TOY SOLDIER HQ

RUBENSTEIN AND WOOLWORTH FIGURES

For over twenty five year “Rubenstein” has been something of a mystery. We knew they sold header card bags of exCereal premiums but nothing was known about them. When I was at shows I always asked other dealers if they knew anything, and the answer was always no. In January 2020 I was idly surfing the web and typed in Rubenstein International. Up popped a listing with a California address and phone number. In my pursuit of the information of other companies any phone numbers I found had always been nonactive. I said what the heck and dialed the number. I would like to have had a picture of the look on my face when someone answered. I briefly got to speak with Mr. Irving Rubenstein who had a business appointment and had to hang up. Then the pandemic hit and I stopped all of my research for a few months. A few months ago I redialed the number and had a few conversations with Mr. Rubenstein. His father Morris Rubenstein had emigrated from Scotland to Canada after WWII and set up business as a jeweler with contacts around the world. One day two men from Colgate Palmolive came into his store with an unusual request. They needed 100 watches for a company function and had no idea where to get them. Morris told them he would take care of it and got them the watches and a relationship was born. Morris became known as a man who could get things done and other companies started contacting him. In response he started the Morris Rubenstein International Company to work with promotions and marketing of major corporations around the world. Among these corporations were cereal companies such as Kelloggs and Nabisco who came to him with requests for cereal premiums. His son Irving had planned to go to law school but enjoyed working with his father so much he came into the business as well. Irving related that his father was very involved in getting premiums made in the 1950s and 60s including the Robin Hood figures marked Canada made for Kelloggs in 1969. While getting premiums made Morris made many contacts woth toy companies in the UK & Europe such as Dom, Manurba, Linde and R&L.Morris retired in 1970 and in the 1970s Irving moved to California.

In 1977 Irving registered Rubenstein International Inc. with the state of California and continued his marketing efforts for Fortune 500 corporations. In the early 1980s a conversation with a sales man about what to do with the left over plastic cereal premiums they had led them to sell them in header card bags. Truly an international company they had items made in England, Mexico, Hong Kong and the United States and started selling them in small header card bags. The factory in England, Tatra was located in Manchester. The Tatra factory was known for having made numerous molds for the premium industry including some for the Rubensteins. The experiment only lasted a few years as he put it “the return was not worth the time and effort”. I think everyone of us selling toy soldiers has probably said the same thing at one time or another.

In our conversations he mentioned that he had also used a mold maker from Portugal, Tony Jungellon who is the same man Efrrem Arenstein former owner of Lido and his friends the T.Cohn family had used as well. A small world. He then mentioned that they had made many products other than just toys and there had been a man with quite a few molds in Florida. I said, Jay Horowitz? There was a pause and then he said yes he was the one. Small world indeed. Although still active in marketing Irving closed Rubenstein International about 2005.

One other thing he cleared up was that his companies had nothing to do with making or selling the downsized 54mm copies of the Marx six inch knights, cowboys and Indians. Collectors call them “Rubenstein” but we should be calling them “Woolworths”. Erwin Sell tells me these were made by an Italian Companies Baravilli and partner Tibidabo and sold through the international chain of Woolworth and Woolco stores including those in the United State in the late 1970s. The Woolworth Woolco double label logo was used from about 1974-1983.

In 1986 Tom Geppert released his GUIDE TO NON-METALLIC TOY SOLDIERS OF THE U.S. It included some of the Soldiers of the Ages figures as being made by Rubenstein. As no one knew anything about Rubenstein at that time it would be logical to assume that they had been fpund in marked packaging. In 1993 he released an appendix that included all of the Soldiers of the Ages plus all of the Nabisco dogs as being made by Rubenstein. The cereal premiums had been made in shades of gold and silver, but red & blue soldiers and brown, white yellow and blue dogs could be found which were probably from Rubenstein International bags.

To muddy the waters collector James Wozniak told me his Mexican factory contacts told him they had a “Marx/Rubenstein” 12 cavity mold that makes 50mm copies of the Marx 6 inch cowboys, Indians PLUS the cavalry man shot with arrow. One of the owners of Classic Toy Soldiers told me he had these figures in a Rubenstein International header bags many years ago.

Paul “Stad” Stadinger has a header card for Soldiers of WWII marked “Made in Hong Kong”. The bag had copies of Airfix figures. We think potential clients asked Rubenstein to supply them with armymen so they found a supplier in Hong Kong. Stad also showed some off-white (light cream) Soldiers of the Ages at his website in 2011. This odd color is usually found in groups with blue examples. We have heard that these may have been made for a South African company that was considering buying some of the molds around 2010. They also may have been made for someone to sell. If you have any of the mystery figures in Rubenstein International header card bags please send pictures.

THE END

The "Rubinstein" figures were originally used as cereal premiums. In the US, Rubenstein then sold them in header card bags, but the molds were also used by several European countries. One of the Soldiers of the World figures we recently obtained is marked MADE IN ENGLAND which we think is where perhaps all of these molds were made.

- Marking seen under one of three Warriors of the World Highlanders.

Soldiers/Warriors of the Ages/World

A series of 16 warriors of history were used as cereal premiums. Made in gold and silver Rubenstein also sold them in headercard bags. The blue, red and perhaps white figures are from the Rubenstein header bags and were not used as cereal premiums.

Nabisco used these dogs as cereal premiums to help sell Wheat Honeys (gold dogs) and Rice Honeys (silver dogs). They may have included a mail away offer like the one they did for the baseball players to allow children to acquire the whole set. To figure collectors these dogs are "Rubenstein" dogs as they were sold in header card bags by that company in the USA.

Like other "Rubenstein" pieces these dogs were first used as Nabisco cereal premiums made in gold and silver. Rubenstein sold them in header card bags with the dogs made in brown, white, yellow & blue.

Former Kelloggs ceral premiums

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Rubenstein (ex Linde & other companies)Comical Pirates.

Rubenstein had the Marx 6 inch Indians, 5 of the cowboys and the cavalry man shot with arrowed copied in about 53/54mm size to uses as premiums. They then sold them in small headercard bags circa 1982/83. The mold is in Mexico and reissues in silver have been made.

THE KNIGHTS, COWBOYS & INDIANS WERE MADE IN ITALY AND SOLD IN THE UNITED STARED BY WOOLWORTH 5 & 10 STORES.

The 54mm knights are down scale copies of the 6 inch scale knights sold by the Louis Marx toy company. The Marx six inch cowboys & Indians were also copied in 54mm. The knights sold by the Woolworth 5 & 10 store chain were only made in silver.

Cowboys and Indians

Woolworth 5 & 10 header bag 54mm Indians

tan colors.