Steven's Sets & Figures

Mike Jackson’s Hartland Photos:
Stevens Sets & Figures

Text & Photographs Copyright Mike Jackson 1998-2008

Stevens Plastics—Herrman, MO
These sets surely still qualify as Hartland Sets, but were made in the late 80’s and early 90’s. A seasoned collector will be able to identify any of the sets of pieces as Stevens sets, but a beginner will probably end up paying top dollar for them, not knowing they are so new.

One tell tale sign of a Steven set is the size. While they were molded from the same molds, the older pieces are roughly 1/4" smaller than the new ones. Additionally, hats & pistols created for the new sets fit too large on an older figure. After 40-50 years, it appears that almost all vintage pieces have shrunk uniformly.

Other than the size, the silver guns are well done, along with Wyatt Earp’s hat, and they are hard to distinguish from early pieces. Since Stevens never sold the accessories for Thunderbird and Earp individually, they have not flooded the market. The brown saddle used with Dale Evans and Earp were almost identical to the Hoby Gillman saddle of 30 plus years ago. The rest of the accessories and figures can be distinguished fairly easily once you have seen originals. Towards the end, Steven sold some of the parts unpainted. Some of the Steven parts show up on eBay and auctions now, and of course some show up on sets being sold as “vintage”. The stirrups on some of those unpainted saddles are sometimes used to repair old ones.

1988 Stevens Warpaint Chief Thunderbird
Stevens produced a cheaper styerene version of the Warpaint Thunderbird sets in 1988. One collector told me he bought a bunch of them in the closeout rack at a Wal-Mart for $9 each. I never bought one of those but have seen them in brochures. Notice that the photographer put the tomahawk in the knive holster.

(Photo from Stevens Literature for reference only.)

Stevens Roy Rogers: 1992-1994
Originally sold through J.C. Penneys, this set was later sold direct from Stevens and a few distributors. Trigger is painted palamino color and then white overpaint, however they left off the white blaze on Trigger’s head. He came with an all blue saddle with silver dots and two silver guns along with his white hat. The figure was a bit rough at the joints on some and the red was not as intense as early models. The J.C.Penneys sets came in a generic cardboard box but was later repleced with a colorful see through box.

Stevens Dale Evans: 1993-1994
Actually a nice set. They used a Hoby Gillman style saddle (with a rifle hole) instead of the traditional Dale saddle. The purple is more on the reddish plum side than early Dales. The hat and color of Buttermilk are slightly off white. She comes with one silver gun in a very nice clear front package.

Stevens George Washington 1993-1994
Another nice set and quite true to the original. The Stevens flag poles are much thicker than the old bamboo ones and the hole in his hand are a dead giveaway. Great sword and hat. The saddle if very nice but seems to be a little thicker on parts of the saddle and the color is a little brighter than early pieces. Ajax, his horse is almost a dead ringer for the original. It came in an attractive see-through box.

Stevens General Lee: 1993-1994
The hat, figure, sword and saddle on this piece are very close to the early sets. Again, the yellow on the saddle is a little brighter and the stirrup straps are a bit thicker. For some reason, they substituted a “Chubby” horse for the normal “standing walking” horse. They also left off the breascollar, common on most early sets. The plastic flag pole has a small piece ground down to fit in his right hand better. It came in an attractive see-through box.

Stevens Wyatt Earp:
Just after a couple of Wyatt Earp movies hit the theaters, they released this Earp which was quite different than vintage sets. The shirt was painted off white instead of white plastic, the pants were painted black instead of green, and they left off a lot of the silver dots and detailing on the bunbelt and holster. Nice hat. Silver Buntline and pistol instead of brown. Cropped mane horse with whites painted in the eyes (the originals has a full mane). Gillman style brown saddle with rifle hole instead of the brown and yellow one.

Stevens Warpaint Thunderbird: 1994
The last set Steven’s made following the Wyatt Earp set was the version shown here. To my knowledge, there were only 12-24 ever produced. Gail Fitch suggests that there might be as many as 100 in her Hartland Horseman book (Schiffer Publishing1999). The markings were hand painted. It is a really nice set...best of the group but very rare.

All parts hard hand painted including silver and black knife and tomahawk. It has a multicolored warbonnet and spear. The set has a buckskin colored painted shield with extra detailings, but did not come with a bow. Beautiful semi-rearing horse with hand painted primitive markings.

These SETS are hard to find, however, Stevens produced a LOT of the figures. Apparently, there was a problem with the horses they made and very few full sets were shipped. Individual figures from that production run are available from me for only $20.

In the '80s, Stevens Plastics acquired the Hartland molds and the name and started remaking a few of the sets. At roughly $39.95 per set, they would not have been considered a kid’s toy, but a collector’s piece. According to Stevens pre-release documentation, they planned on making a standing Maverick gunfighter. Similar to the Wyatt Earp movies, the Maverick movie was being released in theaters that year. Too bad they didn’t finish this one! As of now, Stevens quit selling the Hartlands

Stevens Plastics Horizontal Fringe Roy Rogers
Around 1992, Stevens Plastics in Missouri began offering this set through J.C. Penney's mail order Christmas Catalog. It shipped in a generic cardboard box. It was later offered direct through Stevens and a few distributors and shipped in an attractive box. The quality of production and painting on this set was not up to vintage Hartland collector’s standards. This piece is much more white on the plastic and the red paint has a rough feel to it. I doubt you will be fooled!
Mold Marks
©Hartland Plastics Inc” -back of the fringe on the left sleeve.

Stevens Plastics Dale Evans
This set was recast by Stevens Plastics in 1993 using the same molds as Hartland did earlier. I don't know if they chose the raspberry/plum color trying to imitate the old color or just changed to be different, but as you can see, it is different. This figure is about 1/4" taller than the older ones.

Stevens Plastics George Washington
This set was recast from the original molds in 1993 and looks quite a bit like the originals The paint is brighter and his skin is much darker than the sets made in the 50’s but it is pretty close. Stevens drilled out his hand to hold the larger plastic flag pole.

Stevens Plastics General Lee
This set was recast in 1993 from the original molds, however Stevens used the Chubby style horse instead of the walking horse. They also substitued a thicker plastic poled flag for the bamboo ones which caused them to have to grind a small slot in the post to fit in his right hand. The face and gloves colrs are quite a bit darker than vintage sets. He also carries a sword and Confederate flag.

Stevens Plastics Wyatt Earp
This set was produced in late 1993 or 1994 in apparent connection with the two releases of Wyatt Earp movies, though I don’t think there was a specific licensing agreement with either. The took some additional artisitc licensing with this set by painting his pants black, eleminating some of the trim on the gun belt. Instead of white plastic, they painted his shirt off white and his vest is generally pea green. He shipped with a silver Buntline and regular silver pistol along with a black hat.

Mold Mark“©Hartland Plastics, Inc.” on the left holster..

1994, Stevens/Hartland recreated the Chief Thunderbird set again. The newer set seems to be made of acetate plastic. Sketchy reports suggest there were only between 24 and 100 of the 1994 "sets" made. He carried a shield, tomahawk, lance, and knife but lacked the bow.

Please note: The "SETS" are rare, however Stevens made plenty of the figures, available from me for only $20 each. They are not rare or scarce.

Stevens Plastics Boxes:
The earliest Stevens Thunderbird, shown at the top of this page, shipped is a see through package with a cardboard frame. The JC Pennys Roy Rogers sets shipped in a plain cardboard box. Stevens eventually packaged RR and later sets in an attractive cellophane front box as seen in the photo on the left. RR, Dale, Lee, and Washington sets also had a cover panel showing the set.