Gilbert/Sears? James Bond dolls
ppw3o6r
Great BritainPosts: 2,271MI6 Agent
Gilbert/Sears or not Gibert/Sears? that is the question.
After a recent unearth in a box in the loft of a Cecil Coleman carded Tuxedo set which I purchased over 25 years ago believing it to be a Gilbert/Sears set I started looking into if the illusive Sears Exclusives actually existed? The following 2 images both claim to be genuine Sears but I'm not so sure. The JB doll looks to be made up of a combination of the accessory sets however the Oddjob butler outfit looks right. The paperwork in both examples are far too crisp to be originals from almost 48 years ago IMO. The Bond Sears box is known to be available as a reproduction from someone who claimed to own or to have had access to an original.
After a recent unearth in a box in the loft of a Cecil Coleman carded Tuxedo set which I purchased over 25 years ago believing it to be a Gilbert/Sears set I started looking into if the illusive Sears Exclusives actually existed? The following 2 images both claim to be genuine Sears but I'm not so sure. The JB doll looks to be made up of a combination of the accessory sets however the Oddjob butler outfit looks right. The paperwork in both examples are far too crisp to be originals from almost 48 years ago IMO. The Bond Sears box is known to be available as a reproduction from someone who claimed to own or to have had access to an original.
Comments
cool toys Donk as always -{
I have never seen an actual "Sears" Bond box with original figure for sale. I have only read about them, but there seems to be some speculation as to weather these were ever really released before Gilbert went bust.
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Donktoys vs Bondtoys
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
that box looks interesting but I would have to see it up close. The outfit is, however, as you suspect. Does yours have any kicking leg function?
I have an original mail order boxed Sears Connery but not the retail version although I have seen one.
These examples are not part of my collection although like yourself I would pay big bucks for 100% genuine examples (and yes I'd be sniffing the packaging big style) along with the illusive Cecil Coleman YOLT Commander Bond & Kissy Suzuki dolls.
Incidently this surfaced on a forum in January. Any contact info please PM me. Thank you.
thinking of starting my own Aston Martin garage!
OMFGG!...got a gold electro plated one going spare?
The paperwork looks crisp because it's probably new; that same person offers reproductions of both the instructions and the packaging and, to the best of my knowledge, maintains the figures and accessories are original, not necessarily the collateral.
That same fellow also has what he says is the Sears exclusive Naval uniform.
One reason for questioning the veracity is that I purchased one of the repro Bond boxes with the understanding that I was never to discuss with anyone how I obtained it and absolutely never to name the seller owing to an agreement he had with the actual owner to never reproduce it. Despite that, within a few weeks he was offering stacks of them on eBay (at a fraction of what I paid, I might add) and has done so a few times a year ever since.
These outfits may well be genuine but as the clothing isn't tagged and I've only ever seen just those same photos, there simply isn't enough data.
There are things I'm still not clear on regarding the "Sears" box: Until recently, the only actual "Sears" figures I've ever seen were in plain brown corrugate shipping containers and the only retail boxes such as this were clearly identified as reproductions. Did Sears ship any figures in the printed box? Was the figure ever offered in stores?
This past Fall I lost out on a 100% complete -- working shoe knife but no kicking leg -- Sears Bond figure (in the box) on eBay at just over USD $1,300 so they are out there!
Relative to the accessories, I also recently stumbled on a purported Sears "casual outfit;" I have some more reason to believe this is genuine but, again, not enough to be sure.
One odd thing about the box and why -- until that eBay listing came up -- I wondered if it ever existed as anything other than artwork is that the side panel has several misspelled words … words spelled correctly on the "Thunderball" box.
Regarding that Cecil Coleman [MEGO Museum boards?] thread, I've since gotten a little more info. In fact, a few weeks ago I actually purchased what was acknowledged as a refurbished Coleman figure. However, there were too many issues so I returned it and am now on the hunt for another.
Thanks for the additional info & images. Good luck with your ongoing quest -{
Marvin Glass was hired to get the ball rolling and design a toy range. Gilbert had paid way too much for the licence and managed to get an exclusive deal with Sears to take massive quantities of the Gilbert 007 Bond line.
Marvin Glass worked with Ideal to produce dolls for Gilbert under licence until Gilbert took over later.
Two dolls were offered Sean Connery and Odd Job. The Connery doll came in a mail order box with three outfits. Business suit with shirt and tie and shoes with concealed knife. Tuxedo on card and scuba set on card. These outfits were made in Japan.
The colour Sears box was available for retail sale and they do turn up with the above business suit. Due to cost cutting Gilbert reworked the doll and sold it in tshirt and shorts with all outfits to be extra purchases, the box was redone. Ideal was still involved and the doll was reworked and production moved from Japan to Hong Kong.
The Odd job missed the deadline for Sears and non were shipped out in the first year.
The Odd job was made by Ideal in the black box and sold at general retail, Gilbert later took over and produced the red box but this was at the end of the companies life.
Prototypes and boxes will certainly exist for various stages.
Alan I have the Sears mailaway box and the Cecil Coleman PM me and we can swap pics
At what point did every thing move to Portugal? Or is that where it started? And was Ideal also involved in the 3" line (all of those pieces also carry the Glass mark)?
Finally, you note Odd Job was not "shipped out in the first year;" so was there ever a suited OJ?
Glass' people don't like discussing his involvement with Bond, largely I assume, due to the fiasco around the track and there's no one left -- not readily accessible anyway -- from the heyday of Ideal.
Sorry, just pieced it together over many years - as have you my friend.
Portugal is only involved with the Action line of 10 figures and scenes although there is some evidence that the Secret World playset was made in Japan.
I have never seen a suited Odd Job although, as I stated in my last post, prototypes may still exist.
the Marvin Glass company designed everything for Gilberts Bond range and then also managed to create their own stuff with the jewellery and novelty range. i imagine the Gilbert stuff was pretty low rent stuff for them as apart from the 3" stuff it was generally reworking existing toys.
Maybe Glass Co. did not get paid, I don't know..........................
Nick
The "Sears" 12" figure box is marked "Made in Portugal;" that and the fact that it reads copyright GILDROSE figures (no pun intended) into my doubts as to the origins of some of this material.
(The road race set was also made in Portugal but we'll class that as a separate matter save for the question of who the heck decides to move toy manufacturing to Portugal?!?!)
I did not knoe about the Portugal markings on th Sears doll, I have no idea why that would be the case.
Yeah, I checked my reproduction "Sears" box this morning and it did say "Made in Portugal" on the side.
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
box and paperwork are reproduction, figure clothes shoes are original.
spring in arm and leg are a bit sloppy but still work. kicking shoe spring loaded knife is working but a bit stiff.
this has been in a collection since the early 90's
Ed
the spyboys Facebook page
The Gilbert figure is © '65 and the UNCLE kits '66 so I'm calling that a coincidence (they are just different enough anyway).
Coleman using the Vaughn pic has been cited elsewhere as particularly odd since Coleman not only had an UNCLE license as well but almost exactly duplicated the Gilbert boxes for those figures!
Here are the Gilbert (L) and Coleman (R) Illya boxes:
--Ed
the spyboys Facebook page
Except that, save for the last decade or so, the "kicking leg" box has been virtually unseen!
Tangent: Relative to Aurora, there's a good deal of interest in Kunstler (though more so probably James Bama); are there photos of anyone modeling (no pun intended) for any box art?
The shoes are dead right and so is the suit, the leg is spring loaded but not sure if messed with.
You cannot see anything from the outside and I am not brave enough to take body apart just in case this is the real deal body.
I have moved on with my collection so this one will be up for sale shortly.
I've never seen any photos of anyone modeling that pose. Steve Holland was the most widely used model by Bama, Kunstler and virtually anyone that's ever painted a pulp cover, paperback, movie poster, etc. I have pics of the original blueprints for the UNCLE models and suspect Kunstler was given these to use as reference.
Steve Holland was most famous for being used by Bama as the model for the Doc Savage paperback boxes. As for Aurora. I know he posed for the Green Beret Model kit.
Ed
the spyboys Facebook page
Same arrangement as Hocky's: Repro box, original figure, suit, shoes, attache case. (I did add socks.)
I will note that I currently have maybe 20-30 of the Connery figures and not a one of them has a kicking mechanism nor any evidence of one having been removed, etc. Now the Sears figure is, of course, rare so it's possible all of mine were standard issue, but with that volume surely one would have turned up.
I have now decided to list this on ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-1960S-RARE-SEARS-GILBERT-JAMES-BOND-FIGURE-KICKING-LEG-SHOE-WITH-KNIFE-/141439697186?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT