Marx Playset

Marx Playset

Marx play sets are very much in demand by collectors who are into the hobby of collecting old and new toys. This hobby can be frustrating, expensive and even time consuming. But it is sometimes usually worth it as you get to play with the toys and get a profit from selling these toys to other collectors. You can find a Marx play set for sale on many websites. These websites also provide you with a lot of information regarding the play sets.

The company that manufactures Marx play sets was started by Louis Marx in 1921 together with David, his brother. They used equipment bought from Ferdinand Strauss who was a former employer of Louis. The company recorded impressive growth in the 1940s. They adopted mass production for the toys and in 1940s to the 1950s Marx company introduced play sets that featured figures, animals, buildings, furniture, trees and wagons. The play sets had themes like military bases, an airport, a farm or gas station. Among the most popular and earliest concept was the American Civil War and Wild West play set. The popularity continued up to the 1970s.

A new method known as molding technique was introduced in the manufacturing of the toys and accessories of the play sets. A figure was created and it was to be used to make a strong metal mold, then plastic or hot vinyl was poured in the mold and given time to cool off. The end product was a figure that resembled exactly the original. The earlier figures were sculpted crudely with no close attention to detail, but they improved later as they stared using soft plastic that would produce realistic figures. Lithographed and pressed steel were the materials used to make buildings. Smaller accessories were made using hard plastic but at times with soft plastic.

The Marx play sets did not have paint; they came with the color of the raw material that produced them. They mixed the raw material into different shades of red, blue, gray, brown, yellow plus an off-white that they called ivory. Later Marx sold the business to a company called Quaker Oats in 1972. It was not able to maintain and run the business as Marx did. This led to them selling the company to Dunbee combex in England, owned by Sir Richard who became bankrupt in 1980. Marx assets were bought by American plastic Inc. Finally most play set prototypes were sold off to Mr. Chuck Salts and Gene Scala. Mr Chucks passed away later on and his collection was auctioned on eBay for over a whole year.

Since then many individuals plus the son of Marx, have tried to manufacture Marx figures but they do not meet the quality and standard of the original. Experienced collectors are able to distinguish between the original Marx play set figures and the duplicated ones in the market. If you want to purchase these play sets you need to search them thoroughly online on many websites dealing in vintage toy collectibles.