Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:
Sgt. Lance O’Rourke

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2009

Lance O’Rourke:#804
Several of Hartland’s earliest sets went through major transformations during their production years. I have evidence that this set was probably created in the last quarter of 1954 and sold for several years as Lance O’Rourke. However, in the 1958 brochures, this set was shown riding the Champ style horse, but was called Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. From all I can tell, when they shifted him to the new name, they were often shipping him on a walking style horse. For collectors, this creates confusion it really an O’Rourke or a Preston? Several collectors have told me they received this set in a box marked as “Preston”, so you have to give them benefit of the doubt. Quite a while back, I purchased an O’Rourke set in mint condition—and it came to me with a mint Preston style Mountie flag!

For purposes of this page, I am going to draw the line at the Chubby style horse. Sets with the Champ and Chubby horses seem to best fit the O’Rourke statue. I’ll include basically the same information on the Preston page, but will begin his page with the O’Rourke style figure on the numerous walking style horses. To add to the confusion, Hartland created a black Chubby style horse with red tack. While it “might have been shipped” with an O’Rourke style figure, I believe that horse was strictly sold as a Black Beauty horse with a red saddle. It is also possible that some of the later O’Rourke style riders, sold as Sgt. Preston, might have been paired with a black Walking horse with either a full or cropped mane. Those horses would have likely had a wavy tail.

Unlike some of the later sets, O’Rourke was not tied to a TV show of the period. With that being said, “Sgt. Preston of the Yukon” appeared on the small screen in 1955 and stayed on the air until 1958. Without being specifically licensed, it appears they rode the coat tails of the Preson show until they secured the actual licensing. When Hartland switched to the Sgt. Preston set, they eliminated the O’Rourke name from the lineup and gave Preston the #804 designation.
O’Rourke & Preston Figures:
Besides Preston being slightly larger, the main difference is the fact Preston’s right hand is extended to hold the flag. He also has a small cup on his right boot to hold the bamboo flag pole. For most collectors, the figure on the right is Preston and the one on the left is O’Rourke—no matter which horse he was sold on, or what year he was sold!
#804
Lance O’Rourke on Champ horse with Brown Tack:
This is probably the most common variation of this set. I am fairly certain this set shipped with a brown plastic belly strap. The Champ style horses had gold or brass chain reins. O’Rourke figures are slightly smaller than the later Preston figures, including having a smaller hat. The sets included a piece of white cord, used to tie the pistol to the Mountie’s neck. I am not aware of a Champ style, all black horse with red tack. There is a slight variation of this horse that might be the very first O’Rourke horse. It is basically the same except for a much smaller tail. A similar horse with the short tail also appears in white.
#804
Lance O’Rourke on Chubby style horse with Brown Tack:
From my experience, this variation shows up about as often as the Champ style variation—but this one might be just a little less common. The earliest Chubby style horses lacked a molded on bridle. I am not aware of a black Chubby style horse with the painted on bridle (they did this on a few Earp and Dale Evans horses). The rest of the configuration is the same, however, the barrel of this horse is bigger than the Champ horse and the plastic belly strap does not fit. I doubt this version had the strap. I believe this set would have had a beaded chain rein.
As stated earlier, the Chubby style black horses with red tack were probably variations of Black Beauty. The text in the 1958 brochure, under Sgt. Preston, doesn't mention red or scarlet. When the 1959 brochure appeared, it showed the complete Preston set with the walking horse and Canadian Flag. That brochure mentions the scarlet martingale. There might be a chance that some of the last O’Rourke sets shipped on the Chubby horse could have been on this horse. I’d be a little skeptical of it now, though.
Boxes:
The earliest sets would have shipped in a generic cardboard box similar to the one on the left. In later years, O’Rourke was shipped in the full color box, shared with Chief Thunderbird and Wyatt Earp.
Mold Marks
O’Rourke figure: “©Hartland Plastics, Inc.” on the back of the left glove.
O’Rourke saddle: “©Hartland Plastics, Inc.” on the underside of some.
O’Rourke Mountie Hat:
I’ve seen this hat in quite a few color variations. The one shown here is more the color of later Preston style hats. Many have a distinctive yellow-green hue. Since O’Rourke figures are smaller, his hat is also smaller than the newer Preston mold.
Cinch Strap:
Hartland made belly straps for early O’Rourke sets, along with many Lee sets. As far as I know, the only O’Rourke sets that actually did get the plastic belly strap were the ones that shipped with the Champ style black horse. These were molded in white plastic and then painted brown to match the brown on the saddles. These small pieces are fairly uncommon. When Stevens remade Lee, they included a black belly strap with each set.

Blue and Yellow Mounted Police Saddle
For a long time, I thought there was only one Mountie saddle but a collector pointed out my mistake. Yes, there is a difference! You will have to study the two Mountie saddles on those pages to see it, but this earlier saddle flairs a bit near the chopped off back corners near the lettering.

Military Saddles
Sgt. Lance O’Rourke Dealer Sheet
Actually, I think this is a very early piece of literature since they didn’t even use his name on the color sheet. It appears that Hartland was just making a Cowboy, an Indian, and a Cowgirl in the beginning without ever giving them real names. This one falls into that pattern, too. According to the literature, this set originally came with one of the plastic belly cinch straps. It lists the piece in the “removable parts” section and shows it clearly in the drawing. The set is numbered #804 on this dealer sheet. There is no mention of a Canadian flag.

Sgt. Lance O’Rourke Brochure Photo:
This photo looks almost identical to the one used on the Dealer Sheet above. It appears in the first brochure in 1955 and listed as O’Rourke through the 1957 brochures. This same photo was used again in 1958, but listed as Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.

I have never seen, nor heard of, an O’Rourke tag.
Sgt. Lance O’Rourke Mountie Pistol:
This is basically a Champ style pistol with a ring on the butt of the handle. As far as I know, there is no difference in this pistol and the one used by Preston.