Lone Ranger #801

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008
The Lone Ranger originally appeared as a Hartland Plastics piece in 1954 and stayed on the brochure sheets until 1962. The Semi-Rearing versions are shown below. An early Dealer Sheet indicates he was originally designed to ride on a Champ style Silver with a silver martingale, and quite a few of them can be found. Over the next 8 years, the figure was changed once, and he was paired with a variety of horse molds. Due to the popularity of the set, and the duration of the production run, these sets are fairly easy to find. The Lone Ranger remains a very popular set with present day collectors.
 
Lone Ranger has two basic molds as shown above. The one on the left is often referred to as "The Champ Style Lone Ranger" and the one on the right is called the "real Lone Ranger" or "Clayton Moore Lone Ranger". Hartland also created a larger Champ style Lone Ranger in the 900 series which looks similar to the one on the left. Most later style Lone Rangers have red scarves as shown in the middle photo. A few have surfaced which have yellow scarves. It is not absolutely certain that this was originally sent out in yellow, but the piece above has had no tampering. Three or four more are known to exist. Additionally, there may have been another Lone Ranger mold at some time, because some of the later version figures have a few extra dots around the holsters. The Champ style sets were molded in white and painted blue. Some of the later version were actually molded in light blue.

Mold Marks
Champ: "Hartland Molded, Hartland, Wisc" on the back of the right chap.
Champ: Occasionally marked "Lone Ranger, Inc. 1954" with a rubber stamp under the rear of the figure.
Clayton Moore Style: "Hartland Plastics Inc" on the back of the left arm.
 
There are two Lone Ranger hats. The style on the left was originally created for the early Champ style rider. When the later style Lone Ranger was created, he also received a new hat which resembled the one worn by Clayton Moore in the TV show.
 
Lone Ranger Variations
Champ Style Figure on Champ Horse/Silver Martingale:
This seems to be the first version, as it appears on an early Dealer Sheet for the Lone Ranger. This horse is not rare, but I find it less often than the one below with the black tack. The first of these sets started appearing in 1954.
Champ Style Figure on Champ Horse/Black Martingale:
Most collectors display the earlier set in this configuration and it is more commonly found this way. Almost all Champ style sets will have a black saddle with silver dots around the edges. They also carry two "Champ Style Pistols", used on all the small Champ sets. All Champ horses will have beaded chain reins in gold or brass color. By early 1955, it appears Hartland had switch to the small white horse with black tack.
Champ Style Figure on Wavy Tailed Walking Horse:
I have never seen any Hartland documentation or photographs showing this combination, however I am certain they did ship the Champ style Lone Ranger figure on a wavy tailed waking horse for a while. That horse will have a beaded chain set of reins and black painted tack. The saddle will always be the early Champ style with dots. Early documentation indicates the walking horse was designed to go with Roy Rogers. Apparently, while they were waiting for the new Clayton Moore style Lone Ranger figure, some were shipped this way. Of the group of combinations on this page, this one is the least favorite of collectors.
Clayton Moore Style Figure on Wavy Tailed Walking Horse and Champ style Saddle:
Again, this might not be the most favorite combination for collectors, but there are numerous Hartland pieces of literature to support it. In fact, this is the combination shown in the brochures when the figure is shown on a walking horse. It also appears this way in several Christmas catalogs. Some early versions of "Silver" were boxed with this horse and saddle.
Clayton Moore Style Figure on Wavy Tailed Walking Horse and Standard Saddle:
Finally! Here's the Lone Ranger combination we know and love! The earliest I can find this combination in print was for the 1956 Wards Christmas Catalog. The wavy tailed walking horse was a very popular horse when it was introduced with Roy Rogers. Other figures got this horse about the same time, too. The saddle commonly associated with this set was also used with Ward Bond sets. When molded in brown, it was used for Dale Evans and Josh Randall. By this point, the set had the newer figure, horse, saddle, guns and hat. The earliest group would have had chain reins. Later shipments may have had leatherette reins, introduced with the Turk King horse and jockey set.
Clayton Moore Style Figure on Straight Tailed Walking Horse and Standard Saddle:
I don't know the exact proportions, but this version seems to be about equally common as the one above with the wavy tail—this one maybe a tiny bit less common? Several sets which were riding the walking horses with wavy tails were moved up to the newer mold. Since the tail halves were part of the body halves, this one was easier to assemble.
Clayton Moore Style Figure on Mane-Up, Semi-Rearing Horse with Wavy Tail:
The first figure to get this horse was probably Cochise in 1957. Others, including The Lone Ranger, soon followed. It's a dynamic pose and was very popular with the collectors. If you look closely at the fender of the saddle in the left photo above, you can see the little cinch hole that started showing up about this time. The leatherette strap could be tied through on each side and wrapped under the belly of the horse.
Clayton Moore Style Figure on Mane-Up, Semi-Rearing Horse with Slender Tail:
The mane and tail on this horse is slightly different on this later style horse. Overall, this horse is lighter and probably saved Hartland Plastics some money on materials compared to the earlier one. The wavy tailed and slender tailed semi-rearing horses shown above are about equally common, however the semi-rearing versions are harder to find than the walking horses.
Clayton Moore Style Figure on Full Rearing Horse:
This is my personal favorite pose for the Lone Ranger set. In the opening scenes of the TV show intro, the Lone Ranger raced Silver to the top of a little hill and then reared him up into this trademark pose. With the introduction of Annie Oakley, Hartland had a new dynamic horse mold. The Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers were switched over almost immediately. Mackenzie also shared this horse pose, but that would be a little while. The hole in the saddles became even more important on this set to hold the saddle and rider in place. The semi-rearing and full rearing versions of this set are almost equally split, from my experience anyway.
Clayton Moore Style Figure on Mane Down Semi-Rearing Horse:
You might think I should have put this horse above the full rearing horse, especially if I were trying to show the sets in chronological order. Recently, based on some writings by collector George C. Jones, I have begun to think the last horse for the Lone Ranger was actually this version or the slender tailed semi-rearing horse above. At a point in about 1961, Mackenzie and Annie Oakley were discontinued. Without the urgent "need" for full rearing horses, it appears Hartland may have moved Roy Rogers and The Lone Ranger to semi-rearing horses. Actually, in 1961, several sets that had traditionally been shipped on other horses were shipped on one of the semi-rearing versions. The horse shown above, with the mane down, was used earlier with Maverick and Gil Favor, and was part of the Remuda series when painted in a black and white pinto color. I believe, now, that Roy Rogers probably got the inventory of full rearing horses in 1961 before being switched to the mane down, semi-rearing horse shown in later 1961 and 1962 Christmas catalogs. George's theory is compelling and well documented in the sheets he recently sent for me to review.
Yellow Scarf Lone Ranger Mystery:
I had heard of a yellow scarf Lone Ranger over the years, but it took a long time to ever actually see one. The figure on the left has basically no remnant red in the scarf, but I am almost certain it was originally red.
The big clue comes as a few figures, similar to the one on the right, started showing on eBay. It becomes clear, especially in the photo above, that Hartland originally painted the scarf red, and over a period of time the red has faded away. A few collectors with art backgrounds, including myself, agree that Hartland added yellow to their normal red to brighten it up when being painted over the light blue plastic. Over the years, as the red fades in the light, the more lightfast yellow remains.

Since I have one or two of the figures like the one on the left above, I would love to buy into the possibility they are very rare and worth a lot of money, but in all honesty, I just think it is a lesser valued faded set. As always, I could be wrong on this issue, but I feel very confident after seeing quite a few figures like the one on the right that all yellow scarf Lone Ranger figures had red scarfs when they were shipped out of the factory.
 
Lone Ranger Printed Information
Lone Ranger Boxes
Early Hartland horse and riders were packaged in generic cardboard shipping boxes similar to the one on the left. The Lone Ranger and Tonto boxes had some additional printing on the front. Probably about the time Hartland started shipping the Lone Ranger on a walking style horse, they switched to the colorful litho box. That box is shared with Tonto, with changes made to the sides , top and bottoms. The colorful boxes are actually easier to find than the generic ones! Due to the fact the original Lone Ranger was created from the earlier Champ mold, it had to be differentiated from the Champ sets which already used #801. For years, Hartland added LR to the end of the number, offically calling it #801 LR.
Lone Ranger Tags
As far as I know, these are the only two styles of Lone Ranger tags. Both have writing on the back with the horseshoe design. The printing ink is dark blue and all tags I have ever seen for this set have had dark blue strings.
Lone Ranger Brochure Photos
This shows the three versions of the Lone Ranger and Tonto used in brochures. Note the Champ style saddle on the middle one. I have never seen a Semi-Rearing combination in a brochure, however I do have a dealer sheet from 1961 which does show it.
 
Chart of TV Show and Related Information
TV Show Information*
Figure
No.		 Show
Name		 Star's
Name		 Studio
Name		 Show Year Brochure
Years
801-LR The Lone
Ranger		 Clayton
Moore		 Wrather Corp,
LR TV, Inc.		 1949-
1957		 1955-1962
*With a little help from “Total Television” by Alex McNeil 1996, 4th Edition
 
Lone Ranger Accessories
Champ Style Hat:
Since Hartland "adapted" this set from their early 801 Champ Horse and Rider, he shares the hat with those sets. For the figure, they simply painted the figure light blue and added the mask as shown above.
The Real Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) Style Hat:
This hat was molded into the same mold as the figure and closely resembled the one worn by the Lone Ranger on the TV show. As any Lone Ranger trivia buff could tell you, the Lone Ranger wore the knot and scarf on the right side of his neck in the show.

This hat is sometimes numbered or lettered inside:
No number (common), LR (uncommon), 801 (uncommon)
Lone Ranger Saddles
The saddle on the left is commonly called the "Champ Style Saddle". Some people call them "Fancy Pointed Saddles". From my experience, when the Lone Ranger sets were shipped with the earlier style saddle, it was the variation with the dots around the edges as shown on the left above. A similar "dashed" saddle is often used with the Cowgirls, but has been known to ship with some early Cowboys. The saddle on the right is commonly called the "plain black saddle" or "plain blunt tipped saddle". The later ones would have had small holes punched in the fenders for the leatherette cinch strap. I've never had a problem putting one of them on a walking style horse, but others might consider that incorrect.
Champ Style Pistols
The early sets were shipped with two silver Champ Style Pistols, just like the other Champ sets. This pistol looks very much like a Mountie pistol, lacking the ring for the lanyard. They are pretty tough to find loose.
Regular Pistols
By the time the real Lone Ranger was introduced, Hartland had produced a new pistol which fit only the new sets. These pistols don't fit the Champ sets well at all. From about 1956 to 1959 or 1960, it appears that Lone Ranger sets had silver pistols. After that time frame, I think it would have been common to get a pair of brown, maroonish, or black pistols. Sets documented after 1961 all seem to have the dark guns. I like the silver ones best for the Lone Ranger.
 
This page last modified Friday, October 19, 2007