of interest, some catalogs and ads still showed the Champ style Lone Ranger for another year or longer, as illustrated in some catalogs below.
Click here or the photo to view a larger image

1957 Wards Christmas Catalog:
Nothing too surprising here except for possibly the brown over white horse version for Wyatt Earp. In later years, his horse might have had white paint over brown plastic.

1957 Miles Kimball Catalog
Every set in this group is a Hartland except the Canadian Mountie, which is a Breyer. Of course Hartland also had a Canadian Mountie, later named Sgt. O'Rourke, so it is interesting that they didn't carry that set instead. This ad still mentions unbreakable plastic. Dale Evans would have been available at this time, but was not sold through Miles Kimball that year.

1958 Miles Kimball Catalog
This is a typical grouping of Hartlands from around this time. I’m a little surprised Tonto was not included. Notice they changed the part about the unbreakable plastic.

1959 Spiegel Christmas Catalog
Unfortunately, the nose on the Dillon horse was trimmed off, but we all know what it looks like. With all the available sets in 1959, I am surprised which ones they picked to sell. These were popular sets, of course, and they may have be tied in with other items they were selling such as gun and holster sets.

1958 General Merchandise Catalog
This catalog resembled a Sears catalog from what I hear, with quite a few pages of toys. This is a nice grouping of Westerns. It indicates that Hartland shipped RR, LR and Oakley on full rearing horses about this time, but most noteworthy is the positive timestamping of the year they produced Dale Evans in a purple outfit. Earp is still shown with the walking horse without the white stockings. Dillon and Earp were shown in their basic configurations.

Fall 1961- Spring 1962 General Merchandise Catalog: The photo on the left shows the Rebel as Hartland showed him in the brochure, however I have never seen that horse. This picture clearly shows him on a McClellan saddle, but I think it was a prototype. From closeup inspection of this photo, I am fairly sure it was a black Cheyenne saddle. Note that Lee is shown with a sword in his hand. In the group of minis, the Rifleman photo was listed as “Bodie”.

1958? Unknown Catalog
This ad probably came out in the same year as the General Merchandise piece above, but the seller did not know the name of the catalog. If you know, please let me know!

c1955 Farwell Hardware Catalog
This catalog sheet wasn't dated when I found it, but I am fairly certain it came out in 1955 based on the pieces shown. Notice O'Rorke is still called Royal Canadian Mounties. All sets were shown on Champs, exept for the listing of Chief Thunderbird which would have been on a Chubby Pinto. There is a possibility the catalog photos were taken in late 1954.

April 1959 Toys and Novelties Magazine:
This magazine was loaded with great toy tie-ins, with articles about many of our stars. Richard Boone apparently visited the Toy Fair, with several photos of him doing a cameo photo simlar to the one above.

April 1959 Toys and Novelties Magazine:
This display rack is the only known piece of point of purchase advertising. No doubt there were others, but I haven’t seen them. I have seen very rough photocopies of this rack before, but could never find a good photo of it. Since this was a toy wholesaler’s trade magazine, a display like this would be very effective. I’ve never seen a surviving original. Wouldn’t that be fun!

Note the bending of the wire rack. I have always wondered why they didn’t put one of the other two walking horse sets from the bottom row on the top row and put Cochise on the bottom row. It would have looked much cleaner. However, the wire was bent ins such a way that the four walking horses were confined to the right two places on each shelf. Mackenzie wasn’t out yet, to fill in beside the other three full rearing horses.

Nice find!

Dec., 1958 Toys and Novelties Magazine:
This ad appeared later in the year, showing Maverick. Since this is a toy trade magazine, Hartland would have been catering to toy stores and distributors.