Mysterious Safari Knockoff Rattlesnake and other rarities

Lots of pictures, so hold on!

So I have been hunting down a few old Safari rarities, reptiles and amphibians mostly, but some invertebrates and fish too. I had shown here in the forum previously the Timber Rattlesnake by Safari.

More recently though, found a lot on eBay that had the infamous Rhinoceros Viper and had to bid on it. It was a large lot that also contained what seemed to be a variant of the Timber Rattlersnake, whith a more subtle and realistic paint job, which I had never seen before. I bid mainly because of the Rhino viper and won the lot. What a surprise to find out that the variant rattler seems to be a knockoff. The size and details are the same as in the Safari model, but there is no markings on the underside, like Safari's original piece. The fake one seems to be made of a softer rubber, while the Safari version is a more rigid plastic, way less bendable. As you can see, the fake one has the rattler broken in half, which I intend to restore, as well as the paint job. A weird and unique adittion for sure. Also, check out below other critters I found on my hunt for old Safari pieces.

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Safari's
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Knockoff??
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A few beauty shots of the Rhino viper, she deserves it
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Also, completed my set of deep sea fish
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Manage to score these two as well, the Horned Frog being one that I really wanted to get
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I can't remember if I shared this one here
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And this glow in the dark coral snake
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Of course, the impressive Nile Monitor, now keeping company to my Emerald one
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And last, but not least a few Smithsonian Insects
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very nice! Chinese knockoffs of Safari figures are becoming increasingly common. The public aquariums in both Chicago and here in Utah sell them, unfortunately.

With regards to the Smithsonian Insects, I am still missing the adult monarch. let me know if you see it :) Thanks

First off, HUGE congrats on these amazing rarities! The rhino viper especially. Secondly, very curious copied snake. I have noticed an increase in knock offs of all sorts. A very nice rattler anyway.

Those are fantastic additions. Can't you pretend your monitor is a dinosaur and review it on your Youtube channel? It would be fantastic to see you handling such a large figure.
Yes, let me focus on your monitor because the Gila monster you already presented before.
This version you're presenting remains a mistery to many of us. It is on TAW identified as a Desert monitor, even if we miss the picture and I hope you allow us again to use yours. Though, I believe we assumed it was a Nile monitor because Safari sold initially the Emerald green monitor as a Nile monitor and the old version of this mould ended Known as the erronious initial denomination of the 2nd version. Confuse? Yes, we discussed this figure before on forum and it was also discussed on ATF and Andre is right, the mould is not of a Nile neither an emerald green. My opinion is also that the original version tries to represent a juvenile common water monitor (Varanus salvator). Unfortunately the older picture of this monitor I know is from a 2006 catalogue and it was already the 2nd version but identified as a Nile monitor. It would be fantastic to know how Safari marketed this particular model, maybe just monitor since it is what is marked on it.

Roger wrote:

Those are fantastic additions. Can't you pretend your monitor is a dinosaur and review it on your Youtube channel? It would be fantastic to see you handling such a large figure.
Yes, let me focus on your monitor because the Gila monster you already presented before.
This version you're presenting remains a mistery to many of us. It is on TAW identified as a Desert monitor, even if we miss the picture and I hope you allow us again to use yours. Though, I believe we assumed it was a Nile monitor because Safari sold initially the Emerald green monitor as a Nile monitor and the old version of this mould ended Known as the erronious initial denomination of the 2nd version. Confuse? Yes, we discussed this figure before on forum and it was also discussed on ATF and Andre is right, the mould is not of a Nile neither an emerald green. My opinion is also that the original version tries to represent a juvenile common water monitor (Varanus salvator). Unfortunately the older picture of this monitor I know is from a 2006 catalogue and it was already the 2nd version but identified as a Nile monitor. It would be fantastic to know how Safari marketed this particular model, maybe just monitor since it is what is marked on it.

I can review it for sure, but I assure you guys know more about it than me, it seems. Mine was bought used in a toy lot, did not have the original tag. I have been hunting down old safari catalogs to find more about these obscure models, but have not had any luck finding catalogs between 1995 and 2005 specially. I'll see what I can find out about the model, do some research on monitor lizards and if I find any interesting info, I will review both versions of it in my channel.

Congratulations on the superb finds!
They are all lovely!

These are all really, really cool! And so big! I love love the monitor and the gila monster. Congrats on finding some hard-to-find treasures!

Very nice animals, especially the deep fishes.

congrats.

So unbelievable figures. Toooooooo sad that they are sooooooooooooooo huge

widukind wrote:

So unbelievable figures. Toooooooo sad that they are sooooooooooooooo huge

Despite the size and since I am convinced it is a Philippine water monitor, formerly classified as a subspecies of the Asian water monitor, I suspect you don't have this species in your collection yet.
Here a picture of the real animal from Reptile Database project.
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Roger wrote:

widukind wrote:

So unbelievable figures. Toooooooo sad that they are sooooooooooooooo huge

Despite the size and since I am convinced it is a Philippine water monitor, formerly classified as a subspecies of the Asian water monitor, I suspect you don't have this species in your collection yet.
Here a picture of the real animal from Reptile Database project.
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You are right with the specie in my zoo. But the size is to much for my shelves

Love the deep sea collection and the monitor is stunning.. Love monitors and mainly because the Bengal Monitor species is seen commonly in my local region where I live, and they even come visit me inside my home sometimes as do other reptiles . Brilliant find with all the figures. The Monitor is a treasure island catch

JamesPanda wrote:

Love the deep sea collection and the monitor is stunning.. Love monitors and mainly because the Bengal Monitor species is seen commonly in my local region where I live, and they even come visit me inside my home sometimes as do other reptiles .  Brilliant find with all the figures. The Monitor is a treasure island catch

James, having a Bengal monitor as a visitor must be a tremendous experience. Even if it is relatively common for you, it is absolutely fascinating to most of us. Where I live now, the only reptile I remember entering the house I live was a Moorish gecko, a 14 cm long creature. If it was a 1 metter or 1,5 metters monitor lizard, I would become delirious.

Ha ha it's the same here! :)

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Wonderful 1/1 models ikessauro!!

Living in Brasil, you maybe could shot them in the "Wild"!

Here is my picture of the gecko that visited my house.
Do you think our friend James will be impressed?

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Brilliant photos of your visitors! I agree, a monitor coming indoors sounds fantastic to those of us who don't have them as native neighbours. All we get coming inside my home are spiders, and on one memorable occasion, a jackdaw

Even a bootleg of that rattlesnake is incredibly impressive. I've been scouring the internet for one ever since you showed off that first one some time ago.

A new information has come up and I'm not sure what to make of this. I was looking for a few items I still don't have when I found this lot on eBay.
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It contains the same "knock off" Rattlesnake I show here. The funny thing is, it does have the Safari Ltd markings on the bottom! So mine could end up being a original piece after all! But why it is not marked is still a mystery to me.
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The large snake is marvellous.

Maybe the knockoff is from the beginning of the company and they weren't stamping them, or for some reason a mold missed getting the proper stamp?

I have a Safari hypacrosaurus, same mold as the Carnegie one, but different paintjob (it's that heavy enamel seeming paint they used in the early 90s), no Carnegie and if I remember right no year, though it does have Safari- and stamp is rotated on the figure compared to the Carnegie one. So it seems they do have inconsistencies in stamping.

I agree with Fernando, marvelous snakes!

I'm pretty sure the "knockoff" is a legit Safari.  I have seen that paintjob before.... I think it may have been the first Rattlesnake version they released.  I could be wrong, but I could swear there are three different versions of that figure, with one being a Timber Rattlesnake, one being "The Rattler," and one being a Diamondback.

Also, this may have been one of the figures produced by AAA and distributed by Safari, which was common in the 90's. Much like the coiled cobra in basket, which I'm pretty sure what actually produced by AAA. Those lacked the Safari stamp entirely.

sphyrna18 wrote:

I'm pretty sure the "knockoff" is a legit Safari.  I have seen that paintjob before.... I think it may have been the first Rattlesnake version they released.  I could be wrong, but I could swear there are three different versions of that figure, with one being a Timber Rattlesnake, one being "The Rattler," and one being a Diamondback.

Also, this may have been one of the figures produced by AAA and distributed by Safari, which was common in the 90's.  Much like the coiled cobra in basket, which I'm pretty sure what actually produced by AAA.  Those lacked the Safari stamp entirely.  

You might be right. Safari had 3 versions of the rattler, the Diamondback, the timber rattler and the rock banded rattlesnake. Here is a catalog shot of them. I am still hunting down the original diamondback and rock banded ones. Also, still hunting down the red tail boa too.
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Now, that new variant I have seems like the timber rattler in color, but with a more realistic opaque finish. I think it must be a variant indeed.

ikessauro wrote:

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An impossible dream for somebody living in Denmark, where ANY Safari model is quite rare

I suppose the market is too small for Safari to have done any serious sales attempts, and Schleich sits on the perception of toy quality like a bantam brood hen

SUSANNE wrote:

ikessauro wrote:

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An impossible dream for somebody living in Denmark, where ANY Safari model is quite rare

I suppose the market is too small for Safari to have done any serious sales attempts, and Schleich sits on the perception of toy quality like a bantam brood hen

Well, I live in Brazil, so, not much better than you in this regard. One must be willing to buy from the US to get these :/.

Even in Canada, finding these in the wild appears to be impossible. US Ebay is the only option, and even then I have yet to get lucky and spot any.