Dinosauriana Imagined 13

Dinosauriana Iberiana (A Spain-ful Endeavor)

- Robert Telleria

Vintage dinosauriana hunters around the world own at least some American-made toy dinosaurs, such as those sets from Marx, MPC, or J.H. Miller, all of which can be considered common. British-made toys from Invicta, Timpo and Cherilea, and French toys from Starlux, again, are rather obtainable via various auction sites if you only recently started collecting. In previous articles I covered some of the German-made gems from Saurierpark and Plaho to very common Bullyland and Schleich. Still rarer are Italian toys from the rubber Orsenigo set and the composition Chialu set. I will be visiting those products soon as well.

Unlike a Dali, Picasso, Velasquez or Goya, it seems no Spanish toy dinosaurs are works of art, so to speak. Little interest in these make them mostly overlooked by collectors. As a result they also tend to be rare. On the Iberian peninsula, the late 1980s-90s Comansi, Yolanda, Miniland and Matutano sets are frequently found, making them perhaps the best known dinosaur sets made in Spain. Realistic Portuguese-made toys are seldom found. Pech, Oliver, Reamsa, Sotorres and Teixido were Spanish companies that never offered any dinosaurs in their toy animal ranges. In 1959, Spain's first original toy dinosaurs were made by Jecsan, the Louis Marx of Spain at that time.

Rather than hard plastic, Jecsan figures were made of semi-hard vulcanized flexible rubber which makes them very fragile – especially after 60 years! One of Spain's leading toy manufacturers up until 1981 when Industrial Pucol bought their molds, Jecsan were especially noted for their toy soldier figurines and unique playsets (i.e. Matadors, Ben Hur, El Cid, Circus, Safari, Prisoners of War to name a few).