Starlux dinosaurs - La Prehistoire - complete collection and some curiosities

Hi all,

I'd like to show you one of the collections I love most. I started collecting them only a year ago and I finally managed to complete it. I collect prehistoric animals and dinosaurs. I try to get the most accurate (and affordable) figure of some species I want but also vintage figures. I love them all, specially the small monochrome hard plastic ones (Marx, Ovomaltine, Linde, Dunkin, Inpro, Invicta, Nabisco, El Cigarral ...).

First, I must say I knew nothing about Starlux dinosaurs even after I started collecting vintage. I happened to see a picture of the Saltoposuchus and it was so freak and charming at the same time, that I fall in love with it: it was soo freak! I started searching and found that it was indeed a very "accurate" depiction of one of my most favourite vintage paleoartists, Zdenek Burian. And that sealed my fate, I wanted that figure so deeply.

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So I started looking for Starlux figures and I got the oportunity to buy three lots (about 20 figures) from a German seller I had just bought some Invicta figures from. In fact this is the best way to collect Starlux because they are quite expensive to get one by one.
It's a fact -probably all Starlux collectors agree with- that if you get one Starlux figure you are screwed.  :)) I didn't know until I had the first bunch in my hands, I couldn't stop looking at them and handling. The touch, the paint, the look ... they are irresistible. They are hard but brittle, very glossy, with vivid colours ... They are so different from other collections that that's what makes them so special. Some figures of the collection are not accurate at all, but others are superb. Specially the non-dinosaurs and mammals, and those overwhelm the rest.

I also like the size of the figures (no scale here), because they are larger than most monochrome plastic figures but not too large, so don't need much space. And unlike most figures from the 70s-80s they are brighly painted. They display incredibly well in cabinets. Although all are hand painted, unfortunately not much care was put in this so in many figures most fine details are sloppily painted, specially the eyes, mouths and in case of the prehistoric men, makes them look quite cartoony.

The rarest and most expensive figures today are usually the last to get into production (the 1984 figures, specially the least appealing ones as the trilobite, spirifer, deinonychus and the cephalaspis). Cephalaspis has the fame to be the most expensive but I saw some for 40€. I got mine in a lot for even less. I would say that the rarest, no doubt, is the deinonychus. I don't know for how much will it go in a bid, because the only one I saw was retired almost inmediately after the seller received an offer for it. I was absolutely devastated! It was my only figure left, you can imagine how I felt. I would have bid high for it, more than I have ever paid for a Starlux figure. So very sad but with nothing to lose, I asked the seller if he had another one, and he did! I almost fainted. I bought it for 10€ and my collection was complete. I felt over the moon. I got my figures in many ways: purchasing from 4 different online toy shops and from second hand webs, mostly eBay ... in lots, individually ... Because I wasn't lucky to buy a complete collection. Believe me, if you like to have them all and you happen to have the oportunity to buy them all at once, don't hesitate at all. It would be worth the time and money and you won't have to suffer tension in bids.

I also have some other items appart from the figures. 3 original catalogue sheets and a poster, 3 unpainted figures and some miniatures from Café Boca with two original boxes they came in.


They are all in an Ikea DETOLF glass cabinet with added extra shelves. The lighting fixture is from Amazon. Sorry I didn't have time to take all the figures out for the pictures.

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Here are the prehistoric men and women:
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Here are the variants I have:

The first Starlux prehistoric man was released in 1972, it was the PH50/FS40050 Homme des cavernes ou homme prehistorique. He is holding a club over his head. This figure was replaced by a taller, slightly different figure in 1982, called FS40001 Homme de Néanderthal. Probably to go along in size with the rest of the collection or just maybe the sculptor wanted a nicer version (I think the first had a very short-inexistant neck). The first version is difficult to find (as all the first and later retired figures) but not impossible and not expensive if you can find it. It's easy to tell appart by the first one having a wider fur coat, more beard and mirrowed position of the legs.

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The first version was the dark grey styracosaurus, the later one was the cream one (which is more rare).
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The normal megalosaurus is pink, but the white version I have is the only one I've seen. Could it have been a mistake and the painter forgot the pink coat and he started with the orange dots instead? I love it anyway, too.
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There are two paint versions of the first tanystropheus, one with red scutes, the other with yellow ones).
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Two different colours of the dimetrodon:
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There are three colour versions of the stegosaurus. The first one is the dark green with red plates, the second one is the light green with red plates and legs and the last one was light grey with light brown plates and legs.
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The shantungosaurus was first called trachodon when it was released, later they changed its name but the figure was the same. There are two colour versions, the first one dark grey and the last one green-blue (some are more blueish).
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These are one of the most know versions, the first diplodocus had two colour versions, same as shantungosaurus (grey and blue-green). The last one that replaced the others was a very different and more acurate sculpt. It's very nicely done.
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Same happened with the mammooth. The second version with more straight tusks was much more accurate. It's one of the best figures, indeed. Despite being one of the first to be released, the mammooth with curved tusks is not rare. The second version is more difficult to find, however.
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And now an interesting curiosity about the figures. Most are faithful depictions of retro styles and inspired in the paleoartists of the time, specially Zdenek Burian and Giovanni Caselli. I have made a detective job and managed to match many of them to the exact drawing they are inspired in, and believe me, they are very accurate to them.
Some of the pictures are from my figures, others from Google. The pictures by Caselli come from this 1975 book which I also have (I bought it on eBay):

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Burian's saltoposuchus (exact pose, "high heels" and even colours)
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As the sculpture in Kleinwelka Saurierpark, too:

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Burian's edaphosaurus (same sculpt and colours)
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Burian's scutosaurus (same sculpt and pose)
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Burian's protosuchus (same sculpt and colours)
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Caselli's Euparkeria (same wrinkles, muscles, colour)
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Burian's cynognathus (same head sculpt in the back, same wrinkles in the flank, hair)
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Burian's tylosaurus (same pose, colours)
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Burian's itchyosaurus (same half jaw, fins (pectoral over all) and even the small curve on the head)
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It's quite weird the sculptor made two nothosauruses, one in 1972 (with the upright neck) and other 9 years after, in 1981, which depicts an "eely" tail and a lower head and neck. On the contrary of what happened with the diplodocus and the mammooth, whose first versions were substituted by the newer ones, in this case both nothosauruses remained in the collection.
A similar thing happened with the Tanystropheus, the first made in 1974 had a shorter neck and stripes of scutes on the body (there are two versions, one with red, the other with yellow scutes). The second made in 1982 has an appropiate thinner and longer neck (it's very fragile) and it's one of the best figures in the collection.

Caselli's tanystropheus (the second in the back, same colours, pose)
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Burian's tyrannosaurus (not quite similar, but same head and same colours)
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Burian's iguanodon (same head colour and skin bumps) but the protuding tongue comes from the beggining of the century, when paleontologist Louis Dollo, noticing a small break in the lower jaw of a fossil misunderstood it as a gap to stick the tongue out.
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Caselli's psittacosaurus (it's interesting he went for the quadrupedal version. Same "sad" expresion, head line, beak, wrinkles, pose).
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Caselli's parasaurolophus (same head, head wrinkles, body wrinkles, pose and colour)
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Caselli's pink megalosaurus (nothing to say here because it's the EXACT same depiction with its pink body, white underside, orange spots and pose, but that makes one of my most favourite figures of the collection. No words for it! It can't be more freak)
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Caselli's ouranosaurus (same pose, wrinkles)
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Caselli's scolosaurus (same sculpt, pose, colours)
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Caselli's polacanthus (inspired sculpt, same head, wrinkles, line on dorso)
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Caselli's acanthopholis (neck spines, body scutes, head, pose)
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Caselli's euoplocephalus (same sculpt, colours)
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Caselli's quadrupedal spinosaurus (same veil, rib lines, head)
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Caselli's allosaurus (I wondered for a long time why he sculped the allosaurus in this pose, it looks like laying an egg and it's very inestable ... but it was probably inspired in this drawing, because it has the same triangular head with no face crests)
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Caselli's ornitosuchus (same pose, head, colours)
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Caselli's parasaurolophus (same sculpt, pose, colours)
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Caselli's protoceratops (same scupt, pose, head lines, beak and bumps)
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Burian's styracosaurus (not quite the same sculpt specially the frill spikes, but same frill holes, colour and the white nose horn from the animal in the back)
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Burian's monoclonius (same pose, same head with the halfmoon mark on the side, frill and legs pose)
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Burian's pterodactyl (he used the original idea of hanging it from a tree but the back and wings look quite alike)
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Burian's corythosaurus (same dark mark around eye, same pose, similar bumps, colours? but not the same snout).
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Burian's uintatherium (maybe? Almost all uintatheriums from that time look about the same. Burian made several pictures of this species but this drawing looks like the most probable inspiration).
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Burian's phorusrhacos (same "structure" on the beak, same feathers under neck, same black lines)
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Burian's woolly rhinoceros (most paleoartists drew it with a curved front horn, even Burian drew it later with it, but his first drawing had a more straight front horn, like the Starlux sculpt did).
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Burian's platybelodon? Mmmm (Mr Massat made very good proboscideans, so if he got inspired in this drawing -specially the trunk, mouth, ears and head holes- he gave it his personal touch enough to change it)
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Burian's deinotherium (I have to take a picture of the same angle, but it has the same pose, long trunk, head holes and ear).
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Burian's eohippus? (at least the stripes, ears, white underside)
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Thanks to forum member Caracal here are some more inspiring pictures:

Lascaux Cave bull (aurochs) (in Mr Massat's words. But probably he got inspired also in picturers of bison/domestic bovids hybrids because of the "mane", that aurochs didn't have):
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The mammooth resculpt was probably based on the Invicta one, as they are almost identical. Starlux left, Invicta right.
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Burian's cave bear. He draw many cave bears but I think this has a more similar pose:
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Burian's cave lion. Here we have to thank Caracal to have replicated the very same drawing in real.
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Burian's brontotherium (same pose, sculpt)
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Rinaldo D. D'Ami's baluchiterium, illustrator of 1974 Panini Dinosaurs Album (same head, ears, "expression", mane, pose).
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Burian's andrewsarchus (same pose, very alike sculpt, colours)
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Hope you like these pictures!

Welcome here. You have a very nice collection.

TY for all your images, very impressive !

Great collection! I am amazed that you got all of them in a year. Forum member Caracal also did a comparison of the Starlux prehistoric animals with pictures in books. I can't find the topic, but perhaps Caracal can direct you to the right place. It would be interesting to see whether you came to the same conclusions.

rogerpgvg wrote:

Great collection! I am amazed that you got all of them in a year. Forum member Caracal also did a comparison of the Starlux prehistoric animals with pictures in books. I can't find the topic, but perhaps Caracal can direct you to the right place. It would be interesting to see whether you came to the same conclusions.

That would be fantastic to see!

This is really, really, really fabulous

Fantastic, you complete an emblematic vintage series of prehistoric animals in a very short time and you share all the information to our community. That's very generous, turning others life easier. I still feel a lot your enthusiasm about these models! Oh, and congratulations, it is probably the most interesting prehistoric series of ever among vintage companies.

You are all welcome! Yes, I wanted to share all the information I found with all of you because I got a lot of help from here while reading in the shadows about other collections (Inpro, Ovomaltines ...) and that helped me a lot. I discovered some of the variants by myself and I thought it would be nice to share. And all the pictures they are based on, that makes Starlux even more appreciated, because they are not only retro figures but the almost exact version of a drawing from some famous paleoartists of that time, like a piece of history. There are two more colour variants, I'll post them when I found them.

Burian's styracosaurus is beautiful.

Nice monochromatic animals too. congrats

Hello Duna,
what a wonderful presentation! and thank you for the information!
I do not collect Dinos but I have some people of STARLUX.
I love them very much and so the group grow and grow and now they need something to eat.
So I need animals of this time, I must catch some.
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Babdo wrote:

Hello Duna,
what a wonderful presentation! and thank you for the information!
I do not collect Dinos but I have some people of STARLUX.
I love them very much and so the group grow and grow and now they need something to eat.

Wow, that's an impressive Starlux prehistoric human collection! Some of the figures are as difficult to get as the deinonychus and yours are in very good condition. You are very lucky with the food to provide for your humans because the prehistoric mammals are some of the best looking. I highly suggest you choose between some of them specially moropus, proboscideans ... I think I like all of them. Tell me if you want more pictures of the mammals or with some of the humans and I'll take them for you.

Hello Duna,
thank you for your offer.
I believe I know less about this people and their way to live and eat and so on.
Have this people domestic animals like cows, pigs, chicken or are they hunting all food?
Benno, sitting on the pillow and getting sleepy.
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Very beautiful collection very well displayed on these beautifuly enlightened glass shelves!   I can't believe you got it in only one year, above all with all these scarce models!

I played with (not them all!) when I was a child in the seventies and I kept most of them. Then, I added some others, especially the non dino ones (batracians, mammals, birds) who were unique by these times!

 Now, I patiently complete the range with affordable models of dinosaurs.

 You're perfectly right about the special esthetic of these models whose hard plastic and gloss served bright paintings. But their main interest according to me, is to testifie how these animals were reconstructed by these times, and it's why it's important to try to find the sources Mr Massat, their sculptor, used to make them as you did! And I must say you did a great job whith that, the models you found are very convincing (exept maybe the T-rex because of the lack of the spinal scales line and Styracosaurus because of the horn shapes)

 So big congratulations for your wonderful collection and your useful work about models!

  About the first prehistoric man released in 1968 in the collection"Armées de l'l'Histoire", it was a true Neanderthal man how testifies his face. Now, here is what I think: by these times, in USA, Pattern's reconstructions have already shown that neandertalians were perfectly right peoples in their back and on their legs, so, as Starlux used to sell figurines in museum, it was no more possible to propose a so archaîc conception of neanderthal people and it's probably why this figurine was retired from catalogs and replaced by the already released "Homme préhistorique" whose name was changed for "Homme de Néanderthal" in spite of his perfectly Sapiens-like face, head, and hight stature! And that's why this first representation of a Neanderthal man is important according to me, because it testifies the ancient representations we had about this human type since the french scientist Marcellin Boule had studied the "homme de la Chapelle aux Saints", a well preserved skeleton of a very old man suffering polyarthritis rheumatisms!

 During the confining, I posted almost every day, little dioramas with all Starlux prehistoric mammals and birds. You'll find them here, and 2 next pages, here , here , here , and here. As you'll see, in spite of my age, I am going on to play with!

Oh my, HOW CAN I HAVE MISSED such impressive threads!   I'm speechless! I haven't seen so many Starlux prehistoric mammals together in my whole life! They look amazing in herds, but the best is the top-of-the-notch sense of scale, perspective and photography you have and the very good taste while making the dioramas. You are such a talented artist in all ways.  
I've enjoyed the threads very much, thanks.

I admire the fact you played with them when you were a child, that makes them more special, no doubt. In my case I didn't even heard of them but I hope my children enjoy them, too.

Caracal wrote:

And I must say you did a great job whith that, the models you found are very convincing (exept maybe the T-rex because of the lack of the spinal scales line and Styracosaurus because of the horn shapes)

Yes, I agree with you, probably those two are the least obvious in the comparations, probably a mix of inspirations. But tyrannosaurus's head is definitely like the Burian drawing, in the same colours. The only vintage tyrannosaurus drawing I know with dorsal scutes is the one by Zallinger. Maybe he thought it could be cool to add. The styracosaurus is a pity the frill spikes are sculpted in a different way (maybe easier?) but the frill holes are suspictiously identical to Burian's, and the colour.
I haven't searched for the mammals' inspiration (my strong point are dinosaurs) but you indeed have found some. I'll add them in here if you don't mind so we have all complete.

Quote :

About the first prehistoric man released in 1968 in the collection"Armées de l'l'Histoire" it was a true Neanderthal man how testifies his face. Now, here is what I think: by these times, in USA, Pattern's reconstructions have already shown that neandertalians were perfectly right peoples in their back and on their legs, so, as Starlux used to sell figurines in museum, it was no more possible to propose a so archaîc conception of neanderthal people and it's probably why this figurine was retired from catalogs and replaced by the already released "Homme préhistorique" whose name was changed for "Homme de Néanderthal" in spite of his perfectly Sapiens-like face, head, and hight stature!

Very interesting. So you think it was resculpted to make it more "human like"?

Thank you very much for your congratulations. That was pure luck to complete it in a year (I got my first figures last year's February), but there was a lot of effort behind, I spent hundreds of hours searching, asking, writting, asking for help even from other sellers. I discovered I even managed to learn some French because at the end I realised I didn't need the translator while reading most times!  

At first thank you for your so kind words!

 About T-rex and Styracosaur, you are probably right and I suspect Mr Massat to have used sometimes different models for the same figure that could explain some little differences with the principal model..

 About your proposition to add my little searchs to yours, I completely agree of course! On my french forum "Soldat plastique" our friend (from here too!) Kikimalou had posted illustrations which could have been used to sculpt the Endothiodon and others figures. It could be cool if he could post them here too!

 To end, I would not have thought that non-french-old-owner this Starlux collection could have been so aware and so well informed about! It's a really beautiful surprise to me! One special issue about this Starlux prehistoric collection will be published very soon by "Association Beffara" members, I shall let you know when.. :)

I love the whole idea of collecting models based on art, in this case vintage illustration.
Although it's a very different topic to compare prehistoric to a living species, I've done some custom resculpting and repainting to match horses in old paintings, where the anatomy or proportions aren't always how we'd portray them nowadays. I feel like there's a similarity of theme, with these dinosaurs based on older reconstructions which don't match modern scientific ideas, where they may be inaccurate but they're a tribute to famous artworks. So I can definitely see why you love them so much!

George wrote:

I love the whole idea of collecting models based on art, in this case vintage illustration.
Although it's a very different topic to compare prehistoric to a living species, I've done some custom resculpting and repainting to match horses in old paintings, where the anatomy or proportions aren't always how we'd portray them nowadays. I feel like there's a similarity of theme, with these dinosaurs based on older reconstructions which don't match modern scientific ideas, where they may be inaccurate but they're a tribute to famous artworks. So I can definitely see why you love them so much!

Thank you! That's exactly how I see these little vintage figures. By the way, I also like horses in old paintings, too!

Caracal wrote:

 About your proposition to add my little searchs to yours, I completely agree of course! On my french forum "Soldat plastique" our friend (from here too!) Kikimalou had post illustrations which could have been used to sculpt the Endothiodon and others figures. It could be cool if he could post them here too!

I've added the 6 you identified and as I was inspired, I searched some more and I found ... 9 more!   Some are identical, other less, but I think they are a base. Pterodactyl, corythosaurus, uintatherium, deinotherium, eohippus, woolly rhinoceros and baluchiterium. Take a look, hope you agree!

Quote :

 To end, I would not have thought that non-french-old-owner this Starlux collection could have been so aware and so well informed about! It's a really beautiful surprise to me! One special issue about this Starlux prehistoric collection will be published very soon by "Association Beffara" members, I shall lelt you know when.. :)

Haha, I must admit that when I get engaged in a theme I get very serious and do a lot of research. I wanted to know everything about them, and when I found the drawings they were based on, I thought it would be nice to share with everyone so anyone can learn about it, too. The same I learnt all the information I discovered about them.
It would be fantastic to read that article about Starlux, please let us know when it is published!  

I've updated the thread with some of my own pictures to match the poses in the drawings better.

Wonderful collection!!!

Very good job Duna!!

 (But according to me,  the draw from Panini album looks a better model for Indricotherium because of its mane:)

Caracal wrote:

Very good job Duna!!

 (But according to me,  the draw from Panini album looks a better model for Indricotherium because of its mane:)

Oh, you may be right. I discarded the Panini because I thought it was a later publication, but in fact, that album is from 1974 and perfectly Mr Massat could have used it as inspiration. In fact, the glyptodon, synthetoceras and megaloceros are also probably inspired in that. Do you know the artist behind those illustrations (because some are clearly based on other artists drawings like Burian)?

Yes Duna, this album Panini often shows the same draws as the ones from the collection "La vie privée des animaux.. de la Préhistoire,.. de la Montagne,.. d'Asie,.. etc.." (éditions Hachette) whose illustrator and author  was  Rinaldo D. D'Ami. :)

what a wonderful collection and very impressive how you have matched them up with the old sketches/images!

sunny wrote:

what a wonderful collection and very impressive how you have matched them up with the old sketches/images!

Thank you Sunny!