Durolin and Orang-utans

I'm sorry this has turned out to be such a lengthy post. Please feel free to skip the text and go straight to the pictures.

We took these Orang pictures for a friend while I was sorting out the different brands of composition animals in his collection. As usual, Durolin was "the weasel in the woodpile" when it came to identification, because Durolin animals have a sneaky way of getting onto eBay disguised as ... and sold as ... Elastolin, Tipple-Topple and Lineol.

Durolin made copies of the animals of all three firms. The best ones are very good and hard to tell from the originals. Most have a few distortions or patches of sloppy casting. The worst ones are unbelievably bad!

Some animals from the 1930's and very early 1950's (?) have the word DUROLIN embossed underneath. Later specimens have the word covered over or partially erased.

In the 1980's soldiers, Wild West figures and animals were widely available ... even sold in the UK by a few importers. They were said to have been produced by ex-employees of the by-then-closed Durolin factory. They were very cheerfully painted in bright colours with no makers marks.

OK, now for the Orangs.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
These two are genuine Tipple-Topple Orangs. The one on the left is old, paintworn, and probably 1930's. The one on the right is in bright, unworn 1950's paint. The 1950's Orang has some retooling to the mould, which is most obvious around the head. Their bases have no makers mark at all, which was normal for Tipple-Topple.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Here is the older Tipple-Topple Orang again, on the left, with a pair of 1980's Durolin copies. The middle one looks old because it was allowed to get damp ... it was kept outdoors in a hen hut for nine or ten years. I have seen a number of late Durolin animals treated in this way, sold as "rare old figures". The Orang on the right is in slightly worn original paint.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
On the left, a genuine Tipple-Topple Orang; on the right, a genuine Elastolin Orang, whose base is clearly marked ELASTOLIN.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
The Elastolin Orang is very obviously copied from this engraving, which was copied in turn from a stuffed specimen.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
I imagine that Lineol's 1930's Orang was also clearly base marked. Sadly, we don't have one to show you. This is a Durolin 1950's copy of the LIneol original.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
All the Durolin Orangs have distinct indentations under their bases where they were pushed out of the moulds.

Lesley
castlerigg

Great old stuff!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

This is ENORMOUSLY interesting !!!

I probably will never get anywhere near any of them, but is is great to learn, - and your pictures are wonderful

Thankyou VERY much for this valuable article !
It must have taken A LOT of time and research and checking and studying to make it

Thank you!!!! Great fun and very interesting!

That is absolutly interesting! :) A topic of this quality is only possible from someone that loves crazily this world of replica animals!
Kidding a little, it looks also names of the brands were also copied a lot:
We have Elastolin, Durolin, Danolin, Marolin and Carolynn!
Sorry!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Picture from http://www.figuren-journal.com

I've found this picture of a Danolin copy of Lineol! :)

castlerigg wrote:

I imagine that Lineol's 1930's Orang was also clearly base marked. Sadly, we don't have one to show you. This is a Durolin 1950's copy of the LIneol original.

Lesley
castlerigg

Roger wrote:

That is absolutly interesting! :) A topic of this quality is only possible from someone that loves crazily this world of replica animals!
Kidding a little, it looks also names of the brands were also copied a lot:
We have Elastolin, Durolin, Danolin, Marolin and Carolynn!
Sorry!

I've found this picture of a Danolin copy of Lineol! :)

Thank you Lesley for sharing your knowledge and pics.
I love this section with so many incredible models
Old models, old brands are very important for me. Some are wonderful, some are odd, but all have a past and history and I like that

Now, if it could help, The LINEOL Orangutan and a smaller TIMPO copy

Thank Yo uso much for very interesting lesson about old brands history! I love to read that and watch photos! And how interesting to see the engraving which was the inspiration for sculptors of the Elastolin Orang

Thanks, everyone! I hope it didn't sound too much like a history lesson - but I get angry when people sell Durolin animals to innocent buyers as Elastolin, Lineol and Tipple-Topple.

Roger, thanks for the picture! I love your list, but you missed out the Swiss one, STRAUBOLIN!

Christophe, wonderful pictures! Does your Lineol Orang have a base mark?

Anna, it must have been very difficult for the people who sculpted the first composition animals, they had only engravings like that to work from, and very rarely the live animal - much easier for the sculptors from the 1920's onwards, when they could find plenty of good photographs.

Lesley
castlerigg

This is very interesting, thanks for posting all the info and pictures. I really like composition but it's so expensive and hard to get most of the time.

castlerigg wrote:

Christophe, wonderful pictures! Does your Lineol Orang have a base mark?

Yes "LINEOL Germany"

Roger, thanks for the picture! I love your list, but you missed out the Swiss one, STRAUBOLIN!

Lesley
castlerigg
[/quote]

I missed because I never heard before about it! :) Thanks for telling, I enjoy to know about these figures even I cannot collect them. I've found also an article Here saying that Straubolin were mainly Elastolin copies.

castlerigg wrote:

Thanks, everyone! I hope it didn't sound too much like a history lesson -
Lesley
castlerigg

don't worry-- we enjoy the history lesson!

Roger wrote:

Kidding a little, it looks also names of the brands were also copied a lot:
We have Elastolin, Durolin, Danolin, Marolin and Carolynn!
Sorry!

Models made by Carolynn are probably the rarest of all.

Reading a little more about composition brands I've found that they use a kind of clay called kaolin. Maybe it explains why the names of these brands ends in ...lin or even one of them starts with lin, like Lineol!
That would be ridiculous but this is only a little conclusion!
So Carolynn, your figures are not only rare but also made of a different material!

Mastiffcat wrote:

castlerigg wrote:

Thanks, everyone! I hope it didn't sound too much like a history lesson -
Lesley
castlerigg

don't worry-- we enjoy the history lesson!

Yes we enjoy very much! Sue and Lesley, it's great pleasure to learn something new almost everyday here on forum, and Your lessons are always wonderful

I'm still in plastic from poultry Durolin ...

Thanks for showing the drawing as to which the orang was copied from to make a figure of! Personally, Safari Wildlife Wonders Orang is my fav!