Today we will discuss some big childhood favorites, Disney, and Marx toys. Has anyone ever heard of Disneykins? I hadn’t until I saw my first one here in the collection of the Hagen History Center- Erie County Historical Society.
A Disneykin is a small, hard plastic painted Disney character. When I say small, I mean only a matter of centimeters in size. At the Historical Society we have three of our own! We have Bambi, Pluto, and Mickey Mouse himself. Each Disneykin has “Made in Hong Kong,” with the Marx emblem, and “Copyright Walt Disney Productions” on them. They come in their original cardboard boxes which are red and yellow.
When you google “Marx Toys Disneykins,” you will see a lot of familiar Disney characters. Mickey Mouse and his group, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, along with many others. Some of the Disneykins even come in big packs rather than individual boxes. The reason for this packaging was to make even the box itself colorful and exciting. Marx went as far as to make some of the box’s scenes that went with the character pack.
The Louis Marx Toy Company manufactured Disneykins from 1961 right up to the Company’s end. The “first series” of Disneykins consisted of 34 figures and the “second series” had 36. The “second series” was considered the rarer of the figures. As new Disney characters were introduced to the world by Walt Disney, a new Disneykin or group of them would be produced and marketed.
Nowadays most children would not play with or collect these little figures. Instead, many adults who grew up with them have become Disneykin collectors. It has become a goal, or even hobby, for many to collect every single figure. I personally would love to collect more of these tiny, but incredibly important figures. Everybody loves Disney, but more importantly, they are Erie-related thanks to Marx Toys ties to Erie County.
Sources:
https://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/articles/disneykins-disneykins-story/