Dinosaur Collector presents

Judith River Retro Classic

update 091208

The Yale mural painted by Zallinger for the Peabody Museum does not reflect the current popular view of Mesozoic life but it has certainly influenced the public view of dinosaurs to the present day.  Marx gave Zallinger’s work a 3 dimensional life.  Like Zallingers mural the Marx figures and their followers are silent and unmoving designating their place in time (it is stamped onto the Marx figures while the mural shows it to us by the position in the relentless march right to left from the Carboniferous birth to late Cretaceous doom ).  You always felt that the Mural was teaching you something just as the figures taught you by having the names and lengths stamped on them.  Anyone familiar with the Marx toy line cannot fail to notice a similarity in subject matter between Marx and Zallinger.  Three decades of children and their parents had their knowledge of dinosaurs primarily from Marx and his competitors Miller and MPC.  Marx produced 19 Mesozoic and Paleozoic figures 14 of whom are in the Zallinger mural.  Knock offs, Recasts and Marx ghosts are still relatively common.  Mostly made in China.  The JA RU figures being most wide spread.  They imitate Marx, MPC and Inpro figures but also produce original figures in the Marx style.  The production quality is low but still with a little attention they can make attractive custom pieces.  The biggest change is that high end companies paint their figures and there is often more attention to scale.

Lambeosaurs from left to right ROM, Invicta and ROM copy from Hong Kong.  The Invicta company from England created a series of dinosaur figures in conjunction with the British Museum Of Natural History.  While they maintained the Marx tradition of  solid plastic figures in conservative colors they produced most of their figures in a consistent 1/45 scale.  The figures are based on older reconstructions still favored in Europe.		Euoplocephalus and a tyrannosaurid from China in Marx style.  Pachycephalosaurus by Toys and Things

Struthiomimus by Marx,  Parasaurolophus from ROM and a Toys and Things Nodosaurus.	Chasmosaurus and Albertosaurus from ROM.  The tan Chasmosaurus is a ROM copy	The Albertosaurus is a ROM copy.  The brown Styracosaurus is a Marx copy from the original mold.  Original Marx pieces are usually found in a range of greens, grays, tans  or metallic colors.  The gray is is a MPC Styracosaurus smaller than the Marx figure and often in bright red, blue or green colors.  The green Parasaurolophus is a Marx recast.

Chasmosaurus custom PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa		Recast Marx Styracosaurus custom PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa

	Zallinger and Knight are the best known paleo artists of the 50's and 60's.  The toys of the time reflect their art.  Zallinger did not show the Cretaceous of Judith River in his mural but they show up in his book illustrations.  Marx acknowledged the Judith River faun with Styracosaurus and Parasaurolophus.
Recast Marx Parasaurolophus custom PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa		Recast Marx Parasaurolophus custom PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa

Parasaurolophus.  ROM (Royal Ontario Museum ) high lighted the Judith River with its series of dinosaur figures in the Marx style.		Lambeosaurus.  ROM (Royal Ontario Museum ) high lighted the Judith River with its series of dinosaur figures in the Marx style.

Recast Marx Struthiomimus custom PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa

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