My younger brother and I were given a Hartland figure on special occasions when we were little. My Dad would buy them at Ben Franklin stores in Wichita Falls, TX when we lived in southern Oklahoma. Our entire collection consisted of only nine or ten sets but they were some of our favorite toys while growing up.

My wife and I traveled a lot in 1986 and made it a point to stop at flea markets and antique malls but we really never ran across any Hartlands. Finally I noticed one in a Collector magazine and that started the search in earnest. I even called the Hartland, WI Chamber of Commerce looking for information and sources. Eventually, I did stumble into other collectors and found quite a few. My collection is one of the best, at least most complete, in the country with several hundred sets and lots of variations.

After having my hands on a large number of them, I started seeing patterns. One pattern is—well there isn’t a solid pattern. I am sure that Hartland figured these things would be collectible, but at the time I think they just considered them kids toys. It seems that they substituted horses, saddles, and small parts often and that really makes the science of collecting Hartlands a tough issue.

(Note: The V-Fringe RR on the semi-rearing Trigger is a custom piece, not known to exist)

Exactly when they changed from one style horse to another was not documented. In fact, they even overlapped sets. Sgt. Lance O'Rorke, for example, was shipped on both Champ style horses and Chubby style horses with both red and brown breast collars on each (at least it appears that way). At one point, they showed O’Rorke in the brochures, but called it Preston. The same is true for Roy Rogers. They used a variety of horses and two different figures but just kept calling it the Roy Rogers set and kept the same number through it all. Even the colors of some figures varied a little over the years, including Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger and Tonto.

Hartland literature is only accurate part of the time, too. They often show a set that they did not ship. The pattern on the pinto, the white tail instead of the black tail, a white stocking or maybe a breastcollar were often illustrated incorrectly. Maybe the printing was done in advance of final production off of prototype sets...I don't know. About the best we can do at this point is say that Hartland shipped a certain set in a certain way “most of the time”.

To help build my collection, I placed ads in all kinds of toy and collectors magazines wanting to buy sets and collections. While many transactions were good ones, I did have to pay my dues and learn the hard way that not all sellers know the pieces very well—or know how to rate their condition. While it might look really good to a casual buyer/dealer, I learned that flat noses, chipped ear tips and broken fringe decrease the pieces value. Their “really good” description might only rate as a poor to me. I did learn to ask a lot of questions over the phone prior to a purchase.

Hartland made horse and rider sets for about 10 years—roughly between 1953 and 1963. They produced some sets during almost the entire period, such as Lone Ranger, Tonto, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Some of the early sets included Cochise, Dillon, Cheyenne, B&W Chief Thunderbird, and possibly Lee and Washington. As a result of the extended period of production during the strongest period of the TV Westerns, these sets fall into the “Common Sets”category. Rifleman, Wagon Train (Ward Bond) and a few others fill in the middle sets. Some sets were produced late in Hartland’s western toy era and are still hard to find, like Gil Favor, Maverick, and Bill Longley. Perhaps McKenzie and Rebel were hit double hard because their time on the TV air waves was short and kids were discovering James Bond, leaving their Western phase in the dust.

From my own experience, my Dad was transferred from the region where he was able to find Hartlands. He never knew they made all those other sets. In the mid 50’s, most of the traveling was done by cars and trains. Due to Hartland, WI’s location, I have to guess that Hartland salesmen were located right there in Hartland and would jump in their cars for a one or two day sales call to large cities in the region in an effort to get their products placed in as many stores as possible. Hopping on a plane, renting a car and making a “Power Sales” effort in California was probably not in the budget. I would have been only three or four years old at the time so it is impossible for me to know those things, but it does seem that the most concentrated finds of old Hartlands comes from the East Coast and Midwest. Finding old Hartlands in the West, South and Southwest is almost impossible.

All of this was during a time when kids were turned loose in a department store to go find the “toy aisle” as opposed to entire toy stores of today. Too bad a few more people (mainly my Dad!) did not stock up on a bunch of mint sets and baskets full of spare parts, but who could have known these things would have increased in value that much?

Whatever the case, Hartland and their artists did make a spectacular group of toys that sold for a grand total of $2.98 in most stores and eventually sky rocketed to $3.98 in the early 60’s. They kept me glued to the TV to watch the weekly western shows followed by hours of shoot-em-up action.

Happy Trails and Happy Collecting,
Mike

Mike's Early Years Photo Album