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Collectibles |
NEWSLETTER |
April 2020 |
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The
Hartland Hex: The Rocky Road of The Iconic |
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Steven KeyMan |
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Hartland
Statues
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By Steven KeyMan |
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Founder of
Keymancollectibles.com,
and a long time
collector, Steven
KeyMan has more than 30
years of experience in
researching, and
cataloging information
on Baseball
Memorabilia.
Researching his own personal
collection, and helping others find
information on their
collectibles, the
website grew into the
largest online resource
for baseball
memorabilia |
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Ask
Steven: Direct your questions or feedback,
about Baseball Memorabilia to Steven KeyMan
Steve@keymancollectibles.com You can also Send
KeyMan pictures of your personal Memorabilia Display,
and get your own Free
Collectors Showcase Room featured on the website.. |
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Founded in 1941, Hartland
Plastics was known for making Plastic
western toys, such as Cowboys, Indians
and Horses. Hartland was the first
company to manufacture licensed sports
figures, setting a trend that remains
the cornerstone of sports figurine
collecting as we know it today. From 1958-1962 Hartland
Plastics produced 18 statues of star
Major League baseball players, a Bat
boy & Minor Leaguer. |
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In 1958 the Wisconsin based company
introduced the baseball line of
statues. Three home state players were
produced, Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn, and
Eddie Mathews. In 1962 an additional
15 players were added to the series.
The total collection of 18 baseball figures that sold for $1.98. at
specialty and discount stores such as
Woolworths also included; Babe Ruth,
Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan
Musial, and other players that would
become members of the Hall of Fame.
The "Bat Boy" was originally issued as
the Little Leaguer but it was changed
because of licensing rights. After
issuing the "Champion Little Leaguer"
statue in 1963, a trademark
infringement complaint by the Little
League association forced a large
majority to be held back leaving only a
small number of the "Little Leaguer"
blister packs in the market. Many
of the header cards were then cut to
remove "Little Leaguer" from the top.
A 25th anniversary series was issued in 1988. All the figures had a ©
Hartland Plastics Inc. on the back, but
the 1988 reproductions features a
circled (25th).
 In
1963 Hartland Plastics was purchased by
Revlon Cosmetics Company. The statues
were a Christmas time diversion from
the companies main source of income,
making bottles for perfume. The new
owners decided to stop the production
of the sports figures to concentrate on
making cosmetic perfume cases and
containers.
An unknown enterprising company utilized the Hartland Plastics overstock
of the Mickey Mantle statues, and
turned them into lamps. It is not known
who produced the limited number of
Mickey Mantle Lamps, but the bottom
of the base has a "Yugoslavia"
stamping.
In 1987, Dallas attorney William Alley
of Dallas, secured the rights to
produce a commemorative set of the
original 18 players. In 1988
celebrating the
25th Anniversary of the
original release, the full series
including the Bat Boy which was
originally offered free as a bonus to
anyone that order a complete set of the
25th Anniversary.
In 1990 Hartland created six new statues; Roberto Clemente, Lou Gehrig,
Dizzy Dean, Whitey Ford, Bob Feller and
Ty Cobb. They were scaled perfectly to
display with the original Hartland
Plastic baseball player statues. An
additional two figurine set named "The
Confrontation" was also released.
"The Confrontation" a rare modern era
Hartland baseball figurine that has the
distinction of being the first full size
Hartland baseball offering that
included two figures. The 8" tall, hand
painted figures unofficially depicting
an argument between Sparky Anderson and
Al Barlick, were solid plastic.
Pictured here is the 2001 Hartland Collectibles re-issue. The original, the
rarest of all Hartland statues, had a
production run of 20 figures. It came
in a thick green cardboard box, with a
watercolor mural on the front.
The new line of figures in 1990 were
authorized for a production run of
10,000 for each player, but only two of
the figures ever reached that mark:
Whitey Ford and Roberto Clemente. Lou
Gehrig and Dizzy Dean each reached a
production of approximately 600.
Ty Cobb had a finished run of only 45, leaving Bob Feller, with 25 units
produced. The main reason for the
limited production of the new Hartlands
was the mysterious (and still unsolved)
disappearance of company owner William
Alley while on a business trip. Most
collectors thought that with Alleys
disappearance their orders and money
would be lost.
In August of 1991 Bill Dunlop purchased
the Hartland name, and had announced he
would try and make good on all the
orders that Alley hadn't filled. Dunlop
formed U.S.A. Hartland incorporated and
accepts advanced orders for Nolan Ryan,
Cy Young and Honus Wagner statues. USA
Hartland was then purchased by Steven
Manufacturing and moved the to Hermann,
Missouri.
"Hartland Missouri" released statues from 1992 to 1994, in two style
boxes. A red windowed display box, and
what is known as the "gray box" as the
one Cy Young was issued in.
Carl Yastrzemski was in production in July of 1993, when the Great
Missouri Flood completely destroyed the
Steven factory located off the banks of
the river. Yastrzemski was boxed in a
Nolan Ryan window box and had a
production run of about 400. Hartland
closed its doors shortly thereafter.
In 2001 the company re-emerged as
Hartland Collectibles LLC. Partnered
with Krause Publications, the SCD
Authentic series was created. The company
issued several statues, including the original 18 figures,
promotional giveaways at stadiums and
events.
In 2004 SCD brought back a classic Hartland piece. A
limited edition Bat
Boy was made exclusively for Sports
Collectors Digest subscribers. Unlike
the original, this figure was was
mounted on a base, stood 5 inches tall,
and had "SCD" in red on the jersey
back.
 In 2005,
"The
Umpire," and "The Coach" statues were
produced as a subscription premium
giveaway for SCD. The following year in
2006 "The Vendor" was produced. Each
statue came in a Styrofoam encasing,
sent out in a plain shipping box.
That same year in 2006, Hartland of Ohio took control of the company. In
June of 2007 Hartland of Ohio had a
"Father's Day Fire Sale." Left with the
SCD-Hartland overstock of stadium
giveaways, which Hartland of Ohio was
not allowed to sell, the new company
gave them away.
For every regular Hartland statue purchased, you received your choice of
one of the following absolutely FREE:
Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Robinson
Cano, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera
(Columbus Clippers SGA's), Krash Mascot
SCD "The Umpire" Statue, SCD "The
Coach" Statue, and SCD "The Vendor"
Statue. This special offer was only
made available to club members via the
phone.
This 6.5 inch tall
Mickey Mantle statue was produced by
Hartland for the Yankees Triple-A
team, the Columbus Clippers. Used as a
stadium-give-away the Clippers handed
them out on September 2, 2006 to the
first 2,000 fans in attendance, in a
game played against the Toledo Mud
Hens.
The statue features Mickey Mantle in
his Rookie season wearing uniform
number 6. Hartland Collectibles also
made 5 other 30th Anniversary
Commemorative Statue SGAs for the
Clippers in 2006 featuring; Derek
Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge
Posada, Mariano River, and Robinson
Cano. |
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Founded in 2006 Hartland of Ohio LLC
continued the tradition of producing
quality statues under the trademarks of
the original company. Hartland of Ohio
also specialized in limited edition
Negro Legendary Player statues,
autographed and non autographed
statues, polyresin and plastic
figurines, from an almost forgotten
group of players in the sports
industry.
40 years after his Triple Crown season Carl Yastrzemski was one of the
first autographed statues issued by
Hartland Ohio in 2007. The individually
numbered, hand painted 8 inch statues
were limited to 500 produced and came
in a custom collectible box. Only 100
of the statues were signed and numbered
by Yastrzemski, and came with a
certificate of authenticity.
Dick Allen autographed 200 statues in the Hartland booth at the Sports
Collector's Digest show June 8th - 10th
at the Renaissance Schaumberg Hotel in
Chicago that same year.
The Hartland
Ohio Collectors club was first
introduced in 2007. The $25.00
Collector's Club membership fee entitle
members to newsletters, discounts,
advance notice on upcoming products,
and exclusive statue purchase
opportunities for club members only,
such as the
Ty Cobb statue in 2009.
The members that paid the annual fee,
also received a free exclusive numbered
statue each year as a member reward.
The free statue members received in
2009 was of Walter Johnson. The 2013
Collectors Club membership fee was up
to $40., but by October of 2014
Hartland of Ohio LLC, along with all
the Trademarks, inventory, website and
customer base went up for sale.
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Hartland for Sale
Hello
members, friends and collectors.
Hartland of Ohio LLC with all the Trademarks, inventory, website and
customer base is now for sale. I also
offer one year of ongoing assistance
for the new owners transition into
running Hartland.
The wish is to find a new owner who shares the passion with which I ran
the company, who will take the business
to the much needed and desired level it
deserves to be and continue the
Hartland tradition for all current
collectors and millions of potential
new customers.
I look forward to hearing from you and welcome you to discuss this
further.
Please email me at hartlandofohio@att.net if interested.
Sincerely,
Fay Halliwell
CEO of Hartland of Ohio LLC
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