26 Old Dinosaur Toys and Prehistoric Animal Sets from the ’60s Moving Online

The soft-plastic dinosaurs that filled toy chests during the Kennedy and Johnson years are having a strange second life on auction sites, sold one figure at a time to grown adults who once staged battles between them on the living room rug. Some are worth pocket change and some quietly bring hundreds, and the difference usually comes down to a color of plastic most owners never thought twice about.

What follows is a field guide to the prehistoric toys of that decade, from museum gift-shop metal to gas-station giveaways to the notorious machines that molded a warm dinosaur while you watched. Prices swing hard with condition, completeness, and whether the original box survived the intervening sixty years.

Marx “Prehistoric Times” Playset

Louis Marx introduced its boxed prehistoric playsets in the late 1950s and kept them in catalogs across the 1960s under numbers like 3388, 3390, and 3398, each packing soft-plastic dinosaurs, cavemen, a molded mountain, and palm trees into a single lithographed box. The oddity nobody minded was chronology, since Marx cheerfully mixed dinosaurs and humans separated by roughly sixty-five million years into the same diorama.

Complete sets with the box and every accessory intact can bring several hundred dollars, while a tray of loose, sun-faded pieces might struggle past twenty.

Loose Marx Dinosaur Figures

Beyond the boxed sets, Marx sold its large single dinosaurs by the bin, and the Tyrannosaurus, Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Trachodon, and sail-backed Dimetrodon became the definitive shape of “dinosaur” for a generation. Dating them is a color game, because Marx reran the same molds for decades in gray, tan, dark green, and later almost fluorescent shades, so a collector reads the plastic before the sculpt.

Common figures in played-with shape trade for a few dollars, but scarce early colors in sharp condition command real premiums.

The Marx Giant Prehistoric Mountain

Marx also built its dinosaur world outward with the Prehistoric Mountain sets, whose centerpiece was a large molded volcano and rockwork that dwarfed the figures crawling around it. The scale is what surprises modern buyers, since the mountain could span well over a foot and turned a tabletop into a full landscape rather than a shelf of loose toys.

Boxed and complete, these bring strong money; without the box or with a warped, brittle mountain, the value drops sharply.

Marx Prehistoric Mammals

Less famous than the dinosaurs but arguably more prized, Marx produced a companion range of Ice Age mammals that included the woolly mammoth, sabertooth cat, giant ground sloth, cave bear, and woolly rhinoceros. These turn up far less often than the dinosaurs, partly because they were made in smaller numbers and partly because kids tended to lose the odd ones first.

A clean mammoth or sabertooth in a desirable color can outvalue a whole handful of the more common reptiles, condition permitting.

MPC Dinosaurs

Multiple Products Corporation flooded the early 1960s with hard styrene dinosaurs molded in gray, green, and a distinctive metallic silver that no rival used. The silver finish is the tell, since MPC’s shiny prehistoric monsters look almost chrome-dipped next to the matte Marx figures.

Loose MPC dinosaurs remain cheap and plentiful, often a couple of dollars each, though carded or bagged store stock in the original packaging pulls considerably more depending on condition.

MPC’s Prehistoric Mammals

MPC did not stop at dinosaurs, issuing a smaller-scale set of prehistoric mammals and early synapsids that shared the same crisp styrene and occasional silver plastic. Collectors chase these because the sculpting is surprisingly detailed for a dime-store product, and the mammals were produced in far shorter runs than the reptiles.

Values track condition and completeness closely, with intact silver examples fetching a noticeable step up over the standard green and gray.

Sinclair Dinoland Mold-A-Rama Figures

At the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair, Sinclair Oil’s Dinoland pavilion ran Mold-A-Rama machines that squeezed out a warm, hollow plastic dinosaur while a child watched through the glass, all for pocket change of about a quarter. The colors came in wild fairground shades of blue, pink, orange, and green, and the machines offered seven species, with the Tyrannosaurus oddly coming out smaller than the Triceratops.

Surviving figures generally run twenty to seventy dollars each, but warped, crushed, or badly discolored examples fall well below that.

Sinclair Dinoland Souvenir Dinosaurs

Sinclair also sold pressed soft-plastic dinosaurs at Dinoland, many produced by Marx and modeled on the nine life-size fiberglass beasts that anchored the exhibit. These are among the few genuinely licensed dinosaur toys of the era, tied directly to Sinclair’s long-running dinosaur mascot and marketing.

A complete boxed souvenir set with its Sinclair graphics commands a premium, while individual green figures found loose sell for modest sums that still depend heavily on condition.

The Inflatable Sinclair Dino

The friendliest face of the pavilion was Dino, Sinclair’s cartoon Apatosaurus, sold and given away as a vinyl blow-up toy that became a mid-1960s road-trip icon. The catch for collectors is that Sinclair has reproduced the inflatable for decades, so an original 1964 example must be dated by its vinyl, seams, and printing rather than the shape alone.

Early examples with supple, uncracked vinyl bring the most, while stiffened or split ones are worth little beyond nostalgia.

Nabisco Rice Honeys and Wheat Honeys Premiums

Nabisco packed small plastic dinosaurs into boxes of Rice Honeys and Wheat Honeys cereal beginning in the late 1950s and running into the 1960s, paired with a fold-out “Dinosaur Guide” that taught kids how to pronounce the names. The premium turned breakfast into a low-stakes treasure hunt, since the figure sat somewhere in the flakes.

Loose figures are inexpensive, but a complete run with the original guide and cereal box in good shape is a genuine find and priced accordingly.

Linde Coffee Dinosaurs from Austria

Austrian coffee brand Linde gave away small, solid prehistoric figures as premiums from the late 1950s into the 1960s, and their quality embarrassed a lot of retail toys. The sculpts are unusually accurate for a freebie, and the delicate Rhamphorhynchus pterosaur is among the hardest pieces to complete a set.

A full Linde run in clean condition is a collector prize; single figures sell for less but still carry a premium for their scarcity and detail.

SRG Cast-Metal Dinosaurs

Sell-Rite Giftware cast heavy pot-metal dinosaurs that were sold through museum gift shops, including the American Museum of Natural History, giving them an air of authority the plastic crowd lacked. The models originated in the 1940s but stayed on museum counters through the 1960s, often finished in a bronze or brass-look coating that feels reassuringly solid in the hand.

Depending on paint and corrosion, they typically bring twenty to eighty dollars, with repainted or pitted examples worth considerably less.

The Japanese Battery-Operated Dino-Robot

Horikawa, working under the SH mark, built a battery-operated tin-and-plastic dinosaur that walked, flashed colored lights, and split open at the head to reveal a whirring mechanical monster inside. The gimmick is pure 1960s Japanese toy engineering, turning a dinosaur into something halfway between a lizard and a robot.

Working examples with the original box run well into the hundreds, while non-functioning or incomplete units drop steeply, since much of the value lives in the action and the packaging.

Marusan and Bullmark Vinyl Godzillas

The prehistoric monster went soft in 1966 when Marusan released the first true Godzilla soft-vinyl figure in Japan, a line that passed to Bullmark when Marusan folded at the decade’s end. These early kaiju are the aristocrats of the category, and a genuine 1966 Marusan Godzilla in top condition can bring thousands rather than hundreds.

Paint wear, splits, and reproductions muddy the water badly, so condition and authentication decide almost everything about the price.

The 1964 Aurora Godzilla Kit

Aurora Plastics added Godzilla to its celebrated monster model line in 1964, a glue-together styrene kit later reissued in glow-in-the-dark plastic. Purists note that Aurora’s version looks distinctly off-model, more lumpy toad than screen menace, which somehow only deepens the affection collectors have for it.

A sealed original-issue box is the grail; a well-built vintage assembly still sells respectably, while a broken, repainted build is worth a fraction of either.

Palmer Plastics Snap-Together Dinosaurs

Palmer Plastics aimed lower and younger with snap-together dinosaur kits that required no glue, letting small hands assemble a Brontosaurus or Stegosaurus in minutes. The no-cement approach was the selling point, marketed as an assembly kit safe for children who would otherwise glue their fingers together.

Sealed vintage kits carry a premium among model collectors, while a built-up or partial specimen loose in a bin is worth only a few dollars depending on condition.

Pyro Prehistoric Monster Kits

Pyro Plastics sold glue-assembly “Prehistoric Monsters” kits whose molds proved so durable that the company and its successors reran them for decades. That longevity is the trap, because a Pyro dinosaur on your shelf might date to the 1950s or the 1990s, and only the box art and plastic reliably pin the year.

Vintage sealed boxes bring the real money; a bare, assembled figure without packaging trades cheaply regardless of how sharp the casting looks.

Fred Flintstone’s Dino by Marx and Linemar

Marx’s Japanese arm Linemar turned the cartoon boom into tin, producing wind-up and battery-operated toys of Fred Flintstone riding Dino around 1961 and 1962. The joke buried in the toy is that Dino is not a dinosaur at all in the show’s fiction but a purple “Snorkasaurus” who behaves like a dog.

Working, boxed examples of these lithographed tin toys are prized and priced high, while a scuffed, non-running body loses most of its appeal and value.

Mattel’s Strange Change Machine

Mattel’s 19678 Strange Change Machine let a child drop a small compressed capsule into a heated chamber and watch it unfurl into one of sixteen different “Lost World” prehistoric monsters, then crush it flat again in a vise to start over. The startling part by modern standards is the heat, since the chamber ran hot enough to redden fingers, a hazard the instructions treated almost casually.

Complete units with all sixteen creatures, the tongs, and the box command strong prices; missing figures or a dead heating element cut the value hard.

Timpo’s British Prehistoric Animals

Britain’s Timpo added prehistoric animals to its plastic figure catalog, giving UK children a homegrown alternative to the American imports, including a well-regarded sail-backed Dimetrodon. Because they were sold mainly on one side of the Atlantic, Timpo prehistorics turn up far less often in American listings, which lends them a scarcity premium abroad.

Condition and color drive the price, with crisp, unbroken figures in original hues sitting well above common playworn examples.

Starlux Dinosaurs from France

French maker Starlux launched its prehistoric range in the late 1960s and expanded it heavily through the following decades, earning a reputation for scientific care that most competitors never chased. Collectors respect the anatomy, and the line’s long run means early figures must be sorted from later reissues by mold and finish.

Well-preserved vintage Starlux pieces are sought after and priced accordingly, while later or damaged figures sell for much less.

Elastolin Prehistoric Animals

Elastolin, the toy brand of West Germany’s O&M Hausser, applied the same craftsmanship that made its toy soldiers famous to a range of heavier, finely detailed prehistoric animals. The German pedigree shows in the density and paintwork, setting these apart from the hollow dime-store crowd.

Intact, well-painted examples bring a premium among European figure collectors, though chips, repaints, and material fatigue can pull an otherwise handsome piece well down in value.

Ajax Dime-Store Dinosaurs

Ajax and related Hong Kong makers supplied the cheap end of the market with hollow soft-plastic dinosaurs sold in bags at five-and-dime counters, many of them frank copies of Marx and MPC sculpts. The knockoff lineage is half the charm, and markings like “Ajax” or “DFC” are often the only way to separate them from their more expensive inspirations.

They remain the most affordable vintage dinosaurs going, usually a dollar or two each, with condition making only a small difference at that level.

The Field Museum Mold-A-Rama

Chicago’s Field Museum installed Mold-A-Rama machines in the 1960s that pressed out the institution’s own dinosaur models, and unlike the temporary fair machines, some of these ran for decades. The longevity means a figure’s plastic and color are what date it, so a genuine 1960s pressing must be told apart from one made forty years later on the same machine.

Early vintage examples carry a premium, while recent pressings and warped or dirty figures are worth comparatively little.

Cracker Jack Dinosaur Prizes

Cracker Jack tucked tiny plastic dinosaurs into its boxes as prizes during the 1950s and 1960s, part of a broader run of miniature models that also included cars and ships. Their size is the surprise, since some measure under an inch and are easily mistaken for stray beads until you spot the tail and legs.

Individually they cost only a few dollars, but complete prize groupings in fine condition draw dedicated collectors who value them far beyond the candy that carried them.

Auburn Rubber Prehistoric Animals

Auburn Rubber, which relocated to Deming, New Mexico in 1960, produced dinosaur figures that straddled the company’s shift from natural rubber to vinyl before it closed in 1969. That transition is a collector’s fingerprint, since Auburn dinosaurs exist in both materials and the earlier rubber examples tend to be scarcer and more prone to age damage.

Clean, uncracked figures bring a premium, while the common problems of rubber rot and warping can render an otherwise desirable piece nearly worthless.

Why These Beasts Keep Surfacing Online

The reason these toys are migrating onto auction sites now is demographic as much as anything, since the children who owned them are at the age where basements get emptied and childhood gets appraised. What was once a bin of interchangeable green lizards has become a market with grades, color charts, and price records, and a figure that cost a nickel in a cereal box can now anchor a listing.

The deeper appeal is that these objects captured a moment when dinosaurs were still cartoonishly wrong, mixed freely with cavemen, and colored like carnival prizes rather than museum reconstructions. Collectors are not really buying accuracy, which the toys mostly lacked, but the specific texture of a 1960s childhood, and that is a thing scarcity will keep making more expensive.

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