Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:
Black Champ Cowboys

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008

The Black Champ Cowboys: 801 & 901
These were probably the first horse and rider sets that Hartland produced (actually the larger 900 series were first).

Mold Mark
Champ figures: “Hartland Molded, Hartland, Wisc.” on the back of the left chap.
The distinguishing feature of an original Black Champ Cowboy is the fact they were molded in black plastic. If you find one molded in white plastic, be leary! The scarf, holster and gun belt are painted with white paint and the figure has silver detailing. Likewise the face and hair were painted over the black plastic. The smaller figure is very rare and the larger one is very hard to find, too. These two figures were probably the first two riders Hartland ever produced as illustrated and explained below. Many 900 series figures were molded in white plastic with black painted over it, however, it does appear that some were actually molded in black plastic.

Click on either photo above to view a 106K large blow-up of the photo and caption:
The photos above are from an April 1954 Playthings magazine in which Miss Texas is shown holding a Large Black Champ Cowboy. The caption indicates they were now available in two sizes. There is no mention of a Cowgirl figure at this time, but when the figure was produced, it was numbered either 802 or 902 depending on the size. The horse is clearly one of the white Champ style horses with black tack. None of the later Champ Cowboys had white holsters, so it is almost certian to be a Black Champ Cowboy. It also appears to have the right hand lower than the left, helping to confirm that it is a large Champ set.

Knowing that the figure is marked with “Hartland Molded, Hartland, Wisc”, I don’t believe it was created prior to 1954 as supported by the Classified Directory of Wisconsin Manufacturers. For the piece to have been ready for the April magazine, at least one prototype or one finished production piece had to have been ready by February or March. The horse mold would have already been ready from use on the Mastercrafters Clock, so they only needed to make the two figures, guns, hats, and saddles. Design might have started in the last month of 1953, but I have a feeling that Hartland was quite fast at getting a piece from the drawing board to the production line by early 1954.
#901 Large Black Cowboy Set
Probably the first horse and rider set Hartland ever produced! To my knowledge, all of the large Black Cowboys had a cigarette in the right hand. Some of the later cowboys lacked the cigarette. This is the set shown in the Miss Texas photo above. While it is a fairly hard set to find, the smaller 800 version is much more difficult. The large sets also had a larger pistol than the 800 series riders. Hartland made a white horse with silver tack, but I am fairly certain if was used with the Large Lone Ranger sets created from the same molds later in the year.
#801
The solid black cowboy is one of the most rare pieces in my collection. I know of only a few others. The holster and scarf are painted white over the black outfit. Silver was also used as trim throughout. I have never seen a solid black champ hat, but one could be easily painted. Some have said that this combination was planned as a Hopalong Cassidy? Probably not, but who knows. This set is shown on a rare white Champ horse with the short tail and unpainted hooves, though I now believe it was shipped with a regular length tail. This horse is now known to ship with a small Red and White Champ figure.
Click Here to view other Large Champ Style Horse & Riders:

Champ Molds...a web site exclusive!
900 Large Champ Figure Mold:
This mold contains the two parts to the figure, two guns, a saddle and TWO different style hats! Interestingly, the saddle included in this mold is the one with dots. The saddle included with the Cowgirl mold has the dashes.
900 Large Champ Horse Mold:
There were two slightly different Large Champ horse molds. This one has the solid mane, suggesting it was the later one. According to Sheryl Leisure, the person at Hartland Collectibles, LLC who took the photos, this one does not have a hole in its back You can see the tail at the top of the photo.
900 Large Champ Saddle Mold:
This mold contains two large Champ style saddles with the “dashes”—as opposed to the style with the dots around the edges on the Champ Figure mold above. This might explain why they are a bit more common and also show up on a few Cowboy sets. Extra saddles were shipped to Mission Supply in Florida to be sold as replacement parts. Note how the fenders and tapaderos are flattented out. I had assumed they placed the saddles over a cooling rack soon after demolding where the stirrup sections would have cooled in their shipping shape, but Sheryl Leisure told me that the copper spray masks were also in the shapes as shown above. So, after painting, they were heated and reshaped! All saddles were molded with the fenders and stirrups or tapaderos flattened out like this.
Click here to view other molds!