The Mystery Figures

I am sure many collectors have found figures that defy identification.  Although I have many years as an avid collector and devoted countless hours to research, here are 10 vintage figures that could never positively identify.  I know more about what they are not than what company actually made them.  All are of hard plastic material and very similar to French companies except the camel.  The camel is hollow bellied like Bergen figures of the U.S. but it is definitely not a Bergen.  The remaining 9 figures came from International sellers but they are not Starlux, Acedo, Clairet, Cofalu, J.I.M., and i don't believe Cyrnos although at least one of the lions could be but I have yet to see any positive references on these.  Here are the 'mystery' makers of a camel, 2 different zebras, 2 different lions, greater kudu antelope, ostrich, gorilla, bison, and a beaver.  If any viewers can shed some light on who made these it would be enormously appreciated. Thank You.

Ostrich: Azur
Kudu: Cofalu (addax mold version)
Beaver: Elastolin (XL series)

I'm sure @Christophe can shed more light on the provenance of most of the other figures.

Thank You so much Stripedhyena. I have never heard of Azur. What country made them? I also am not familiar with the XL series of Elastolin. I have composition, the 54mm scale soft plastic figures, and 1:25 scale larger hard plastic figures checklist but the XL series is something unfamiliar.

I have no idea , but they are wonderful !

Stripedhyena wrote:

Ostrich: Azur
Kudu: Cofalu (addax mold version)
Beaver: Elastolin (XL series)

I'm sure @Christophe can shed more light on the provenance of most of the other figures.

I'm in doubt right now whether Azur is French or Portuguese....
Elastolin made some figures (2 or 3) in a larger size than 1:25, they are not very well known and it is not very clear why. Maybe it was something like what Starlux did with the reproductions of the flamingo, the stork and the squirrel (I think there is also a chamois), destined for tourist souvenirs.

Stripedhyena wrote:

Stripedhyena wrote:

Ostrich: Azur
Kudu: Cofalu (addax mold version)
Beaver: Elastolin (XL series)

I'm sure @Christophe can shed more light on the provenance of most of the other figures.

I'm in doubt right now whether Azur is French or Portuguese....
Elastolin made some figures (2 or 3) in a larger size than 1:25, they are not very well known and it is not very clear why. Maybe it was something like what Starlux did with the reproductions of the flamingo, the stork and the squirrel (I think there is also a chamois), destined for tourist souvenirs.

I believe Azur is a Portuguese brand from a company called SONADEL. I am not 100% sure however, I know Juá is a detergent from that company and they also offered premium figures. There's a much more recent brand of detergents called Azur, from Tunisia, I guess but this one was founded recently while the Portuguese was founded around 1960.

Stripedhyena wrote:

Elastolin made some figures (2 or 3) in a larger size than 1:25, they are not very well known and it is not very clear why.

I agree with Stripedhyena. It is a plastic version of Hausser Elastolin.
These beaver and probably a few figures were not realised later.
The reasons are unknown. Maybe a test versions ?

You can find more information here:
https://sts-forum.forumieren.de/t21991-mystery-composition-beaver?highlight=beaver

I believe Azur is only one name. I think it is a similar thing like Nayab figures. One or more factorys produce d for different brands.

https://sts-forum.forumieren.de/t17234-comparison-between-prior-and-elastolin-and-azur-and-unknown

widukind wrote:

I believe Azur is only one name. I think it is a similar thing like Nayab figures. One or more factorys produce d for different brands.

https://sts-forum.forumieren.de/t17234-comparison-between-prior-and-elastolin-and-azur-and-unknown

I was not refering to the brand of the figures but to the brand of the detergent.
Azur is a detergent brand, probably it was manufactured in many countries as it happens with many brands of almost everything. I am sure the Azur detergents, in Portugal, were sold with those premium figures.
Naturally, it is not the detergent factory who produces the figures. I think Christophe found that they were produced in Macau by a company called Injecta. Macau was a Portuguese territory in China.
Curiously, I've found that the detergent and soap brand Azur might be from Romania but I don't know if this page is refering to the same brand.
www.azur.ro

When we talk about premium figures, their known as collectibles with the name of the brand that offered them. OMO is another example of a detergent brand who offered premium figures. We don't know where they were manufactured but they will always be known as OMO figures. The problem with the AZUR models is that they were also offfered by other brands, somewhat like the Dunkin figures in Spain that were also offered by PanRico, etc.

Roger wrote:

widukind wrote:

I believe Azur is only one name. I think it is a similar thing like Nayab figures. One or more factorys produce d for different brands.

https://sts-forum.forumieren.de/t17234-comparison-between-prior-and-elastolin-and-azur-and-unknown

I was not refering to the brand of the figures but to the brand of the detergent.
Azur is a detergent brand, probably it was manufactured in many countries as it happens with many brands of almost everything. I am sure the Azur detergents, in Portugal, were sold with those premium figures.
Naturally, it is not the detergent factory who produces the figures. I think Christophe found that they were produced in Macau by a company called Injecta. Macau was a Portuguese territory in China.
Curiously, I've found that the detergent and soap brand Azur might be from Romania but I don't know if this page is refering to the same brand.
www.azur.ro

When we talk about premium figures, their known as collectibles with the name of the brand that offered them. OMO is another example of a detergent brand who offered premium figures. We don't know where they were manufactured but they will always be known as OMO figures. The problem with the AZUR models is that they were also offfered by other brands, somewhat like the Dunkin figures in Spain that were also offered by PanRico, etc.

Yes, i know. But we have no other name. The information with Injecta is really interesting. But that is what i mean. Some of these figures we also know as Prior, or Elastolin. I think it is only a method for buisness. The only matter is, it is hard to find now
It is like the "Margarinefiguren" in Germany. That means premium figures, is called as figures from Margarine brands , sold also by other food and nonfood brands but produced by???

The other lion is probably French but the trademark is still unknown.

Injecta plastic produced birds as gifts for at least three companies: AZUR, LESIEUR (Oil maker) and RENA (Cake maker).

I can't help now for the others. 

If you don't need them anymore... Please CALL ME  

I sincerely Thank all of you for your invaluable contributions in helping to identify these. It is a passion to know as much as possible about all the figures in my collection and share this knowledge with fellow collectors.

Is the camel not Bergan/Beton JungleJim?

H

I searched online for images and the Bergen camel has lots of hair impressions and looks different to me. But I could be wrong, as I'm not familiar with these brands :)

I also came across this site - perhaps someone here is familiar with it ?
It's got a lot of information about brands on it , on the link about soldiers.

Thank you for the links Annette! :)

The camel has never been identified as being by Bergen Toy & Novelty (Beton). That company has a camel in their circus series but this one is not the same. Also this camel has no markings of any kind on the inside of the belly or outside. Bergen usually had logos branded on them and on the inside. I suspect that this figure may have possibly been included with some Foreign Legion set as I have seen no other figures similar to it, but from what company remains a mystery. The era is definitely akin to 1950s style and I've only seen this figure twice in my 60 years of collecting. One was from a U.S. seller which I purchased and then sold later and this one from a seller in the UK.

Here is another good reference link for Bergen (Beton) figures. It includes farm sets and the circus sets.
http://ponylope.com/bt-sets/bt-sets.html