Marx Religious Figures

Starting in the early 1950s, the Louis Marx Company began a new line of highly detailed figures featuring the likenesses of well-known historical people. They made the Marx Presidents series, the WWII Generals series, the Great Canadians series, the Royal Family, Eisenhower & Mamie, JFK & Jackie, and even a figure of Louis Marx himself. These figures were 60mm sized and white hard plastic.

The Marx Company soon turned their attention to religion in a big way, specifically the Catholic faith. This was somewhat ironic since Louis Marx was Jewish - but he knew his market.

Regardless, in the mid-1950s the Religious Statuettes series was introduced, which included figures of Jesus and the Apostles, the Nativity Set, and various other products based upon the bible. Additional religious toys were released in the early 1960s – such as the Noah's Ark miniature playset, the rare Ten Commandments miniature playset and others.

The nativity set shown above featured an illustrated pressed tin manger, an electric light, and figures of Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Arc Angel, the three wise men, stable animals and others.

	This uncommon blue plastic store display (above) features Jesus and the Apostles, also from the early-to-mid 1950s. Although it is not in the greatest shape, it features the rare, left-handed Jesus, as well as the older MARx logo.

	Click the photos to see larger pictures.

The Religious Statuettes' "Christ and his Apostles" box set also hails from the early-to-mid 1950s. The packaging is very similar to the Marx Presidents Series' original boxed sets.

Starting the early 1960s, when Hong Kong opened up as a manufacturing location, the Marx Company began recycling many of their older figure lines in miniature handpainted formats. The Marx Presidents, the Religious Statuettes, Fairykins and Disneykins were just a few of these new offerings.

From the mid-1960s, this small Religious Figures easel-backed display card (above) features the miniaturized, hand-painted editions of the same larger religious figures. This product is not officially branded a "Marx" item, but it is widely assumed to be a Marx product. At the bottom it reads "Hand Styled and Hand Painted" and "Made in Hong Kong."