The tooling for the plastic wagons from K-Line I've been posting first appeared in the 1950's (or maybe it was the '60s - I haven't figured out exactly when yet) - and as stated in a previous post, K-Line did not carry forward the original designations. The wagon shown below - posted just a few days ago - was originally called a Lion Cage Wagon but K-Line just called it an Animal Wagon. To confuse matters more, in circus parlance it's simply a 'cage wagon'.
K-Line KUN-6900-03 Animal Wagon
To make matters worse (or fun depending on your outlook) there have been multiple players over the years. My guess is the absolute very first offerings were by Betty Schmid Circusiana. Then they were offered by Circus World Models, Big Top Models, then K-Line, and most recently Gem City Amusements. Mind you, it's absolutely wonderful that these have survived in the marketplace for so long when so many other circus wagon manufacturers have faded out, but it is tricky coming up with a timeline.
Which brings me to the main subject of the post: the Bear Cage Wagon. As much as I've tried, I cannot find where K-Line ever offered this piece, but it's among the six original plastic wagon designs dating from the '50s/'60s. The one posted here I know was offered as a Bear Cage Wagon from original boxes/packaging I have for other color variations. However, the wagon shown below didn't come with its original packaging so I cannot ascribe it to a particular brand. You'll notice that this wagon is a bit shorter and there are two bears inside of it. These older kits included either bears or lions which came as two-piece plastic kits, while K-Line omitted the animals from its kits. Enjoy! Opa Fritz
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