Walking with Anteaters - a Sunny Tamandua and friends!

I wonder if the earliest anteater toy figures in the world were carved wood - those antique Noah's ark sets from the 18th and 19th century? I don't know if anteaters were popular enough to be included, though, although the story goes that there were two of every animal, the little wooden arks only had so much space to fill, so they tended to pick the most iconic species little children would've known and enjoyed.

Hmm, I just googled and this set seems to have the most animals from all I could see : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Those long-nosed creatures in the lower left corner could be..?

George wrote:

I wonder if the earliest anteater toy figures in the world were carved wood - those antique Noah's ark sets from the 18th and 19th century? I don't know if anteaters were popular enough to be included, though, although the story goes that there were two of every animal, the little wooden arks only had so much space to fill, so they tended to pick the most iconic species little children would've known and enjoyed.

Hmm, I just googled and this set seems to have the most animals from all I could see : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Those long-nosed creatures in the lower left corner could be..?

I think they only can be giant anteaters, I don't see a better match. What a set!
I believe native people from South America surely made little figures of giant anteaters but those are not surely toys or at least not mass produced.

Thanks for showing this overview, it's great to see the comparisons and the development of anteaters. 

It's interesting that you see the 1990s as the time of revolution. I see this period as the dark ages of animal toys, with the major European manufacturers in terminal decline (or already have gone out of business) and Schleich not yet the powerhouse that it would later be. It seems like a period that animal toys were not popular and only cheap animal toys were profitable. Perhaps it was different in the US, but given the rarity of for example Play Visions, my impression is that animal toys didn't sell well there either. Of course, revolutions can happen during dark ages, so what we say may not be incompatible.

That's a magnificent Noah's ark, George. Do you know who made it?

Roger wrote:

I believe native people from South America surely made little figures of giant anteaters but those are not surely toys or at least not mass produced.

Yeah, that's why I went back in slipped in the word 'toy' there when I wrote that sentence, I suddenly had visions of ancient animal figures made as art the world over, and there must've been anteater ones made in their native countries long before any toy companies existed.

rogerpgvg wrote:

That's a magnificent Noah's ark, George. Do you know who made it?

Unfortunately not, I don't know much about toys from that era, I really did just Google it and grab the image which had most animals gathered around it! This is the page from the antique dealer who sold it : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

rogerpgvg wrote:

Thanks for showing this overview, it's great to see the comparisons and the development of anteaters. 

It's interesting that you see the 1990s as the time of revolution. I see this period as the dark ages of animal toys, with the major European manufacturers in terminal decline (or already have gone out of business) and Schleich not yet the powerhouse that it would later be. It seems like a period that animal toys were not popular and only cheap animal toys were profitable. Perhaps it was different in the US, but given the rarity of for example Play Visions, my impression is that animal toys didn't sell well there either. Of course, revolutions can happen during dark ages, so what we say may not be incompatible.

I can give more examples but this is enough to see that many famous series of toy animal figures were born during 1990's and the market was very active during these years. The revolution I was mentiioning was not about sales but conceptual.
Maybe your perception derives from the books about soldier figures whose manufacturers also presented some animal themed series. Soldiers lost a lot of popularity during modern years and during 1990's I don't remember any kids playing with them.
Soldiers and animals toys had a somewhat parallel evolution during vintage times but soldiers witnessed a decadence you don't see with animal themed collections during modern era.

1995 Play Visions start with their Bulks their most iconic models and they release new bulks until 1999
Wild Republic runs its AZA collection with large sized animals of high quality
1994 Iconic Wild Republic Nature Tubes are released for the first time and they were renewed with much better models during that same decade. They're released until today.
1997 Wild Republic releases some bulks with figures of a quality similar to Play Visions
1998 Club Earth starts with their series
1990 The Carnegie Collection, the most iconic collection of prehistoric figures is released
1990 Safari starts the Vanishing Wild series of large heavy figures sculpted by Forest Rogers
1992 is the start of one of the most emblematic sealife collections, the Monterey Bay Aquarium
1995 Safari releases series of jumbo sized animals that originated the Incredible Creatures line we know today
1997 Wild Safari Wildlife series is borntogether with thhe Wild Safari Sea Life
1998 Wild Safari North American wildlife has their first releases
1994 is the Battat Museum of Science Dinosaur Collection that sees the light. Again one of the most iconic prehistoric series.
1989 Schleich starts with their standard sized wildlife figures. Probably the most popular series of wild animals of the modern times. It starts in 1989 but clearly consolidated during 1990's.
1994 The popular series of dinosaurus, Replicasaurus is started by Schleich
1999 is the year when almost all the Schleich Birds of Prey series is released. Another emblematic small series.
1992/3/4 New-Ray releases several series of animal figures, the models that contributed more to the identity of the brand
1993 Bullyland releases the Museum line Dinosaurs, it is still today the most remember series of Bullyland

Thanks for this useful list. It lights up the dark ages for me. I’d been wondering what happened in the 1990s. I think I got this impression because of my collecting interests. Britains, once the most influential producer of animal figures seriously declined and Hausser Elastolin, Starlux and Clairet all went bankrupt in the 1980s and 90s.
 
Most series you mentioned are US based, so I wonder whether Europe was still dark? There was Schleich, but were they already commonly available in toy shops across Europe? I remember that in the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s, I couldn’t find any decent quality toy animals (in The Netherlands). I gave up after that, assuming that toy animals had gone out of fashion.
 
Your point about toy soldier manufacturers is a good one (as usual). The reason why the vintage companies went bankrupt probably wasn’t so much because their animal series sold so badly as because toy soldiers became unpopular. Interestingly, Britains kind of survived because their toy farm vehicles were still popular, but unfortunately, when Ertl took over in the late 1990s, they stopped producing wildlife animals.

My post is just a post with a poorly written description of each era and just based on my perception as a collector and a TAW editor. It is not scientific not even based on books because I don't have them. I also narrowed it to the toy animal phenomenon, not to the toy industry.
All those vintage figures belong to satellite series, they seem very important to us because we collect animals but they were all of a secondary importance to their brands. I even read that some were not profitable at all, just a caprice from the founders of the brand. Soldiers were one of the main focus for many of those brands, we can still visit a few museums about these models and they are part of our culture. Even the importance of using a scale is not related with the animal subject but with the use of human figures so it was important to work in proportions that could result with those human figures. As you know, we use the 1:32 scale to refer to these models but 54mm is a more accurate definition and 54mm or 55mm was the size of a human figure.
Of course the big World Wars influenced a lot the interest for militar type toys, the aparatus of the Cold War also contributed to it but with time the interest vanished. Maybe Britains in Europe and Marx in USA were the brands that their animals gained some protagonism but nothing compared with the soldier hobby.
1990 is decadent to this kind of toys because video games started to be the main attraction for young people. The fever starts in late 1980's but it is during 1990's that videogames witness a kind of democratization, almost every kid had a video game console. It may explains also why I talk about a revolution, many brands needed to redesign their collections, making larger animal figures, more colorful, more attractive for kids as a response to a new paramount.
There is another point and as a boy from a peripheral country, I witnesssed a kind of regional phenomenon. While the toy industry is today a global thing, itt was not like that 30 years ago. 1980 and 1990 was very animated in my country, loads and loads of new colorful toys appeared during these years, most of them imported from Spain, the only country who has borders with Portugal. Spanish toy industry may never have gotten international impact but Spanish boys played with Spanish toys, Catalan brands were particularly active and the big Spanish market and the small Portuguese market were completely invaded for these Spanish toys. They were good and they promoted the interaction between children but animal figures were never among their most famous toys. Talking with German members, I feel it was completely different in Central Europe. Thus, I believe the North American market has its own story and we cannot take conclusions without considering the specificities of each market. For example, now that we know a little more about the Japanese toy industry, it is very easy to conclude that we are talking about a different world.

Just a few days after opening the anteaters topic and some new figures arrived from Ricardo (Stripedhyena). I'd say a very generous trade from him.
I received 5 minis but this post is dedicated to two monochrome figures, other will be presented later.

Starting with my favorite, a pink anteater. It is clearly the same mould as Starlux. According to Ricardo it was available in Spain, some decades ago, in candy stores or similar. I know this kind of premium figures were extremely common in Spain, the few I know from Portugal were sold together with Spanish candy.
Though, to be fair, I was only aware of the Dunkin anteater that is completely different and that I still miss. This one is much nicer. Below a comparison with the Starlux model.

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the 2nd model is this yellow anteater, I believe the story is similar, apparently a model from Hong Kong but almost all these premium figures were manufactured in Hong Kong.
It is not a direct not even a mirrored copy of Britains model but surely heavily inspired.
If anyone knows more information about these models, I'd love to know. They remind those bazar toys [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] presented on forum.

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Hurray, the walk continues!
These are really interesting models and a wonderful opportunity to trade them from a member here!

The yellow one looks a bit like the Chialu anteater

Really excellent anteaters again! I can't even pick a favorite as they are each so lovely in their own special way.

Roger! I confused the yellow anteater you show in the photo with another yellowish anteater (made of rubber) that I sent you (which does belong to a current series of figures arriving directly from HK).

The figure in the photo is a very special piece, as Christophe says it refers us to the Italian brand Chialù!

This miniature is a small scale replica of CHIALÙ.
It belongs (I think I remember I told you this when we talked before sending you the package) to a series of mono color figurines that the brand -also Italian- PANINI edited decades ago. In the newspaper and candy kiosks they sold envelopes containing several stickers and a surprise figurine. Almost all the figures in that collection are Chialù molds. The collection was called "Animali del mondo", “Animales del mundo” in its Spanish version. Approximate 80's.

So BRAND: PANINI (inspired: Chialù)
Keep this piece with you because it is a rare little gem.

A interesting style of the yellow anteater

Thanks everyone!

Kikimalou wrote:

The yellow one looks a bit like the Chialu anteater

Stripedhyena wrote:

Roger! I confused the yellow anteater you show in the photo with another yellowish anteater (made of rubber) that I sent you (which does belong to a current series of figures arriving directly from HK).

The figure in the photo is a very special piece, as Christophe says it refers us to the Italian brand Chialù!

This miniature is a small scale replica of CHIALÙ.
It belongs (I think I remember I told you this when we talked before sending you the package) to a series of mono color figurines that the brand -also Italian- PANINI edited decades ago. In the newspaper and candy kiosks they sold envelopes containing several stickers and a surprise figurine. Almost all the figures in that collection are Chialù molds. The collection was called "Animali del mondo", “Animales del mundo” in its Spanish version. Approximate 80's.

So BRAND: PANINI (inspired: Chialù)
Keep this piece with you because it is a rare little gem.

Oh, how is it possible that I haven't noticed it is Chialu like? It is not so easy to see in real because figure is very small but in pictures it is evident. Chialu has such a distinctive design, probably one of the craziest anteaters of ever. Thanks Christophe and Ricardo for pointing it.
Ricardo, now my anteaters collection is a main part of my hobby, I wanted to collect them for so long and now I am getting an impressive little collection. So it is a Panini, so nice when they have a name and it is even more exciting when the inspiration is a very old design.

These fullcolor figures are lovely.

Now a little group of 3 inches anteater figures.
Apparently giant anteaters were relatively popular as small figures from animal themed series. These first three I received from Ricardo together with the monchromatic presented yesterday.
The first figure is already known on forum, it is marked with number 66 and it belongs to an exaustive series of wild animals. We list it on TAW as a Play Visions Mini but that's just for convenience once these molds are the same Play Visions used.
Though, it is much probably again from a series of stickers with figures or ssomething like that. I have the pangolin of the same series marked with number 67.

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this model is not marked as far as I can see, it looks like those Hong Kong models from 1980's and it reminds the Prior model.

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This figure is marked with a large B or probably a logo that looks like a lying B.
I think I have a wild canid with a similar marking, material and colors, I will photograph them together as soon as I find it.
I beliieve I've read something about this brand or at least about a series with small figures marked like that.

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The last for today is not from Ricardo. I think it is not the original painting of the model.
Who sent it to me? I can't read what is marked on it but I don't have any idea about which model is this. Any information would be appreciated.

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Hi Roger, here is an example with other figures from the same collection as your anteater. The barbary  sheep would be molded by Starlux, the rhino by Comansi and the giraffe, turtle and hippo by other Spanish brands like Pech.
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The rubber anteater with a marked "B" belongs to a collection of Asian origin in which there is also a wolf, a fox, hippo, a koala bear, a tapir, an ape... And some of these casts have been reproduced on a larger scale. All the figures have a similar color range (between ochre and yellowish tones, some more grayish or brownish).

And the gray rubber figure actually belongs to a series that was published together with a sticker album (the surprise envelopes that we like so much in Spain, Italy, Germany, France and other European countries...).
The mold is the same as one of the PV series but this figure has been reproduced a lot and for many different brands. In this collection there are some very interesting figures like the pangolin that you name or a hyena, a mongoose, a fox, a kiwi or a strange kind of badger... The painting changes according to the collection under which it was published.

Stripedhyena wrote:

The rubber anteater with a marked "B" belongs to a collection of Asian origin in which there is also a wolf, a fox, hippo, a koala bear, a tapir, an ape... And some of these casts have been reproduced on a larger scale. All the figures have a similar color range (between ochre and yellowish tones, some more grayish or brownish).

All the information you are providing is really precious. I love the French inspired monochrome figures.
About the one with a B, I have this canid with a long rectangle with round corners in one of the sides, it looks like a D with a similar font to the B of the anteater. Do you think they belong to the same series?

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Yes, I have this kind of fox and them belong to the same collection

Stripedhyena wrote:

Yes, I have this kind of fox and them belong to the same collection

I know it may not be easy for you to find them but do you have the wolf or any of the others? I'd love to know if the letters marked on them are logical.

Wow the barbary sheep!

Roger wrote:

Stripedhyena wrote:

Yes, I have this kind of fox and them belong to the same collection

I know it may not be easy for you to find them but do you have the wolf or any of the others? I'd love to know if the letters marked on them are logical.

I don't have the figures very accessible but these I have been able to locate.
Here the wolf (C) and the fox (D). I have others but not easy to get to them.

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And I take the opportunity to attach a few from the same collection of your yellow Panini anteater.
All the molds are Chialù except the pelican Britains.
The zebra is one of the most wonderful Chialù figures!

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So many lovely small minis, all with an interesting brand or story behind them!