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Welcome to Superoceras, a blog about science and natural history, slightly biased towards paleontology and zoology, but inclusive of all sciences. Started in October of 2009, my goal is to communicate scientific knowledge (and the occasional piece of nonsense) in an informative and entertaining manner. Feel free to contact me with questions, comments, concerns, or criticism at superoceras(at)gmail(dot)com, and follow me on Twitter @Superoceras for all that and more in 140 characters or less!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

R. Dakin & Co., 1986 - My First Dinosaur Toy Collection

(Complete?) collection of dinosaur toys, made by R. Dakin & Co., 1986

To be young again. I just posted an inquiry on The Dinosaur Toy Forum (the official forum of The Dinosaur Toy Blog) regarding the above pictured vinyl dinosaur figures I got when I was only three or four years old. These things are adorable, and I'm sure are what inspired what has been a life-long hobby of collecting dinosaur (and other extinct and extant animal) figures.

These cartoonish depictions are clearly based on known species, and given the diagnostic characters they posses, I imagine we are looking at (back row, left to right) Apatosaurus, Saurolophus, Spinosaurus, (front row, left to right) Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Monoclonius. I particularly like the fact that they went for less well known (at the time) species like Monoclonius and Spinosaurus, rather than Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus.

So, now the question: does anyone know anything about these figures? The only identifying feature on them is an inscription on each figure that reads "(c) R. Dakin & Co., 1986". Google search results haven't yielded a lot of clues, but if anyone else out there has ever seen these figures or knows anything about them (particularly if I have a complete set), I'd appreciate the information.

Thanks!

5 comments:

  1. I'm always amazed by what you can find on the internet. I got some of these when I was about 3 or 4 years old as well. I remember getting them at a small general store when my family was on vacation in northern Wisconsin. I just dug them up so figured I'd do a search to see if there was any info out there on them, and that's how I came here. I always liked these guys. Took a pic of mine at the link below (used to have the green one too, but sadly I lost him somewhere when I was a kid).

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/franklen0607/5719283059/

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  2. I myself just dug these up and was directed here searching for info. To the best of my knowledge you do have the complete set. These are the same six I've had and being both a major dinosaur enthusiast as a child and an even greater toy premium completist, I remember this was the full set. Before seeing your photo I even observed that my Monoclonius has regretfully been misplaced somewhere. I have a really good memory and as far as I can remember I obtained these as premiums for dinosaur vitamins in the 80s. They were individually affixed in shrink wrap atop each vitamin bottle. I'm sure I probably took quite a few vitamins a day just to complete the entire set. But that's not to say they couldn't have been sold in some other manner elsewhere. Thanks for the flashback. Regards

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  3. Thanks for the additional information! I had a hard time finding out anything about them, which is why I decided to do the post. They are great little toys, and should be represented on the web! I remember getting them from a typical beach "junk shop" in Rehobeth, DE. Really happy to know I managed to keep a complete set after all of these years!

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  4. I've got 4 of those from my childhood. I know that they were sold on a children's vitamine bottle in the Netherlands in the pharmacy. I think they're quite rare because you can't single buy them.

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