800 Champ Sets

800 Series Champ Cowboy Sets

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008

This page is dedicated to the smaller 800 series riders. To view all the 800 Series Champ style horses, click here!

Initially, I thought the 800 series horse and riders were produced a while after the larger 900 series sets, but some literature surfaced to indicate they were introduced at roughly the same time. For a more detailed Champ History, click here. While there is quite a variety of color schemes and color combinations possible, Hartland did seem to try to match the horse’s bridle and martingale color with the saddle. From there, the appropriate colored figure would have matched with the set. Several other companies made "knock-offs" of the Hartland Champs, so you would need to study the examples below to make certain you are getting a vintage Hartland set! The Champs sets were introduced in early 1954, and appear to be phased out within a few years. I've found one catalog showing some were still being sold through 1958.

800 Series Riders

	800 series riders are roughly 7" tall, with both hands clasp equally over the belt buckle. This grouping shows all the known variations. When I first starting collecting, there was rumored Green Shirt variation, but the only known versions have been for the 900 series rider only. To my eyes, the green shirted figures were prototypes and not put into full production.
Mold Mark Small Champ figure: “Hartland Molded, Hartland, Wisc.” on the back of the left chap. Horses not marked.

800 Series Sets (Roughly 9" tall)

Black Cowboy:
These figures are very rare! Maybe a dozen are known to exist right now. To date, all of them have been molded in black plastic and the details and face color painted over it. They all have white hats and two silver pistols, and a pointed tapadero style saddle with dots around the edges. These figures ride a standard white Champ horse with black tack. For a more detailed history of this set, click here.

#801-P, Blue and Brown on Palomino:
According to the Chief Thunderbird instruction sheet, this set is officially called “Western Champ"- and his cowboy master. The Palomino horse has brown tack. A 900 series set was shown in the brochures for several years. The name seems to be generically assigned to all the Champ style horse and riders. These are relatively easy to find, but finding one with without rubs and fading on the chaps is much more difficult.

#801-Br Pn, Blue and Brown on Brown Pinto:
I've never seen documentation on this set, but several reliable collectors tell me they found their Brown Pintos combined with this horse. The Pinto Champ horses are quite a bit harder to find than the solid colored ones.

#801-Bk Pn, Red and White on Black Pinto Horse:
According to the Chief Thunderbird instruction sheet, this set is officially called “Wrangler—on Paint". Actually, the figure is quite common, but the pinto horse is much harder to find. Many collectors refer to the smaller Ike-Pete-Kid group as wranglers. Hartland did not seem to continue the use of the names after the Thunderbird sheet.

#801-Br PN, Red and White on Brown Pinto Horse???????????:
I shot photos for this combination, but I am not sure if it is legitimate combination.

#801-B, Red & White on Black Horse with White blaze & stockings:
According to the Chief Thunderbird instruction sheet, this set is officially called “Wrangler—on Blacksnake". Actually, the figure is quite common, but the black horse with white markings is a little tougher than the Palominos or White horses. Michael Pevarnik notices paint variations in two of his black horses. One is molded in black plastic, while the other one is white plastic painted solild black. The white stockings and blaze on each were painted over the black.

#801-W, Red and White on White Horse with regular tail:
According to the Chief Thunderbird instruction sheet, this set is officially called “Wrangler—on Starlight". This combination is fairly common, especially knowing Hartland used this horse for the Lone Ranger Champ set. It has the regular sized tail.

#801-W, Red and White on White Horse with unusual Short Tail:
Besides the shorter tail, the hooves were left unpainted, creating a distinctively different set. A similar short tailed horse (in black) was paired with some early Lance O’Rourke Mountie sets.

This set may have also been called “Wrangler—on Starlight", however a recently discovered boxed set was simply labeled 801-Cowboy. My horse came to me a Red and White Cowboy, too.

#801-LR, Champ Lone Ranger White Horse with Silver Tack:
According to an early Dealer Sheet, this appears to have been the first planned configuration. This version of the Silver is not rare, but it is less common than the one with black tack.

#801-LR, Champ Lone Ranger White Horse with Black Tack:
This configuration shows up in several of the early brochures, and it the most common Champ Style Lone Ranger. Lone Ranger TV shows always had Silver with black tack. Some of these sets are marked "Lone Ranger, Inc. 1954" with a rubber stamp under the rear of the figure.

#801-LR, Champ Lone Ranger on Wavy Tailed Walker:
I debated on whether to include this set on this page, , but since it is dedicated to the Champ figures, it seems appropriate. For a while prior to the production of the Clayton Moore style Lone Ranger, Hartland put their Champ style figure on their new walking horse mold. It was a common practice at the time to include the beaded chain reins, so all of this configuration that I am aware of have them.

Numbering:
Considering how many 800 series Champ sets were sold, it is surprising to me that so few of the boxes remain. Maybe part of that has to do with the fact they are quite generic, without any sort of colorful photo. Many of the boxes that do show up were printed for multi-purpose use, as shown above. The packaging department could simply circle the style of horse and rider that was inside. Additional letter codes include B, Bk, Br, and possibly others. 801 sets were used with Cowboys and 802 sets were shipped with the Cowgirls. While this box indicates there was a 800 Pal, I've never really seen other documentation indicating they sold the early Champ horses by themselves. With that said, an occasional oddball horse shows up once in a while which might fall into that scenario, such as a Palomino Champ horse with black tack. The box shown above contained a Red and White Cowgirl on a white horse.

Literature:
This is the only brochure photograph I have found so far and he is labeled #801P. It appears to be the blue shirted cowboy, and in this case it actually appears to be a 900 series horse and rider. The hat has the distinctive slant back on the crown and the figure’s legs are bent more at the knees. Click on the link above to see additional photos from magazine advertisements and other catalogs.

		Champ Pistols: I believe "most" Champ sets received two pistols like the one shown on the left and I have always simply called them Champ Pistols.

		This early style pistol, lacking the rear gun sight, appears to have been shipped with quite a few of the Champ sets and some of the earlier cowboys like Roy Roger and Lone Ranger. No one knows which gun is in the old Champ cowboy molds.
A crate of a dozen Gem Mint, still factory sealed Champ sets surfaced recently. The find sheds some new light on the pistol combinations. See the chart near the bottom of this page for more details. Of the boxes that have been opened to date, some had standard silver Champ Pistols, a couple had the style lacking the rear gun sight, and at least one box contained the later style pistols with the rear gun sight. (One brown and one black). The regular Champ Pistols have also been found in sealed parts packages for Tonto, and I believe Tonto might have even been shipped with a rare brown version of the Champ Pistol.

#800 Champ Saddles

Hartland produced Champ saddles in basically two different molds, but in several different colors. The saddle on the left was generally used with the Cowboys, while the saddle on the right was most often used with the Cowgirls. In fact, that saddle can be clearly seen in the Cowgirl mold. The basic colors are Black, Brown, and Red, however a couple of shades of brown exist. Additionally, a few collectors have found a mysterious Blue Champ style saddle, but it unclear which rider (if any) was paired with it.
To view all the Champ Saddles, click here!

#800 Champ Hats

All 800 series Champ Cowboy figures shipped with this style hat. A few other companies copied the hat, including Lido, so a few similar hats show up in odd colors like caramel and brown, but I don't believe Hartland made them.

#800 Champ Reins

Until recently (mid-2007), I would have stated that all the Champ horses would have had beaded chain reins. I'd still say most did, but the gem mint set of 12 Champ sets (described below) confirms some were shipped with crimped leatherette reins. Based on the type of pistols and documentation, I'd say the boxed sets were produced in, or around 1958.

801 Champ Crate of 12 (+3) 12 PCS. No.800-801
Recently, Michael Pevarnik purchased a crate of a dozen factory sealed 801 Hartland Champs. A week or so later, he purchased the remaining three sealed boxes from the same seller. The chart below lists the information we can glean from the sets that have been opened.



Number	Figure	Horse	Reins	Saddle	Tail	Guns	Literature
801 Cowboy	Red & White	White	Leatherette	Red with silver dots	Short Unpainted Hooves	2 Silver Pistols (without rear sight)	None
801 Cowboy	?	?	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?
801 Cowboy	?	?	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?
801 Cowboy	?	?	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?

801 White Cowboy & Horse (MJ)	Red & White	White Black Hooves	Gold Beaded Chain	Black with silver dots	Long	Regular Pistols (with rear sight) 1 Black 1 Brown	Western Champ & His Master
801 White Cowboy & Horse	?	White	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?
801 White Cowboy & Horse	?	White	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?
801 White Cowboy & Horse	?	?	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?

801 BKP Cowboy & Horse	Red & White	Black & White Pinto	Gold Beaded Chain	Red silver dots	Long	2 Silver Pistols (without rear sight)	Western Champ & His Master
801 BKP Cowboy & Horse	?	Black & White Pinto	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?
801 BKP Cowboy & Horse	?	Black & White Pinto	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?

801 Black	Red & White	Black White Stockings	Gold Beaded Chain	Red silver dots	Long	2 Silver Pistols (without rear sight)	Western Champ & His Master

3 uncrated sets purchased from the same seller
801 Cowboy & Black Horse (MP)	Red & White	Black White Stockings	Gold Beaded Chain	Red silver dots	Long	2 Silver Pistols (without rear sight)	Western Champ & His Master
801 Black	?	?	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?
801 BKP & Horse	?	?	Unopend Box	?	?	?	?

Michael sold a few sets on eBay, still factory tape sealed, so we may never know exactly what is in each of those boxes. For now, I indicated the unopened boxes with a question mark.

The original carton was mailed from R.T. Killa, Indiana State Fair to "Killa Products" in Thiensville, WI. Thiensville is about 27 miles from Hartland.

This page last modified Thursday, October 18, 2007