MARX WWF Vanishing Animals

Here I present to you my collection of the Marx World Wildlife Fund Vanishing Animals of both series I & II. These were similar to the Marx Animal Kingdom series but released much later in 1971/1972. My early experience in collecting these were that the 10 figures in the first series were painted and sold in individual boxes and the second series appeared in a faux bronze finish also in individual illustrated boxes. However both series obviously were available in painted and faux bronze finish. The boxed sets are both marked 1972. The first series has English printing on the box, the second series only in Dutch except for the Louis Marx logo. Both are marked as being made in Hong Kong. I do not have complete sets of the painted figures of either series - I forgot to include the painted polar bear and giant panda from series I and I gave my painted Imperial eagle as a gift to another collector. Of series 2 I have only the painted snow leopard and Atlantic walrus. The 2 boxed sets are complete. I was fortunate to purchase series I from the former Marx Museum in West Virginia and the series II from an online seller. All the figures in the boxed sets are in a faux bronze finish. Series I includes: Giant Panda, Polar Bear, Red Wolf, Ceylon elephant, Orangutan, Siberian tiger, Asiatic lion, Spanish Imperial eagle, Great Indian rhinoceros and Bactrian camel. Series II: Atlantic walrus, Ring-tailed wallaby, Asiatic cheetah, Juan Fernandez Fur seal, Abyssinian Ibex, Snow leopard, Mountain gorilla, Arabian oryx, Mountain zebra, and Giant otter. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Fantastic, I only own the Polar bear, Tiger and Lion in Bronze color. I ddin't know there was also painted ones.

I would love to catch them all but it is a hard task from France, I hope I will add at least the Indian rhino.

You have an amazing collection Jim 

I love the painted ones! such detail, very exquisite indeed
thank you for sharing

The painted ones are really lovely!

 That red wolf

Many extremely nice models there!
What a fantstic collection you have , we are lucky that you share these photos with us !!

Your collection is full of treasures and this series is fantastic! Figures are really great and the species assortment is esquisite.
It was very kind from you to give that imperial eagle.

[quote="SUSANNE"]  That red wolf [quote]

Yes, indeed!

That tiger also has a surprisingly good paintjob, the stripes are convincing for the scale it's in.

Thank you for sharing these treasures!

Awesome animals of course,

It is great information that contributes a lot to this forum.

The painted models are very well done. The bronze complete sets are very special too, you are lucky to have them. The Marx museum sounds very interesting too. What did it exhibit and until when did it exists?

rogerpgvg wrote:

The painted models are very well done. The bronze complete sets are very special too, you are lucky to have them. The Marx museum sounds very interesting too. What did it exhibit and until when did it exists?

here is a clip about it closing - at 1:48 you can see an arctic set. It closed in 2016 but there are a few articles about it online

Especially the colorfull set is phantastic. I am a happy owner of the Imperial eagle. The set 2 have more interesting species but bronze is not what i like - but i own it. Do you know if there is also a painted set 2? And the red wolf i hope to find one day.