I guess I'm gonna start another series. Actually a series within a series. For the next whole bunch of days we'll take a look at this fascinating playset made by Mattel in 1973 for exclusive sale at Shell service stations as a premium. The set is a licensed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus tie-in and consists of a fold-out tent in vinyl carry-all fashion and 11 circus acts. Here's the catch: when one purchased the set at the Shell dealer, they got the tent and only 10 of the 11 acts. To get that eleventh act mom or pop would have to go back to the station to see which loose set was available for sale! What a racket! LOL That being said, it is a wonderful circus toy not available at major outlets like Sears or Montgomery Wards or Toys-R-Us. Let's take a peek at this marvelous set. Enjoy! Opa Fritz
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Saturday, September 17, 2022
CIRCUS TIME: Mattel Circus Playset No. 0506 (1973) - Pt 1
The set came packaged in this cardboard box
The softcase measures 9 3/4" (24.76cm) x 6 1/2"(16.51cm) x 3 1/4" (8.25cm)
When one opens the case, some of the acts are inside of it while the rest are loose in the cardboard outer box
Here's the ten sets that were in mine
Here's all eleven sets in one place
The tent unfolded measures 24 1/2" (62.23cm) W x 9 1/4" (23.49cm) D x 10" (25.4cm) H
The tent has figured prominently in some fun I've been having on my train layout - that will be a whole other set of posts!
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Hahaha! I was about to post these . . . I'll hold them for a year or two! Some of them are really nice sculpts, some are a bit daft, but they must have provided hours of non-violent fun!
ReplyDeleteLOL what a coincidence! Yes, some of these were nicely done while others.... not so much. But taken as a whole, it really is an excellent circus playset.
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